I used to be a regular at a warp-five session where a lot of players were leaving instruments in their cases and the fast-Irish nucleus held sway. We talked to a local landlord and booked his back room on a quiet night and started another session, focusing on beginners.

We put together a set of standard session tunes in dots form and on cassette and invited anyone to bring their own stuff to learn/share too. It started slowly, but grew into an excellent slow session where so many of the regulars came from the original session that it folded. You'll need a strong leader to keep the tempo down, encourage everyone to have a go and keep the prima donnas in check.

Some of the standard tunes work wonderfully slowly, with the least experienced musicians playing the tune and the rest adding countermelodies and harmonies, while the rhythm is rock-solid and never lost in the rush. Much better to listen to than a warp-five session, but less ego-massaging for the speed merchants.