Reply to Vincenzo: grazie, se sei il Vincenzo che conosco io ci conosciamo piu' o meno di vista essendo io il fratello di Giovanni di Grosseto. Felice di trovarti qui e ringrazio per l'offerta purtroppo impraticabile (cioe' almeno a Roma, poi magari se imparo qualcosa da me puo' darsi che ci si riveda in giro a suonare).
To others: well, I was thinking about Irish music, but I didn't really think about the type of banjo. What would you suggest?
From my humble point of view, it would be more useful to learn some simple theory and some Irish stuff or so, and then I think one should (nearly automatically) be able of understanding what's happening around him if he finds himself with others playing a Woody Guthrie's song or so, and also be able of playing a simple song of whatever country; while I think it would be quite annoying if you learn to play a tipically American banjo and then you can't play any Irish stuff because your banjo is not tuned the right way, or you aren't used to play with the tuning you're supposed to play, or simply you can't understand what the hell is going on with the other people playing.
I hope someone can help me, or else I'll have to learn to play that tin whistle. Not so amazing.