Irish traditional music bouzouki players may play single note melody instead of harmonizing accompaniment, but in live acoustic sessions with more than two or three players but it is difficult to produce sufficient volume to be heard over drumming and the piercing sound of fiddles and penny whistles. Although not traditional, the Irish bouzouki has found a home in the modern Irish traditional music scene. The Greek bouzouki was introduced to Irish traditional music in the late 1960s by Johnny Moynihan and then popularised by Dónal Lunny, Andy Irvine, and Alec Finn. Today's Irish bouzouki (usually) has four courses of two strings (usually)
Irish bouzouki was introduced into Irish traditional music in the mid-1960s by Johnny Moynihan of the popular folk group Sweeney's Men. During the recording of their 1968 eponymous album, "Sweeney's Men", Andy Irvine also played Moynihan's bouzouki on the track "Johnston". Shortly after he returned from Eastern Europe in late 1969, Irvine met Dónal Lunny – who had been playing guitar up to that point – and gave him a Greek bouzouki he had brought back from his travels. Being left-handed, Lunny reversed the strings and critically, replaced the octave strings with unison strings, thus fundamentally changing the character of the instrument.