Which pick for Irish tenor banjo and mandolin
Thinner than you expect, and much thinner than a mandolin pick. If you are fighting your plectrum through triplets, it is almost certainly too heavy. Here is what the named Irish teachers actually use.
- Pick thickness for Irish banjo
- 0.46mm to 0.7mm. Thinner than most people expect
- Enda Scahill plays
- A 0.7mm pick
- Commonly reported for Irish trad
- A 0.50mm Dunlop Tortex
- Pick thickness for mandolin
- 1.15mm to 1.5mm. Roughly twice as thick
- Why banjo is thinner
- A thick pick resists too much through triplets
- Why mandolin is thicker
- It has to drive a double course of strings
What thickness pick for Irish tenor banjo?
Between 0.46mm and 0.7mm. Irish tenor banjo players use thin picks and the agreement between teachers is unusually tight. Enda Scahill's signature pick is 0.7mm and he recommends a 0.50mm elsewhere. A 0.50mm Dunlop Tortex is the figure Irish players report most often, against around 1mm for bluegrass, and the reason given is always the same: a thicker pick offers too much resistance, particularly when picking triplets. McNeela's buyer guidance puts the range at 0.46mm to 0.60mm nylon.
A mandolin is a different instrument with a different answer. The standard there is 1.15mm to 1.5mm, going up to 2.0mm for tremolo playing.
| Instrument | Weight | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Irish tenor banjo | 0.7mm | Enda Scahill, signature pick |
| Irish tenor banjo | 0.50mm Dunlop Tortex | Widely reported by Irish trad players |
| Irish tenor banjo | 0.46 to 0.60mm nylon | McNeela buyer's guide |
| Bluegrass banjo | about 1mm | For contrast |
| Mandolin | 1.15 to 1.5mm | Mandolin standard |
| Mandolin, tremolo | up to 2.0mm | Mandolin standard |
Why do banjo and mandolin need different picks?
A mandolin has four courses of two strings each, so eight strings in pairs. The pick has to put enough energy into a pair of strings to make them speak together, and a thin pick cannot do it. That is why mandolin picks are heavy.
A tenor banjo has four single strings on a drum head, and it is already loud. The pick does not need to drive anything. What it needs to do is get out of the way quickly, and the place that matters most is the triplet, where three notes happen in the space of one and any resistance from the pick becomes a wall.
How do you know your pick is the wrong thickness?
Triplets are where it shows first. The signs of a pick that is too heavy are specific. Triplets come out uneven or you avoid them. You find yourself gripping harder as the tune speeds up. The tone is harsh on the top string. Your forearm tires within a few tunes.
The signs of one that is too light are easier to spot: the pick folds and slips on the downstroke, the sound goes thin and clicky, and you lose the accent that should be landing on the first note of each group.
One caveat that runs through everything written about Irish banjo technique: most of what feels like a pick problem is tension. Teachers are unanimous that the triplet comes from relaxation rather than effort, and a lighter pick helps mainly because it lets you stop fighting.
A thicker pick offers too much resistance, and the triplet is where you feel it first.
Where these figures come from, and what we could not verify?
Enda Scahill's 0.7mm is a published signature pick, and the 0.46mm to 0.60mm nylon range is McNeela's own buyer guidance. Both are checkable.
The 0.50mm Dunlop Tortex is reported repeatedly by Irish traditional players in public discussion, and it is the figure most often given. We previously attributed it, and a sentence about resistance through triplets, to a named player as a direct quote. We could not verify that attribution, so the quotation marks and the name have been removed and the substance is now given as what players report. The reasoning stands on its own and the number is well attested. The wording was not ours to put in somebody's mouth.
That correction is here rather than deleted quietly, because a page that tells you what it could not confirm is worth more than one that reads as though everything was equally certain.
Which picks should you buy?
Buy a mixed pack rather than a single pick. They cost almost nothing, and the difference between 0.50mm and 0.73mm is large in the hand and impossible to judge from a description.
Start at 0.50mm and work up until the pick stops folding on you. Most Irish banjo players land somewhere between 0.50mm and 0.73mm and stay there.
If you play both banjo and mandolin, carry two. This is one of the few places where the same technique genuinely needs different equipment.
Questions about picks
The things people ask before they commit to an answer.
Between 0.46mm and 0.7mm. Enda Scahill's signature pick is 0.7mm, a 0.50mm Dunlop Tortex is the most commonly reported choice among Irish players, and published buyer guidance puts the range at 0.46mm to 0.60mm in nylon. Start around 0.50mm and go up until it stops folding on the downstroke.
Yes, and most Irish banjo picks are ordinary guitar picks in a light gauge. What matters is the weight rather than the label. A medium guitar pick at around 0.70mm is already at the top of the Irish banjo range.
A mandolin has four courses of two strings each, and a pick has to put enough energy into a pair to make them sound together. A tenor banjo has four single strings on a drum head and is already loud, so the pick only needs to move out of the way quickly.
Considerably, and it is the reason Irish players give for choosing a thin pick: a thicker one offers too much resistance through a triplet. A triplet is three notes in the space of one, so anything slowing the pick down shows up there first.
His signature pick is 0.7mm, and he has recommended a 0.50mm elsewhere. That sits at the heavier end of the Irish banjo range and well under the mandolin standard.
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