Pint of Irish hosts Celtic Slow Sessions every month in Southern California.  Bring your instruments and a couple of tunes (and maybe a few copies of music for others).  Feel free to start a set with any tune you know well and we'll all join in.  All traditional acoustic instruments are welcome including guitar, fiddle, mandolin, penny whistle, flute, bodhran, accordion, and pipes. Wondering how a session works and what tunes to learn? See "What To Expect at a Pint of Irish Slow Session" below, and our list of Session Songs & Tunes.

 

Our Sessions:

 

REDONDO BEACH, CA

1st Thursday of the Month 

 

7:30-9:30pm

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DARK UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

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Coffee Cartel
www.thecoffeecartel.com
1820 S Catalina Ave., Redondo Beach, CA 90277

(map)
(310) 316-6554

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VENTURA, CA

2nd Tuesday of the Month

 

6:30-9:30pm

6:30 for beginners and shy folks; 7:00 for all others​

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PizzaMan Dan's

www.pizzamandans.com
1413 S. Victoria Ave., Ventura, CA 93003

(map)

(805) 658-6666

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VICTORVILLE, CA

2nd Thursday of the Month

 

7:00-9:30pm

 

DARK UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
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Starbuck's Victorville
www.starbucks.com
14848 Bear Valley Rd, Victorville, CA 92395

(map)
(760) 243-0613

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What To Expect at a Pint of Irish Slow Session:

 

In any Irish or Celtic Slow Session, there is no planned agenda or order of tunes to be played. This is because a session is not a performance, but an opportunity for musicians to try new things, share with other musicians, and musically communicate with others.

 

A session is by nature a living, fluid event. Pint of Irish hosts "slow sessions" designed to encourage all levels of musicians to participate in a public environment.  Tunes and songs can be started by anyone in the session.  Most of the tunes are played fairly slowly.  Sometimes more experienced session musicians join in.   Since anyone can start a tune, it is truly impossible to predict which tunes will be played at any session.  There are literally thousands of tunes that could be played at any session.

 

To help narrow the number of tunes to something more manageable for learners, we have compiled a list of the most frequently played tunes at POI sessions on our Songs & Tunes page.

 

For the musician who has limited familiarity with this type of music, we recommend the following:

1. Do NOT try to learn every tune on the list at one time.  You will end up frustrated, with a lot of partially learned tunes.

2. Pick one of the "sets" listed on our websites.  Each set has 2-4 tunes.

3. Learn the set.  Ideally, learn it well enough to play it without sheet music.

4. Come to the next POI Session and either ask the leaders to start the set, or better yet, start the set yourself.

5. Play "your" set with gusto!  

6. During the session, play whatever you can of any of the other sets, with sheet music in front of you if you want.  No one will be upset with you for missing a few notes, or even for playing a few and stopping.  This is, after all, a place for you to learn some tunes and learners make mistakes. So go for it!

7. You just played a set at a session!  Give yourself credit for the accomplishment.

8. Now, go back to step one and get ready for your next session!  If you continue learning one “set” a month within a year you'll have 12 sets under your belt that you can play anywhere.  You are a session player!