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Originally posted by Nopix

I kept a stable of cheap mandolins, I'd lone out. There'd be a sheet of two and three chord tunes, and a sheet of two-fingered chords. Some would take years to return. I think one is still at large. I found a fellow that didn't recognize a single tune or song. In fact between church and a.m. radio, he couldn't give me a single song title. I never knew anyone that couldn't sing a dirty song from the back of a schoolbus.

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That's me!    I barely attended any school activities with music; bus or otherwise.  I recognize songs my kids play on Alexa by annoyance level names, meaning I make up a name reflecting how the song annoys me.   I can recognize all the John Williams stuff from his movies, most Bach, anything by Mozart or Brahms, Chopin, and Tchaikovsky.   And Sousa and Copeland this time of year.  I do listen to that music.  And I used to play it loud enough that my kids got up for school.  But it seems different than the I Iv V in the old time songs.  Not in a good or bad way. It's just different with a bit more layered in the classical stuff.  I think it's all western which does come from the circle of fifths I think.  Again, I'm a total novice at music theory and I don't listen to much.  These are the concerts my family took me to in the 70s and 80s.  

How did you get on with the 'classic' fingerstyle banjo and working through the tutor books?

Not all jams are created equally.
Some want to play a few tunes with strangers while others are into furthering their musical careers.

Choosing a tune with difficult timing or chord progressions can impress some while leaving out the others.A jam should include everyone that bothered to show up.

You will never be able to find your way in a jam if you cannot recognize relative pitch (melody) and timing+emphasis (rhythm). You are like someone who was born with one leg, grew up using a wheelchair, and then got fitted with a prosthesis for the first time in adulthood. There's no way you'll just strap on that new leg and even be able to stand, much less walk or run. Your brain is programmed to learn how to walk through a specific set of steps, which are there instinctively when you're about a year old. If you instead start the process at, say, 30, your nervous system still needs to go through all the steps to acquire the skill, but the instinct is gone! You can still learn to walk, but it will take a lot of conscious study, and therapy from someone who understands how to simulate all the steps you missed.

If you never sang or danced as a child, you are going to have to go all the way back to square #1-- like learning to sing "3 Blind Mice", "Mary Had A Little Lamb", and "BINGO", to distinguish instantly among them when you hear them, and to march, tap a foot, or clap hands in time with them, LONG before you'll even start to understand how a jam works.

As is often the case, Dan cuts to the heart of thr matter.

But even if you "Can't find your way in a jam" does not mean you cannot gain something from going there. 1. You can practice watching guitar player hands and see if you can get in the right chords with them. 2 you can get more familiar with just being there. 3. You might meet someone who can help you ..maybe a real good player that can teach or play with you one on one or someone of your own level who may be a bit lost like you. You two could form a mini jam. 4. you could record a song or two, make notes on the chords they are playing (from watching guitar player hands) and then try to play with it at home.
Finally, and I am very surprised someone has not mentioned this..Pete Wernick offers some great great jam classes for people that want to break into it. He has teachers that offer them all over the country. The classes teach you how to do it, talk a little theory..(enough so you can function, but not so much it will put you to sleep). And they will have you jamming before the first hour is up. Dr Banjo believes in playing music first and then refining your skills. And you don't have to worry about fitting in. Everyone will be in the same boat as you. here is a website for Wernick Method Jam Classes. He says you will be jamming in MINUTES!! and his classes have taught thousands..https://wernickmethod.org/   And you will meet people in your area at your level to play with. 

ken

I’m good, all. It was a moment of frustration at banjo camp. I really enjoy practicing and learning tunes and I’m learning them faster now and noticing more patterns. I don’t ever play from tab although I do enjoy converting the tunes into sheet music.

I learned a lot at banjo camp especially a class on playing up the neck in double C by Lukas Pool where he taught all sorts of inversions and shapes in the middle of the neck.

But I’m ok. I don’t mind taking years to develop small skills for myself doing repeat things for years. I’m perfectly happing playing Polly out the kettle on 100 times a day at the same pace trying to make it reproducible.

That’s good that you’re having fun. That’s why we play banjo.

Now you’re home from the buzz of banjo camp it might be a good time to think about how you’re practicing. When learning new tunes we all do the obvious i.e. figuring out the efficient fingering, segmenting and  repetition to smooth out less comfortable passages, and committing the tune to memory. However…

…the frustration at the core of your thread requires more than simply memorising tunes. Coming off the back of that camp is maybe a timely point to discuss your goal with your teacher and re-evaluate. This way you can be helped to hone your practice to meet your specific need.

A sequence of tune, tune, tune can give an illusion of progress. Because more tunes is progress, right? Wrong.

Progress is achieved by slowly working at and fractionally beyond the various margins of your current technical ability. The paradox is - in regard to something beyond current ability how does inexperience identify and stay within that productive zone where the degree of difficulty is not ‘too safe’ or ‘too ambitious’? Having an experienced overview from someone who knows your playing means that precise degree of difficulty can be managed and progress made more deliberately, consistently and efficiently.

I went to a country and western jam in New Hampshire last night.
Drums,Teles,Strats,amps and lots of older country songs.
I told them to let me know if my banjo got out of hand and I got away with Columbus Stockade and White Freight-liner.
I was careful to not over-power anyone and got a lot of positive feed-back.
Anything requires being careful.