Head to the Burren for a Guinness, and you’re bound to hear anything from swing jazz to traditional Irish music. The music in the front room is free, while the music in the back room is ticketed. It’s rare that there’s not live music playing in one of the two rooms. On the other side of the river? The Burren team opened another venue, the Bebop, near Berklee in mid-2017.

Toad is an intimate venue with an impossibly small stage. It’s a good spot to see rock and Americana bands. There’s music every night of the week (and a small menu of burgers, too, “until it’s logistically impossible,”) and there’s never a cover.

The musical stylings that can be heard in the Lizard Lounge are all over the map. Hip hop? Check. Jazz. Yup. Jam bands? You got it. Balkan folk music? Why, yes. Also, order the tots.

The food and the margaritas are worth a trip to Union Square, but the best part about El Potro is the mariachi band.

Hear jazz, blues, rock, soul, reggae, and everything in between at this Harvard brasserie (formerly known as the Beat Hotel), which is the brainchild of the folks behind the Beehive in the South End. Go with a cocktail here. The list is constantly changing according to seasonal ingredients.

Stay upstairs at the Cantab and check out the bluegrass scene on Tuesdays and the funk on Thursdays.

Events in the Middle East Downstairs venue can get expensive, but music lovers can catch shows on the Corner, in Zuzu, and Upstairs on the cheap. Tallboys are also cheap. Order the hummus and some grape leaves.

To the haters who think electronic music and DJ music aren’t live music: Get over yourselves; they are. Middlesex is one of the best spots in Greater Boston to catch a DJ set, and it has also been known to host punk shows. Get there before 9 p.m. to avoid a $10 cover.

Lucky’s was cool before people started thinking Fort Point was cool. There’s no cover, and there’s live music every night of the week.

Like O’Brien’s, Great Scott is holding down the punk rock fort in Boston. Covers rarely rise higher than $12 (it happens when legends like Kim Gordon play here, but hardly ever otherwise), and the High Lifes are $4.

Few better spots for jazz and blues in Boston. The drinks at the Beehive are also exceptional, and the decor conjures jazz clubs from the first half of the 20th century.

Owned by Darryl Settles — who also founded the Beantown Jazz Festival in 2001 (now run by Berklee College of Music) — this South End favorite is the spot for soul food and live jazz.

Slade’s was sold to an investment group in 2015 (which included, among others, the aforementioned Darryl Settles), but all that changed were some improvements to the space’s interiors. Catch live music, DJ sets, or comedy on most nights.

Eat some haggis, drink some Belhaven (and some Scotch), and listen to some bagpipes at the Haven. Over a decade ago, pre-Haven, owner Jason Waddleton was the music booker at Matt Murphy’s, turning it into a hotspot for jazz and more. At the Haven, he hosts regular open mic nights and also brings in Scottish music, folk, Americana, and more.