Irish tenor banjo

[PatrickH]

Don't mean to offend anyone with an out of band post but this really is related to mandolin playing.

As many who read this board probably know (I didn't until recently), the short scale, 17 fret, 4-string tenor banjo is often tuned an octave below a mandolin and played with a pick for use in Irish "trad" sessions. With this tuning, mandolin players can immediately adapt and play their reels, hornpipes etc on the banjo.

I am a mandolin player who just picked up his first ITB (Irish Tenor Banjo), a Deering Little Wonder and man, it is a blast to play! I am really having fun with it. I want to know if :

1. I can approach this topic on these boards
2. If so, are there any other ITB players out there?

Thanks,
Patrick

[zoukboy]

Don't mean to offend anyone with an out of band post but this really is related to mandolin playing.

As many who read this board probably know (I didn't until recently), the short scale, 17 fret, 4-string tenor banjo is often tuned an octave below a mandolin and played with a pick for use in Irish "trad" sessions. With this tuning, mandolin players can immediately adapt and play their reels, hornpipes etc on the banjo.

I am a mandolin player who just picked up his first ITB (Irish Tenor Banjo), a Deering Little Wonder and man, it is a blast to play! I am really having fun with it. I want to know if :

1. I can approach this topic on these boards
2. If so, are there any other ITB players out there?

Thanks,
Patrick
Patrick,

I am sure this is ok. there have been several discussions on here of how tenor banjo and mandolin relate to Irish traditional music. and there are several of us here.

By the way, a lot of Irish tenor players (myself included) use 19 fret tenors.

[Celtic Saguaro]

I have both a 17 fretter and a 19 fretter both tuned 'Irish.'

Since the single string tuning is identical to the pairs on the octave mandolin and the scale is similar, you will frequently see mention of them in the CBOM forum here.

[Bertram Henze]

I used to play the ITB for many years beside the mandolin, before I married them together and got an OM, which I play almost exclusively today.
The tenor banjo has built-in happiness and no volume problems in sessions. I still like to hear it. There is also a banjo track from Dan Beimborn's Shatter the Calm album here in the mp3 section.
No problem at all.

Bertram

[mandolooter]

I have one but it doesnt get much playing time anymore. I usually play my tenot guitar instead

[mikeyes]

There are plenty of tenor banjo players here and don't let the b*njo banter in other sections daunt you, most of it is just in fun.

Making the transition to banjo from mandolin is almost obligatory (not really) in sessions just because of the volume problem. The techniques are quite different as you will find, but the similarities make the transition fun and reasonably easy. You will grow to appreciated these differences but will also find that playing the tenor banjo will help your mandolin playing because you have to use your little finger so much. When you go back to the mandolin you find that you have a very strong little finger.

[JeffD]

Tenor banjo is a lot of fun. I agree with the built in happiness and strong little finger.

There is also a lot of tenor banjo stuff you can do besides Celtic - there is a whole 4 string banjo universe out there. I used to play four string banjo in a string band, with about 15 other banjos and a tuba. We wore straw hats and vests - it was a blast. And many of the tunes we played haunt me to this day. (I still play "Down Yonder" when no one is looking.)



You might be interested in checking out FIGA, the Fretted Instruments Guild of America. They have some mandolins too, but the emphasis seems to be banjo.

I really am addicted to the double strings of a mandolin however. The best compromise, if you like that banjo sound and the mandolin feel - is to get a banjolin. They are great fun, and frankly, I don't know why they aren't more popular. I have an Orpheum banjolin, that I love, but that is so darn heavy to carry around that I don't play it much.

[Rick C.]

Jeff, I like that sig line ;) #Or deer hunting...

Maybe I'm weird, but it was the right hand that always gave me fits on TB. #On a good day I could get it, but my house looked like a Pick Buffet while I was trying to get that down. #Perhaps if I hadn't spent years playing mando first I'd have had an easier time adjusting to the greater space between the strings and the lower tension. If Ihad my hand/pick in the right position and angle to pop triplets on the G,D, and A, most of the time I'd go to do one on the E string and it'd just go, "tink" and stop. Many people I played with liked what they heard from my banjo, but I knew what it was -supposed- to be doing.

I finally gave up, sold the banjer, and bought a loud mandolin-- though I still really do like the sound of the TB in a session.

Good luck to you!

# Rick

[danb]

I play tb now & then, also like to tune my 19-fret reso-tenor gdae. Sure, shouldn't be a taboo here, kind of like an octave mando or bouzouki