A Disquisition on Banjo Rolls.

How many rolls are there?

There are five strings on the banjo, so there are five one-note rolls.

If you make a rule that you don't pick a string twice in a row, once you pick a string to start on, you can go any one of 4 places next.
So there are 5 X 4 = 20 two-note rolls.

Every time you add a note to the roll, you have 4 strings to choose from, so the previous total number of possibilites grows 4 times larger.
Thus, there are 5 X 4 X 4 = 80 three-note rolls. And there are 5 X 4 X 4 X 4 = 320 four-note rolls.

There are 5 X 4 X 4 X 4 X 4 X 4 X 4 X 4 = 5 X 4⁷ = 81,920 eight-note rolls. Eight notes is one measure in most banjo music.

There are commonly sixteen measures in a banjo break. If you play straight through, without rests, there are 8 X 16 = 128 notes in a break.
So there would be 5 X 4¹²⁷ = 1.447401154664524427946373126086 X 10⁷⁷ possible combinations of rolls in a common break. Yikes!

That means that you can play straight-ahead bluegrass positions on the fingerboard, and still play stuff nobody ever played before!

But how can I ever learn that many rolls?

Fortunately, you don't have to.
The beat in most bluegrass is every 4 notes, so you can learn four-note rolls, of which there are only 320.

But it's even easier than that, if you think about the fact that you are playing with three fingers.

A forward roll is Thumb, Index, Middle whether your thumb starts on the 3rd string, or the 4th, or the 5th.
The trick is to get your picking hand used to following any one of your three fingers with any other.
You can learn the patterns on 3 strings, and move the patterns around over the 5 strings as needed.
Now this gives you just 3 X 2 X 2 X 2 = 24 patterns to learn.

Here are the 24 rolls you really need to learn:

I practice with the first 3 strings of the banjo, with the thumb on 3, index on 2, and middle on 1.
So TIMT would be 3213, and so forth.
This table is set up so that the identical rhythm pattern is shown starting on the thumb, middle and index respectively.
You should see that the thumb and middle patterns are mirror-images of each other.
The index patterns are in a class by themselves, and are under-utilized by most banjo players, IMHO.

How do I put these rolls into practice?

The Downbeat and Downbeat/Backbeat 4-note rolls can be repeated.
You can play chord scales with them for practice:

G.......D.......G.......C.......G.......C........D...........G..........
----0-------4-------5-------5-------9-------10---------12----------12---
--0---0---3---3---3---3---5---5---8---8---8----8----10----10----12----12
0-------2-------4-------5-------7-------9--------11----------12---------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now mix 'em up:

G.......D.......G.......C.......G.......C........D...........G..........
----0-----4---4---5---5-----------8-----------10----12----12-------12---
--0---0-----3-------------5---5-------8---8------------10------12-----12
0-------2-------4---4---5---5---7---7---9---9----11----------12---------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make sure you practice chord scales starting on the 1st and 2nd strings as well.
And practice them in all the keys; it's a great way to learn the fingerboard.

Some of my favorite rolls are here.

For the intrepid, here are 840 sixteen-note, non-repeating rolls organized by rhythm pattern.

I chose 16-note rolls because it's a convenient length for inventing licks.
None of the four-note patterns given above is repeated within a roll,
so these rolls will give your hand, and your mind, practice making quick changes.
There are 86 patterns, some more syncopated than others.
Take 'em one a day, like vitamins. They should loosen up your picking hand in no time.

Have fun! - Lauck Benson

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