Chords for Introduction to the Irish Tenor Banjo - Mandolin Lesson

_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ [F#] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
_ [F#] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ [F#] _ _ _ [F#m] _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ [F#] _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ Hi everybody, welcome back to Mando Lessons, my name is Baron Collins-Hill, and this is
not a mandolin.
I wanted to do a quick introduction to the Irish tenor banjo.
Now tenor banjos have been around for a long time, and people tune [D] them in various different
ways, but I'm going to be talking about Irish tenor banjo, it's tuned an octave lower than
a mandolin, so that's easy to remember, and people often play them in Irish music as a
study instrument, and I just wanted to give you a little sound sample this week of what
the Irish tenor banjo sounds like, and kind of how I like to use it in traditional Irish music.
So as you can hear, it's got that very kind of aggressive in a nice way, _ _ _ [E] very _ [B] _ [E] _ _ [N] percussive
sound, it's quite a bit louder than a mandolin.
I got into playing Irish tenor banjo in sessions because if I was playing in larger sessions
with lots and lots of fiddle players, I was having trouble hearing myself, and if I'm
trying to lead sets of tunes, the mandolin wasn't quite cutting through and I wasn't
able to lead sessions as effectively as I would like, so I got into playing the Irish tenor banjo.
Now traditionally, in Irish music, the tenor banjo is used exclusively as a percussive,
as a _ melodic instrument, so [D] you don't hear a whole lot of people [G] playing _ [A] _ _ _ [F#] _ chords on it.
You certainly can play chords, but it's not part of the tradition for the most part in
Irish music, _ and that's because it's a very loud instrument and you can really kind of
overtake the sound of the melody, especially in smaller sessions with a tenor banjo if
you're just chording along.
Now what I really like about the tenor banjo is it's a very kind of focused, very percussive
sound, you know, even if I'm not playing notes, [D#] _ _ _ _
[D] you can sort of get a sense of that
percussive nature.
There's not a whole lot of sustain that comes out of these things _ _ _ _ versus a mandolin or a
fiddle, you know, it's a very _ kind of treble-focused sound, so, you know, they're not known for
their beautiful big booming bass sound that comes out of a banjo, you know, it's really
about having a nice sound that really cuts through _ in a session and adds a little bit
of kind of percussive and power and energy to the melody side of an Irish session. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
[F#m] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [F#m] _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F#m] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ One of the really nice things and one of the most kind of cool sounds that I love getting
[Dm] out of the tenor banjo is that triplet.
[F#m] _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [F#m] _ _
_ [A] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ [D] _ _
[B] Really amps up the percussive nature of the instrument.
Now if you've watched any lessons on mandolessons.com about triplets, you'll know that I really
like to mute [Am] _ _ _ [N] kind of two-thirds of that triplet sound and that really adds, again, that really
percussive sound when you do it on a banjo. _
So maybe you have a tenor banjo sitting around the house somewhere, maybe you've been interested
in tenor banjo but don't know a whole lot about them.
They're certainly out there, you know, keep an eye on Craigslist and eBay and all those
sort of places.
You can often find old ones for not too much money.
Sometimes they'll need a little bit of work.
You know, I did a lesson on the _ mandolin banjo a little while ago, which is tuned like a
mandolin but also a banjo.
And again, you know, they often need a little bit of work.
There's also companies making new ones these days so that might be a better way to just
grab a banjo and be off to the races.
But if you want to find a good deal on an old one and maybe put a little work into it,
you can often scoop one up for not too much money.
They're a lot of fun.
My only suggestion is, you know, because these things are really loud, _ they can really quickly
take over a session if [D] you're kind of playing them.
I don't do a whole lot of double stops.
_ [E] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
Any of that sort of double stop stuff really amps up the volume pretty quick.
So if you're getting into playing tenor banjo, I would say, you know, be extra mindful at
sessions because you really can put out a lot of sound and you don't want to sort of
steamroll a session and make it so other people can't hear themselves or that you're
kind of taking over the tempo or the lead of the session.
_ But that's all for now.
I just wanted to give you a little taste of the tenor banjo.
Let me know in the comments if you've got a tenor banjo or you play one.
I love them because, you know, if you play mandolin, it's the same tuning.
The only difference really is you can kind of go, depending on the scale length of the
instrument, they'll vary anywhere from like 19 to 23 inches in scale length.
_ So some people will use them with mandolin fingering where [Am] second fret with the first
finger, [B] _ _ fourth fret with the [Am] middle finger, fifth with the [Bm] ring, and seventh with the pinky.
And if it's a longer scale length, this is a short scale length, so I use that fingering.
But on longer scale instruments, you might need to use your [Am] pinky on the fifth fret.
So _ [D] open, pointer on the second [D#] fret, ring on the [B] fourth, and pinky on the fifth.
Kind of more guitar fingering.
But you know, it really depends on how big your hands are, what the scale of the instrument is.
So let me know in the _ comments if there's any tenor banjo enthusiasts out there.
I really like them a lot.
They're a lot of fun to play, especially in larger and louder Irish sessions where you
want to be able to add a little more power.
Again, you've got to be a little careful, but it's all worth learning in my opinion.
Thanks so much for watching.
Hope to see you again soon.
Bye bye.
[N] _