Learn Irish Banjo from Enda Scahill — Billboard #1 artist, Steve Martin Banjo Award winner, and founding member of We Banjo 3

Gear

STRINGS

For 19 fret tenor banjo this is what I use and recommend:

  • E String – 0.11
  • A String – 0.18 wound
  • D String – 0.26
  • G String – 0.34

I use long life coated strings from Elixir and D’Addario. To make this easy for you to find I now have two online stores supplying this as a custom set of strings.

For shipping to Ireland and EU – Moloney Music in Galway

For US/Canada/UK and Rest of the World – Trad Banjo

Picks

My preferred pick of choice (at the moment!) is the StringJoy Jumbo Jazz Strawberry 0.50mm pick available exclusively from StringJoy in Nashville.

They also have an Orange Soda 0.60 that I use if I’m playing in louder venues.

NOTE: Make sure to buy the JUMBO Jazz, as the regular ones are very small.

Dunlop Options

I also quite like the Dunlop Tortex Flow range of picks in a 0.50mm.
Of course the most famous pick is the Dunlop Nylon 0.63mm and this is a true workhorse that works for many people.

D'Addario Options

One pick from D’Addario that I do like is their Duralin Precision Pick in a 0.50mm. This is slightly longer than the comparable Stringjoy or Dunlop, and might suit some folks better.