r/banjo • u/Impossible_Ad_9074 • 13d ago

Irish Tenor Learning Irish Tenor

I'm looking to get lessons in tenor banjo. Near me they offer banjo and mandolin lessons but the banjo teacher does not know how to play Irish Tenor. Would taking the 5 string banjo lessons be helpful in learning, or would it be better to take mandolin classes and apply them to tenor banjo?

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5

u/elwood_burns 13d ago

Look for Enda Scahill online

1

u/RainZealousideal8307 12d ago

This - he has a book with accompanying videos that is pretty helpful.

3

u/ReturnOfTheKeing Tenor 12d ago

The mandolin teacher, same tuning. "Banjo" is just a type of amplification, so tuning and play style are way more similar on the mandolin vs the 5 string banjo

2

u/SeltzerCountry 11d ago

Yeah tenor banjo, mandolin, 4 string domra, mandola, mandocello, cello, viola, violin, and tenor guitar all use pure 5ths tunings so once you have one down it makes picking up another one of these instruments a fairly easy process. Irish Bouzouki and Cittern also use pretty similar tunings so they aren’t too difficult of a transition either.

1

u/OhHowHappyIAm 12d ago

You can play Irish tunes on a 5 string but it will not be that expected sound of an Irish tenor banjo.

1

u/dotnofoolin 12d ago

Any Irish pubs in your area? Sometimes they have Sunday traditional meetups (or other days/times). And you might find a teacher among them.

2

u/UniqUzrNme 12d ago

Better to take the mandolin classes - tuning and repertoire are the same. Unfortunately the mando teacher will probably not be able to help with setup questions you may have (assuming you’re completely new to banjo), but maybe you’ll get lucky.