CRANKY YANKEE I agree that 5 string banjo, even played 'merican style works well for Irish and Scot folk songs and tunes. I have seen a few 5 string players playing tunes in the trad styles, as Seamus is pointing out ... in fact, I watched a real wiz at the NTIF fest Seamus is talking about. I saw him warming up in the musician's area with two other players.

For me learning banjo is less about the picking methods then it is about the way a banjo is used ... it is, in some ways, a lot like a lead guitar player in a rock or country band - notes, fills, solos - but it is also a major component of the rhythym. Screw up on guitar, and you can slide, screw up on banjo and everyone knows it, especially if the error is a timing error.