its possible to play the tenor banjo,which is normally played with a plectrum and tuned gdae or cgda,like a 5 string using frailing wit the light gauge tenor banjo strings [cgda] strings but tuned dgb g,so you have the high 5 string,the second string can be tuned to b or d ,so the player has a choice as to which string he loses, see mirak pateks website,bluegrass and old timey can be played in this tuning.