For the life of me, I’ve never been able to whistle “for shit”.
Whether it’s the “bend your tongue funny, and do it through your top two teeth (or is it through your bottom two teeth?)”, or sticking your thumb and ring-finger in the corners of your mouth and sustaining a whistle (like you might at your favorite rock-concert).
Is this something you can learn how to do, or is it a talent like singing, writing, or whatever, that you were either born with or you weren’t?
What about the “put your lips together and blow” type of whistling?
No one taught me. I figured it out all on my own and as far as I’m concerned, I’m a really fine whistler.
My earliest memories regarding whistling are of my grandfather (Pop) trying to get me to follow his whistling cues.
On a similar note, I’m usually able to tap out the notes to a song (one finger-style) on a piano with no preparation.
I well remember, many (MANY) years ago. I taught myself…by blowing, over and over and over and over… I tried widening the aperture…narrowing it…pursing my lips…pulling my lips in… Hours? Nay, DAYS.
And then, once, like magic, it worked.
(Also vaguely funny: when I gained a lot of weight…I had to re-learn. And when I lost a lot of weight – nearly as much as I gained! – I had to re-learn again!)
And, despite going through the same steps (i.e., interminable repetition) I still, to this day, cannot manage to whistle between my fingers. I just don’t get it. I know it can be done…but I’m damned if I can get it to work.
So…no promises. The “keep trying” technique might work for you…but it might not.
Penny-whistles are cheap…
I taught myself a simple “pucker up and blow” whistle, but it’s not powerful. I cannot, N O T cannot learn to do any other whistle, the tooth one, the finger one, the tongue one, none of 'em. I can roll my tongue, for what that’s worth, but I can’t wiggle my ears.
I was always a beautiful whistler and could hit most any note and carry a perfect tune. One day I woke up and could no longer whistle, I suspect a touch of bells palsy but was never aware of having it.
I am a mediocre whistler. I can whistle most tunes, more or less correctly, to the point that if I were whistling a tune you knew, you’d recognize it. But you probably wouldn’t call it very good, and my range is pretty limited. Also, my whistle tends to sound “breathy”. Nobody taught me how to whistle, and I’ve tried modifying my technique but I can’t do it any other way. 
I can’t do the really loud power whistle to get people’s attention either. That is just so cool, I wish I could learn that one.
some folks may never master the art of whistling, such as Leon Spinks
My roommate taught himself. He doesn’t practice much, and he’s definitely not great at it, but he’s gone from being completely incapable to functional in the last few years.
…
Many years ago during a long weekend visit my wife’s cousin happened on a website with instructions on how to do the two-fingers-in-mouth ear-splitting whistle. Neither of us had any idea how it was done, and the two of us spent a lot of that weekend obsessively trying learn the technique. The results were a lot of spraying saliva, weird sounds, purple faces, and giggling.
I forgot all about it within a day or two.
Until last spring, when that same cousin surprised the hell out of me by suddenly letting loose with a perfectly executed eardrum breaker. (It was appropriate under the circumstances, which aren’t worth explaining.) Turns out she’d never given up, and mastered the fine art shortly after our weekend of failure.
My conclusion: middle-aged women can learn to do it.
My wife couldn’t whistle until a boyfriend taught her in her 20’s. I don’t know how he taught her, nor do I really care to know.
I don’t know how to whistle a tune, but I can ‘whistle’ a single loud note to call my dogs. I curl my tongue against my top teeth to do it and when I had some orthodontic work done and a wire permanently affixed to the back of my teeth, I lost my ability to whistle until I figured it out again.
I don’t remember being taught how to whistle a tune, but I distinctly remember teaching myself to do the screech-whistle thing with any number of different fingers shoved into my mouth. I can do the index-thumb thing, the index-middle of both hands thing, the pinkies thing - I can’t do the no-finger screech-whistle though. That would have come in handy when working in the paper mill. The only way to get someone’s attention in that environment is by whistling at them – and I kept having to stick my dirty fingers in my mouth to pull it off.
I am in the same category as you. I guess I have always assumed that I could figure it out - or at least get a bit better - if I put my mind to it, broke down the mechanics, and practiced. But I could never be bothered…
I can whistle much better blowing air into my mouth. For some reason I can’t get a sustained sound blowing air out. The sound breaks up with lots of air coming out.
Tried off and on since I was a kid. It used to anony my parents. Wish I could whistle pretty like the intro to the Andy Griffith show.
That’s how I started to whistle as a kid. I could only “suck whistle,” until I was a teen. Then, someday, somehow, I could “blow whistle.”
Now that I can do both, I can whistle “forever” and never have to stop to take a breath.
The only “tricky” part is that the note changes when you go from suck to blow if your lips are kept at the same spot. It seems that, for me, it’s about a not higher, if I had to guess.
I can whistle a tune pretty decently, but I’ve never been able to do the super-loud “fingers-in-mouth” type of whistling. I tried learning once and I actually made a little progress, but I guess I didn’t care that much.
Interestingly for me, when I whistle a tune I am pretty accurate in regards to key/pitch. I can basically always hit the note that I’m trying to hit. I am a half-assed singer, though…and the whistling proves that I know what the right note IS, I just can’t always will my voice to hit it.
I can whistle, but not the fingers in mouth screeching thing - what I really wish I could do is the cupped hands owl noise.
Whistling with pursed lips is something I don’t remember learning. As far as I know I just picked up when I was a kid. I can do it blowing in or out.
The two-fingers version is probably easier to learn because it’s basically blowing over the hole created by the two fingers. It’s a harder version of blowing over the mouth of a bottle to produce a tone. I do remember learning it in grade school. Another kid told me the basic steps, and after many attempts I got it to work. I hadn’t used it for years, and a while ago I tried again and couldn’t produce the note. I’ve lost the knack! But I could pick it up again with practice. Ditto for the owl/hands hoot.
I don’t know how to produce the SUPER-loud whistle with only the lips. I’d like to learn how someday.
