Little Session is a specialized mobile app created by developer Sébastien Allie, designed to serve as a comprehensive pocket companion for players of Irish traditional music.
The app comes bundled offline with over 23,000 traditional tunes sourced from TheSession.org, covering reels, jigs, hornpipes, polkas, and more. It allows musicians to search tunes, display sheet music (with adjustable ABC notation playback and tempo control), organize sets, and recognize melodies in real time during live sessions. Its core highlight is real-time interactive fingerings and custom chord accompaniments for 19 different instruments.
For backing players—especially Irish Bouzouki musicians—Little Session delivers targeted playback and practice tools:
- Real-Time Fretboard Visualization: Displays interactive fretboard diagrams tuned specifically for Irish Bouzouki, showing exact fingering positions and scales as the tune plays.
- High-Quality Audio Packs: Includes dedicated downloadable sample packs for Bouzouki, producing authentic string playback instead of generic MIDI.
- Tradition-Based Chord Accompaniments: Focuses on standard session-style open modal chords and modal modal-friendly voicings common in Irish backing rather than strictly formal music theory chords.
- Chord & Rhythm Practice: Enables players to adjust playback speed, loop A/B sections, change key signatures, and practice rhythm and backing lines directly alongside sheet music.
Available on iOS and Android as a one-time purchase without subscriptions, Little Session bridges traditional tune learning with realistic string-accompaniment tools.
This is the link to the Little Session YouTube Channel
Whether you’ve been using this app for a while or are just trying it out for the first time, please do leave a comment to let us know what you think of it and what tips you can offer to bouzouki players. And if you come across any tutorials or videos about the app, please do share the link here.