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The complete Little Session guide
The same guide as inside the app: every button and screen, explained with its real icon. Search or browse by screen.
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🔍 Search & recognition 6
FILTERS
Filter by tune type — reels, jigs, hornpipes, and more. Two chips open the row for the Highland bagpipe: "Pipe repertoire" keeps only the embedded bagpipe repertoire (credited transcriptions), and "Bagpipe" keeps tunes whose range fits entirely within the chanter's nine notes. They stack.
TUNE CARD
Tap any tune to see the sheet music, play it, and view fingerings.
RECOGNITION
Tap the ear to identify a tune by listening — play 8–10 clear seconds on a melodic instrument, in a quiet spot.
SETTINGS
Sound, instrument, language, and database updates are in here.
POPULARITY
The heart on each card shows how popular a tune is on TheSession — a quick guide to the common session tunes.
🎼 The tune screen 17
SHEET MUSIC
The score is rendered from the tune's ABC notation. Tap a note to play and select it; the play button plays the whole tune.
PLAYBACK
Play/stop the tune. Use the speed slider to go from Learning to Session pace.
VERSIONS
Many tunes have multiple settings (versions). Switch with the dropdown.
FINGERINGS
Real-time fingering for your instrument. Notes light up as the tune plays.
HIGHLAND BAGPIPE
The Great Highland Bagpipe plays 9 notes, from Low G to High A. The diagram shows the chanter fingering; an out-of-range note is flagged instead of showing a wrong fingering. The drones sound on A at all times (two tenors and one bass), just like the real instrument. The sound is raised by +1.5 semitones (A ≈ 480 Hz, real pipe pitch) — you can turn this off in the audio settings to play along with 440 Hz instruments. To find chanter-friendly tunes, the "Bagpipe" chip on the search screen keeps only those; in your repertoire they stay filed by dance (marches, reels, strathspeys) and the "great highland" tag brings them back.
ADD TO…
Add this tune to one of your sets to play it in sequence at a session, or to your repertoire to find it again in My Repertoire, filed by tags.
AUDIO SETTINGS
From the ⋯ menu → Audio settings, adjust volume, add a metronome, a bodhrán groove or a drone under the tune.
EXPORT PDF
From the ⋯ menu, export the current tune as a PDF — staff notation, or tablature for your instrument.
CAPO & TUNING
For fretted instruments, set a capo or an alternate tuning; the on-screen fingerings follow your choice.
CHOOSING THE STRING (TABLATURE)
Tap a fret number in the tablature to see where else that note can be played: the alternatives appear in blue on their strings. Tap one to choose it — the number turns blue (your choice, for this tune only) and is used everywhere: tablature, fingering display during playback, and PDF export. Tap the blue number again to go back to automatic. From the staff, the same choice lives in the note editor (tap a note): a "String" section lists the possible positions as string · fret.
REPERTOIRE
A tune added to your repertoire shows up in My Repertoire, in the Tunes section of its type's tab. Put the “heart” tag on the ones you love. Once the tune is in your repertoire, the label button opens its tags and note; “Add to…” can also remove it.
TAGS & NOTE
Add free-form tags (Session, Concert…), a personal note and attachments to this favourite tune. Tags feed the filter chips and the folder view of My Repertoire.
MUTE
Silences playback without pausing it — the highlighted notes and fingerings keep moving, so you can follow the score in silence.
SELECT A PASSAGE
Long-press a note: playback starts from that note to the end of the tune. A handle appears at each end of the selection — drag them to shrink or widen it. A shorter passage loops so you can drill it; a selection running to the end plays once. The ✕ in the toolbar clears the selection.
LOOP
Repeats the tune (or the current part/selection) continuously until you stop it. Long-press to open the loop tempo settings.
GRADUAL SPEED-UP
While looping, gradually raises the tempo on each pass. Set the starting speed, the target speed, and the step in the loop tempo sheet.
EXPORT MUSICXML
Exports the tune as a MusicXML file, to open in other notation software.
🎸 Chords, picking & swing 3
SWING / LILT
In the ⋯ menu → Metronome you'll find the lilt control, which shapes the rhythmic feel. Lilt is on by default and gently swings pairs of notes; slide it toward Even for a straight, metronomic feel.
EDITING CHORDS
Tap any measure to change its chord — and you can place a chord on any note, not just the downbeat. Auto-suggestions come from modal analysis and can be overridden.
EDIT A SHAPE
Tap a diagram to open the editor: a full neck for fretted instruments, a bass-clef staff for piano, regulator keys for uilleann. Preview the sound, then apply it to this occurrence, the whole tune or as your default. The accompaniment grid's chord summary, the PDF export and playback all follow the corrected shape; from the grid, validating applies to the whole tune. When a chord isn't played the same way throughout, the grid shows one box per version with the number of bars it covers.
🎵 Sets & sessions 21
YOUR SETS
Your sets are grouped by tune type. Tap one to edit, long-press to delete.
TUNES
In each tab, the Tunes section lists the tunes of that type you have loved, and the Sets section your sets. When a tab holds both, it opens fully folded: you see the counts and tap a title to choose where to go in. The app then remembers what you fold, tab by tab. The badge marks tunes that belong to a set.
RECENCY
The recency filter is based on time spent on each set and tune: a pass shorter than 5 seconds is not counted, and a tune played inside a set is only credited if it was on screen when you left the player.
TAG FOLDERS
Switches the tunes list into folders built from your tags. Open a folder to narrow by combined tags; long-press renames or deletes a tag, and “Untagged” gathers the rest.
NEW SET
The free plan allows up to 5 sets, whether created or imported from TheSession. Extra sets are locked — never deleted — until you upgrade.
LOCKED SETS
Beyond the free limit, extra sets show a lock icon — they are kept, never deleted, and unlock again once you upgrade.
IMPORT SETS
Already have sets on TheSession? Bulk-import a member's tunebook and sets from Settings → Import.
SEARCH & FILTER
Search your sets by name, tune, or tag; narrow the list further with the recency and tag filters.
SET CONTENTS
Drag to reorder, swipe to remove. The set plays top to bottom.
ADD TUNES
Tap + to search and add tunes. We also suggest tunes often played together.
TAGS
Add tags to organise your sets — session name, level, season… Repertoire folders file a set under its own tags; tag search also matches the tags of the tunes inside the set.
PLAY SET
Play the whole set in sequence at your chosen tempo.
SAVE
Saves the changes made to this set.
EXPORT
Export the whole set as a PDF or a MusicXML file.
TUNE STRIP
Tap any tune to jump to it. The red button opens it on YouTube.
PLAY / STOP
Start or stop playing the full set. Speed it up with the slider below.
PARTS
Tap a part (A, B…) to drill it on a loop: only that section plays, repeating until Stop (the indicator shows ∞). Tap it again to play the whole tune. On a part with variants, tap 1 or 2 to skip a specific repeat.
SESSION MODE
A larger, high-contrast display built for reading at arm's length during a session.
FIND SESSIONS
Search for traditional music sessions by city, region, or venue name.
MAP / LIST
Switch between map view and list view to explore sessions.
SESSION DETAILS
Tap a session to see venue, schedule, and available repertoire to import.
🎛️ Tuner 7
TUNING GAUGE
The needle shows how flat or sharp you are in cents — centre it for perfect pitch.
DETECTED NOTE
The big letter is the nearest note the mic hears; play one steady note at a time.
METRONOME
The standalone metronome. Set the tempo (BPM) and feel, add lilt to swing the beat, or use the speed trainer to ramp up gradually. Tap Start to run it.
TUNER / METRONOME
Switches between the tuner and the standalone metronome.
A4 REFERENCE
Adjusts the reference pitch: 415, 440 and 442 Hz presets or 1 Hz steps. The setting is remembered.
PLAY THE A
Plays the reference A at the chosen frequency for a few seconds, so you can tune by ear. The mic pauses during playback, then listening resumes.
MIC GAIN
Adjusts the microphone sensitivity if the tuner struggles to pick up your instrument.
✏️ Composer 10
ENTERING NOTES
Tap the on-screen keyboard or staff to add notes and rests. On the free plan a composition is limited to 12 notes; saving is a premium feature.
MIC CAPTURE
Play into the mic and the app writes down what it hears. Notes are never auto-corrected — tap the wand ✨ to snap them to an explicit scale when you want.
RECORD & TRANSCRIBE
Record a phrase, then transcribe it into editable notation you can refine note by note.
PLAY / STOP
Plays your composition from the start, with the current note highlighted as it sounds. If a passage is selected, only that selection plays, on a loop. Tap again to stop.
INSERT TOOLS
Insert a rest at the caret, paste a previously copied passage, or open the barlines menu for repeat marks, endings, double/final bars and part length.
EDIT SELECTION
Shown once notes are selected on the staff: copy or duplicate the selection, delete it, or tap the cross to clear the selection without changing the composition.
SUGGEST CHORDS
In Chords mode, fills every empty measure with an accompaniment chord automatically suggested from the melody; chords already placed by hand are kept.
SAVE COMPOSITION
Saves your composition. On the free plan, saving is a premium feature.
IMPORT / EXPORT
Import an ABC, MusicXML (.xml, .mxl) or MIDI (.mid) file; export your composition as ABC text, a share link, or MusicXML.
PIANO – TWO STAVES
The piano button in the toolbar switches to two-staff mode. The Melody, Left hand and Pedal chips pick the active voice, "Stack" piles notes into chords, and a warning appears when the voices drift out of alignment bar by bar.
🏅 My practice 11
Your instrument
Pick the instrument you'll play — the on-screen fingering follows it. It defaults to the one set in Settings.
The tune
Choose a tune to practise, or tap Surprise me for a random pick. If you arrived from a tune screen, it's already filled in.
Practice method
With score: play along reading the staff. Headphones: play along over a backing. Melody first: listen, then repeat phrase by phrase.
REGULARITY
Your streak grows each day you practise. It reflects consistency, not how long you played.
MASTERY
Mastery is estimated from how you play tunes over time — no manual grading, it's derived automatically.
MILESTONES & RANKS
Milestones unlock ranks, from Wanderer to Samildánach. Open the Codex to see every rank and what it means.
HOW A ROUND WORKS
A note is played; you find it on your instrument. Answer to move on — the game adapts to how you do.
DAILY QUOTA
The free plan includes 2 games per day. Upgrade for unlimited play.
PLAY-ALONG GRADING
Play along and the trainer listens, scoring your timing and notes against the tune in real time.
MEMORY GAME
Memory picks a tune at random. If its name is shown, play it: the app recognises it through the microphone. If the melody plays, find its name among four. Each game's score feeds My Practice.
MEMORY QUOTA
The free plan includes 2 Memory games per day. Upgrade for unlimited play.
⚙️ Settings 8
SOUNDFONT
TimGM6mb is bundled (~6 MB); MuseScore General (~206 MB) improves every instrument. Per-instrument HQ packs (CC0) can also be downloaded here — plucked strings, fiddle, piano, accordion — and are used as soon as they are installed.
LANGUAGE
Choose the app language (11 available). The app restarts in the new language.
DATABASE
Update tunes and popularity data from TheSession.org.
IMPORT
Paste a TheSession member URL to import their tunebook (unlimited) and their sets.
BACKUP & TRANSFER
Export your favourites, sets, tags, compositions and settings as a .lsbundle file, then import it on another device: the preview shows what will change and the merge keeps the most recent version of each item, with no duplicates. The file is not encrypted — keep it somewhere safe.
INSTRUMENT
Pick your instrument — fingerings and the practice sound follow your choice.
SYSTEM & TUNING
Some instruments open options: accordion B/C or C#/D, guitar DADGAD, uilleann setup.
ABC EDITOR
Edit the tune's ABC source here; the staff and playback update from what you type.
📖 Trad glossary 14
Reel
The most common trad tune type: 4/4, flowing eighth notes, played fast.
Jig
A lively tune in 6/8, felt in two groups of three.
Hornpipe
A 4/4 tune played with a dotted, swung feel — punchier than a reel.
Slip jig
A jig in 9/8, felt in three groups of three.
Polka
A brisk 2/4 tune, common in Sliabh Luachra music.
Slide
A fast 12/8 tune, also from the Sliabh Luachra tradition.
Setting (version)
One particular way a tune is played. The same tune often has several settings.
Ornament
A decoration added to a note — cut, roll, cran — that gives trad its lift.
Roll
An ornament weaving the main note with the notes just above and below it.
Cran
A piping ornament of rapid grace notes, used mainly on low notes.
DADGAD
A guitar tuning (D-A-D-G-A-D) favoured for modal trad accompaniment.
B/C vs C#/D
The two main button accordion tunings: B/C is smooth and legato, C#/D is punchy and bouncy.
Session
An informal gathering where musicians play trad tunes together, often in a pub.
Set
A sequence of tunes played back to back without stopping.
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