Welcome aboard, Mike! The best advice that I can give you is to find a teacher. Local, in person is best; there are also some excellent teachers who work online. Feedback from a teacher is really helpful, particularly when you're starting out. As a teacher myself, I can tell you that it's a LOT easier to work with someone who's fresh out of the box than it is to help someone who's been practicing the same mistakes for five years.

Agree with above. A teacher fir at least until you have some basics under your wing.it will keep you from pickingbup bad habits. Plus when you paying for lessons its an incentive to practice.

A challenge is to make the melody stand out, particularly in the face of the admonition to get your eighth notes as even as possible. (A favorite player of mine, Bobby Earl Davis of The Earl Brothers [highly recommended], said your timing should be like a sewing machine.) To do that, you need to know the melody and be able to sing along while you play. (It can be just in your head). I learned Cripple Creek from the playing of Buffy Sainte-Marie

Thank you all!!

You can do it. I believe in you!

Good work spreading the practice over multiple manageable sessions.

Give it time; the learning curve is years long and shifts unequally between flat, logarithmic and linear.

Welcome aboard. You'll never play it right fast until you play it right slowly. Kristin Scott Benson says to do a lot of application to a little technique until you get it right. Good advice.

Bobby

That's the lament of most beginners: so much to learn it gets confusing and discouraging.

Don't let that discourage you. You had to learn to crawl before you walked and walk before you ran. That took more than a month or two.

As you practice more and get used to both fretting and picking, it WILL become easier and easier. Take it slow, work on making clean, clear notes. Eventually, your brain and fingers will get together and you'll develop muscle memory. That can't be done in a week or a month but it is achievable.

And as everyone above has said: find a good teacher. You'll more correctly and have someone to guide you in the correct way which will make it easier for you.

No pain, no gain. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. All the best!

You might lean somewhat towards Ralph Stanleys style of playing. Its a simpler approach relying mostly on forward roll variations. Im thinking that since youre 69( im almost 71) you may progress a bit quicker with Stanley style. But it really depends on what really attracts you and how familiar you already are with bluegrass music. And how much practice time you can give it.
Most importantly you want it to be a fun experience

Listen to the songs you want to learn. Even if the player is going fast or being technical just hearing it is going to really help learn the piece.

Sometimes trying a few different beginner songs to find one you have the most fun with is more helpful than grinding gears on one specific song that isn't clicking yet. Early on I found that Boil Them Cabbages Down clicked with me most out of a few songs i tried, and that made it fun. I swear I practiced it day and night for a while because it was all my skill allowed me to do. But playing a simple thing half decently was more fun to me than grinding on something I wasn't really understanding yet. Having fun playing that simple tune was allowing me to have fun with repetition so practicing was easy.

As long as you pick up one new thing, no matter how small or trivial it may seem, every time you pick up the banjo, you're well on your way.

It's not a race. And dont compare yourself to others.

If ever you start being bored or disgusted with your own playing, put the banjo down for 24 to 48 hours and come back at it with a fresh mind.

It also helps to learn to play the songs and tunes you enjoy listening to and the ones that made you want to pick up the 5 string in the first place.

Lastly, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Walk before you run. Getting over the initial hump of wearing finger picks and fretting nores/chords at speed is probably the single most difficult hurlde to overcome.

But once that hump is passed, the fun in playing increases exponentially.

The only thing that will keep you going is passion and dedication. Neither of which anyone else can light in you. It has to come from you and you only.

Another recommendation to seek out a teacher. I went the self-taught route for about a year before starting lessons. That first year certainly wasn’t worthless, but I’ve spend considerable time unlearning bad habits since.

I’d also add that tension was/is a huge issue for me (and for many, from what I’ve heard). It’s hard to self-diagnose, but a good teacher will see it immediately.

It takes patience, but the payoff is worth it tenfold.

I always try to pass on this.... love the music. My inspiration is loving what Bluegrass ( and the banjo ) does for me. It is not just a hobby, it is a life companion, a spiritual thing. I wonder how many others feel this way about what their music brings to them. From that I just love to listen to, and play ( started at 20, now 62 and a very youthful 62, I thank Bluegrass for that. All else will follow. I'll add that I live in England but have been to the states a few times to meet Ralph, Jimmy and a few other first generation legends. To that I would say don't get hung up on TAB too much. Feel the music and play with other like minded souls where ever possible. Peace !