Hey y’all,
I had my first porch picking meet up with some really fantastic guitar, dobro, and banjo players today. It was a lot of fun but also very daunting for me. I pulled out some of my banjoben tabs and they played along with me. I play mandolin. It was great to see the songs come to life, though in between songs I could read they played songs I had heard and even played before but I couldn’t keep up with them. Half the time I was unable to remember the notes or the melody to the tune and then when I heard them play it I still couldn’t keep up or process the changes quickly enough. I ended up just kind of watching a lot when I didnt have a Tab print out in front of me. I know it will take years for me to get to the same level as them and have a more natural feel for playing along with others, but I’m wondering if there are any tips on how to improve. It felt awkward and I’m kind of an introvert . It was difficult for me to take risks and sound so out of sync with everyone. They were all nice good people of course, but still, I like to get better. Does anyone have any tips on how to improve memory retention or even ear training? I purchased a mandolin fake book that banjo Ben once recommended and am going to bone up on learning the basic melodies to songs first, but I can’t begin to think how to memorize them. Any tips would be appreciated.