JohnTh - Posted - 02/07/2010:  14:38:49

Hi,

Can anyone recommend any roll based warmup exercises that will help with developing knowledge of chord progressions and the banjo's neck? I guess I also mean anything that will help with creating a break over chords without trying to follow the melody.

I've tried sticking to a roll (e.g. forward or forward/backward) and following simple progressions (e.g. G,C,D,F) in various positions up the neck but this can get slightly repetitive. It would good to discover some new techniques.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

John

Bigbike4 - Posted - 02/07/2010:  15:03:07

When learning, repetition is good. You stated it can get "slightly repetitive". What I do is learn a simple tune really well-say something like Boil them Cabbage. I start by playing the chords in the first postion (down the neck) then as I feel warmed up in the first 2 frets, move the chords up the neck to the next place to play G, C, D (or D7 depending on whose learnin you is followin). I will do this up and down the neck a few times playing forward/forward-reverse etc.

If that don't work for ya, then study someone whose banjo playing you admire, figure out what chords they are using and find as many positions up and down the neck with them. That should take the "repetitve" thing completely out of the equation.

big bird - Posted - 02/07/2010:  15:17:28

Hey John, Ross Nickerson's "Banjo Encyclopedia" has a lot of great exercise's in it. I do a (first measure)= 3-1-5-2-1-5-3-1 (2nd measure)=2-1-5-2-1-5-2-1 I do this warm-up exercise useing a metronome and counting out loud--- 1and2and3and4and etc. going up ind down the fretboard alternating the F position, the D position and the Barre position. If you do this start at a slow BPM on your metronone and is a good practice for the different progression's.

Big Bird

youdye - Posted - 02/07/2010:  17:41:39

I agree with big bird, Ross's book has a TON of rolls and exercises in it that are fantastic. Check it out.

JohnTh - Posted - 02/08/2010:  05:16:41

Thanks for the help,

I'll give those a try.

John

steve davis - Posted - 02/08/2010:  05:42:56

It won't sound so repetitive if you include some of the melody.
Each melody is different and will automatically help you to not
sound too repetitive.

minstrelmike - Posted - 02/08/2010:  12:34:24

I try to split stuff when exercising, not join it. Thus, if I want to practice chord progressions, I do so without rolls (strum/vamp). If I want to practice rolls, then I do so by themselves without left-hand stuff.

If I want to practice improv at speed, then I work on doing rolls out of chord shapes. Do your D shape chord and find the relative minor and also do the 4,5 chords as the other two close shapes. Do so starting with the F-shape chord also.

That gets boring quickly. Then instead of doing 1,4,5, choose _songs_ and play their chord progressions various places on the neck.
======================

For melody exploration with rolls, I tell folks to spike the 5th string to A and play rolls on only 3 strings, 1st, 2nd and 5th string and only fret the 2nd string. The marked frets indicate the pentatonic scale in D and if you start on the 3rd or 15th fret, you can play a lot of songs just fretting the marked 2nd string frets while doing rolls at random to try to express the melody.

Once you get reasonably adept, yu can find the other two notes and work out Home Sweet Home and Grandfather's Clock and many other songs with only a single string melody.

You can do the same thing without spiking the 5th string and playing only the 1st, 3rd and 5th strings and exploring in the key of G.

These are both good picking exercises (as opposed to chording exercises).

5th string nut - Posted - 02/08/2010:  21:32:00

Hi John,

Just curious: Why do you want to be able to create a break that doesn't follow the melody?

Happy Pickin',

Jason

JohnTh - Posted - 02/09/2010:  05:31:03

I've noticed other players often just seem to roll over various left hand positions to create a break, in situations where they don't know the melody but can follow the chords.

I think my original question was really about how to make the step from exercise to tune, so thanks for the useful suggestions.

5th string nut - Posted - 02/09/2010:  11:53:07

Hi John,

For a chord-based approach to making the step from exercise to tune, I would suggest experimenting around with adding in non-chord notes that are easily accessible from within closed chord positions, while mixing up the various rolls, to see what kind of melody lines you can create or find in the process.

For instance, within an 'F-shape' C chord (frets 8, 9, and 10), one has easy access to the F and A notes located at the 10th fret of the 3rd and 2nd strings respectively simply by dropping the ring finger from the 4th string to the 3rd and 2nd strings while holding the rest of the chord in place. And, from a 'D-shape' G chord (frets 7, 8, and 9), one has easy access to the E note at the 9th fret of 3rd string simply by dropping the ring finger from the 4th string to the 3rd string. The F# note at the 7th fret of the 2nd string is also accessible from this position if one lifts the middle finger off the 8th fret of the 2nd string while dropping the index finger from the 3rd string to the 2nd string. (To access even more potential melody notes from this chord shape, and from the 'barre-shape' as well, you could experiment around with 2 finger chord positions on the 1st and 2nd strings, varying your choice of fingers for holding these shapes in place.)

Happy Pickin',

Jason

stanleytone - Posted - 02/09/2010:  13:18:25

well,if youre up for it ,get pat cloud's key to the 5 string banjo.you want excersizes?
you'll get 'em there,and all over the fret board.

Edited by - stanleytone on 02/09/2010 13:18:57