Chiff and Fipple Forums

I have a fiddler friend who is (or thinks he is) interested in learning Irish banjo. I'd like to get him a tutorial book/video/whatever as a gift/incentive. Any recommendations for someone who has a good background in ITM but hasn't plucked.

Thanks and best wishes.

Steve

Enda Scahill's tutor ?

Gerry O'Connor has 2 tutorial sets I like a lot, called Complete Guide to Learning Irish Tenor Banjo (w/CD) and Irish Tenor Banjo Techniques (w/DVD). Although he normally plays CGDA, he wrote those and recorded the relevant material in GDAE, the more conventional tuning for Irish music as popularized by Barney McKenna. If your friend is interested in the higher tuning*, Gerry has other books for that as well.

I know this is late, but that's my 2 bits.

*For those who don't know, CGDA is tuned a fourth above GDAE, the relationship between the two tunings is the opposite of fiddle/viola. CGDA is more common as a Dixieland tuning, but can work for lighter approaches to ITM as well.

"Sully's Irish Banjo Book" by Anthony Sullivan (All Ireland Banjo Champion 1976) was/is a source of inspiration for me and also some great tunes.
As is the case with a lot of the "older" tutorial material, the 'basics' are covered sparsely but comprehensively. The expectation is that the pupil will learn and achieve each step before moving on to the next.
I don't have a fiddle background, but came to tenor banjo via guitar and whistle, so I had to learn to "read for banjo" ... your friend will have the advantage of being familiar with the music and having fretting-hand dexterity, just got to learn the picking hand
Good luck