How to Play Sonny's Return on the Tin Whistle

a minor · 4/4 · 220 BPM · Reel · Advanced

Sonny's Return is a reel you can learn on the tin whistle, set in a minor (4/4, around 220 beats per minute). It uses 11 distinct notes, ranging from E5 up to C7 — all within the D whistle’s range.

Reel in a minor (231 notes after repeat-expansion).

The tin whistle notes for Sonny's Return start E A A B C B A G E G G A Full sequence below.

The interactive sheet music shows a fingering chart under every note. Press Play this tune to play along while the app listens to your microphone and grades every note, or print a clean copy of the score.

Tin whistle notes

On a D tin whistle, play Sonny's Return with these notes in order. Same letter in a higher octave uses the same fingering — overblow for the second register.

E A A B C B A G E G G A G E G C A A B C B A G E C C D E A A G C E C G C E C C E G A G E D C E C G C E C D E D C A A B C E C G C E C C E G A G E A A C B A G E D C E A A G A

Sheet music

ABC notation

X:2083
T:Sonny's Return
R:reel
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:Aminor
|:eAAB cBAG|EGG2 AGEG|cAAB cBAG|Eccd eaag|! eAAB cBAG|EGG2 AGEG|c/c/deg agec|1 AcBG A4:|2 AcBG A3B||! |:c2ec gcec|c2eg aged|c2ec gcec|d2ed cAAB|! c2ec gcec|c2eg agea|ac'ba gedc|EAAG A4:|
% Source: https://thesession.org/tunes/2083 setting 2083

Fingering chart

Sonny's Return uses these notes on the D tin whistle: E5, G5, A5, B5, C6, D6, E6, G6, A6, B6, C7.

E5
G5
A5
B5
C6
D6
E6
G6
A6
B6
C7

More tin whistle tunes