Tenor banjos can be tuned in many different ways. The original tuning was in fifths CGDA, just like a viola or a mandola. This is very suitable for solo playing, and the relatively high tuning for it's scale gives the tenor a very loud and dominating sound, perfect as s solo instrument in a banjo ensemble.
It was also perfect for the jazz musicians of New Orleans in the 1920s who needed a loud but portable chord instrument for their bands.

The standard tuning isn't the only one possible, though. Irish musicians in the 1960s started tuning it a whole fourth lower (replacing the strings with heavier ones, of course) - GDAE. This gave the banjo a much softer and mellower sound - well suited the music style - and also made fiddle tunes easier to play.

Guitarists who doubles on the tenor often tune the instrument DGBE like the upper fourth string on a guitar. This tuning is often called "Chicago" tuning and is actually more common on the plectrum banjo than on the tenor, although it does fit both instruments well.
In fact all plectrum banjo tunings and many others as well can be used on a tenor. Here is a list of some of the alternatives.

Long or short scale tenor?

All tenor banjos are not created alike, they come in two distinctly different flavours.
The "normal" or long scale tenor banjo has 19 (or so) frets and a scale length of 55.5-58.5 cm (22-23").
The short scale tenor has 17 frets and a 50.5-54.5 cm (20-21.5") scale length. Apparently it was invented in the 1920s for mandolinist who wanted to double on the banjo.

The short scale tenor is actually often called "Irish banjo" and some people seem to believe that this is the Irish instrument, only for Irish music and the only banjo for Irish music. That's an over-simplification to put it mildly. Lots of Irish musicians play a long scale tenor banjo, and the short scale one is definitely known from other music traditions too.

The advantage of the short scale is that you can play it with "mandolin fingering," that is each left hand finger covering two frets. That means you can finger a tune just like you would on a mandolin and fiddle and also easily get the same phrasing.
The long scale tenor banjo usually requires "guitar fingering" (one finger for each fret) unless you happen to have large hands. This means you have to rethink the fingering, and it also means the highest notes are slightly harder to reach.

There are disadvantages to the short scale too, of course. A shorter scale means less tone and - especially with the low "Irish" tuning more intonation problems. The low G string gets very slack with a short scale, and some banjoists finds that string virtually impossible to use effectively.

None of the pros and cons of either type are that vital though, and there are great musicians producing great music both with long and short scale models. In the end it's a question of personal preferences, and perhaps even simply what instrument you happen to have.

If you're in doubt, I recommend you start with a long scale banjo. That is the most common variant, and it's fairly easy to temporary convert it to short scale if you like, just tune the instrument one note down (FCGD if you're in Irish tuning) and put a capo on the second fret.

The tenor banjo

Long or short scale tenor?

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