Wow, Calvin, You've asked some good questions there. First, I want to tell you I strongly disagree with your teacher's statement "the banjo could not be played with other types of music." I'm assuming he means it's only for bluegrass, but I must refer to Pete Seeger and many others who play great banjo as part of many many different musical styles. Please don't assume that to learn an instrument you have to take lessons. They often help, of course, but not all good musicians are good teachers, and they can actually lead a student toward discouragement if they aren't careful in what they teach.

You might try Pete Seeger's instruction book and recording(s) that come with it. Consult the classified ads in Banjo Newsletter. You can get an issue from them free by mentioning my name. Their web site is banjonews.com. You will also see a lot of items advertised that will help answer the questions you asked me. Their site also has music downloads of different kidns of banjo music, and you would enjoy those I'm sure (as well as getting proof positive that the banjo is versatile). Learning banjo is a long journey, not easily summed up in one message like this.

Another note, the chords you gave names for don't really exist by those names. But I think Seeger's book, as well as various others, do show how all sorts of chords are played, and once you learn the ones you need for the songs you want to play, you could sing through the songs while changing chords as efficiently as you can. That would be a good start learning to play those songs.

I hope you will browse a little on my web site and consider getting either my new Getting Rolling video, which presents the rudiments of music making and bluegrass picking, and/or Beginning Bluegrass Banjo, which is a more complete video course starting from scratch moving through many of the basics of bluegrass style. Both will present a lot of material that I think you'll find useful.

Best of luck learning banjo!

Pete