The story behind Practice Session
I've been a power user of slow-downer and pitch-shifting practice tools for over 15 years. As a multi-instrumentalist—playing guitar for over 20 years, drums, piano, and vocals across genres from progressive metal to jazz—I've always valued methodical practice.
But here's what I discovered: my real talent wasn't natural ability or learning speed—it was being methodical. I have a knack for isolating exactly the elements that need work to unlock a new skill. That systematic approach transformed my practice and made "impossible" techniques achievable.
"I kept wishing for features that seemed obvious to me: combining multiple practice regions in a single loop, using musical values like BPM and key signatures instead of abstract multipliers, organizing my practice library... The tools I used helped, but they weren't built by someone who practices the way I do."
I could see how pitch-shift and time-stretch technology could accelerate ear training, transposition skills, and systematic improvement. But those possibilities weren't being realized. So I built the practice system I wished existed.
Practice Session isn't just another slow-downer. It's a complete practice system designed around one core belief: systematic practice is the key to breakthrough progress.
Taking a few extra minutes to be methodical at the start makes a real difference. You work faster, stay motivated, and succeed at things you might otherwise give up on. Practice Session embodies this philosophy in every feature: from visual region management to intelligent loop sequencing, synced lyrics and notation, and advanced training modules.
What I'm most proud of is the app's cohesion. It's not just a collection of features. It's a unified system that lets you create, organize, and retrieve complex practice setups that target exactly what you need to improve.
The ideal Practice Session user is anyone who's attentive to how they learn and wants to optimize their practice. Whether you're:
Any genre, any level. From beginners tackling their first challenging piece to advanced players mastering complex jazz standards through all twelve keys.
Create targeted practice sequences for each student, share complete setups, and build a library of templates for common techniques and pieces.
Precision tools for isolating instruments, millisecond-accurate loop points, and A440 tuning correction for recordings in non-standard pitch.
Create regions for verses and choruses, sequence them progressively. The Lyrics Manager makes Practice Session excellent for learning songs in foreign languages.
This is a tool that grows with you. A musician at any level can use Practice Session's possibilities to craft practice sessions that take them to the next level.
One of my favorite use cases? Learning songs in German and other foreign languages. I use the Lyrics Manager to sync and annotate the text, create regions for each verse and chorus, then progressively sequence them together with the Loop Manager. Turns out, systematic practice works just as well for languages as it does for music.
I've been imagining Practice Session for many years, and started building it in earnest over the past few years. The coding was the fun part: bringing the vision to life, solving technical challenges, learning what I needed to learn.
The real challenge? Everything beyond the app itself. Building a business, creating a website, setting up payment systems, writing legal policies, launching to the world. More than once I thought "I'll probably launch in a week or two"... only to discover I had months of work ahead. But each piece of the puzzle taught me something new.
I'm based in Montreal, Quebec, and I wear all the hats: developer, designer, marketer, support. It's a solo project born from passion, built with care, and refined through countless practice sessions on my own instruments.
I'm excited about the future of Practice Session. Here's what's in the works:
Mobile Version: A simpler mobile app synchronized with your desktop library, so you can practice on the go. This will include cloud storage and open up possibilities for sharing practice setups between users.
Multi-Song Sequences: Creating Loop Manager sequences that include regions from multiple songs, which opens up new possibilities for teachers and students working on technique across repertoire.
Your Ideas: I'm committed to being highly responsive to feature requests. I'm looking forward to hearing what you'd like to see in Practice Session. The best ideas often come from the people actually using the tool.
Experience systematic practice done right. No credit card required.
Have questions, feedback, or feature requests? I'd love to hear from you.
Email: support@practicesession.app
Community forums and social channels coming soon. Stay tuned!