The Pipes and Drums of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards has been a competing band for many years and due to this commitment to competing they are renowned as one of the Army's best Pipes and Drums bands. In recent years the band has not been able to compete as much as it would like due to the Army's commitments on operations.

One of the band's most successful times was when the band won the World Championships in Grade 2 in 1982 under Pipe Major John Allan. The following year the band was upgraded to Grade 1 where it stayed for nearly 10 years.

A particularly successful year was 1987 under Pipe Major John Bruce. The then Commanding Officer, Lt Col Melville Jameson, allowed the band to spend the complete summer in Scotland to compete. It was during this time that it gained 5th at the British Championships, 4th at the European Championships and 10th place at the World Championships.

In 1990 the Pipes and Drums were deployed to the Gulf as tank crewman during Op Granby which was part of Desert Storm. Unfortunately this meant the band was split up for nearly 10 months and was subsequently downgraded to a Grade 2 band. Since then, the operational commitments of the band have continued to limit the amount of competing. However, despite this, in 1993 when the band was under Pipe Major Robert Fairbairn it achieved 2nd in the Champion of Champions Table and more recently it held the Christmas No 1 spot in the Classical Album Charts in 2008 with Spirit of the Glen.