The irish tenor banjo is in fact a very versatile instrument. It can reach as high as the five-string banjo and the plectrum banjo, it can reach almost as low as the guitar-banjo and the tuning isn't that different from standard tenor banjo tuning. Oh, there are limits. You can emulate folk/bluegrass fingerpicking on an irish tenor, but it's hard to get that drone note of the five-stringer going, and although you can play chord/melody style just fine, you'll never get the close-spaced chords of a plectrum banjo or a guitar-banjo.
Even so; I've met a couple of members of the banjo family, and I've found the irish tenor to be the true jack-of-all-trades among them.

You don't believe me? Why don't you have a look at Mirék Patek's site for some lessons in fingerpicking or take a look at The Irish Banjo's sister site The Blues Banjo for some real surprises!
Or stay here and read on...

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Combining Irish and jazz tenor banjo