Hello,

The best way to perfect your rolls, so that all the individual notes are equally spaced is by playing the roll over and over and over at at slow speed with a metronome. Do this with your forward, backward, and alternating rolls. Consciously focus on the volume and intensity of each note with the intention of making each note uniform. If you do this repeatedly, then in general, your rolls will start to sound more evenly spaced. You can view making your rolls as rhythmically perfect as possible as the rule.

"Drive" in my opinion is the intentional or unintentional breaking of that rule. Drive is created by pushing the tempo a little bit, for example: by hitting the note on the downbeat a tiny bit early. But you have to understand and be comfortable with the roll and the tune before you can start thinking about pushing the tempo if that makes any sense.

There is a lot of debate as to what "drive" actually is, and how to measure and achieve it. In my own personal experience, my being able to achieve it just comes from practicing until I can get a tune up to the tempo I want. Once I feel comfortable with that, then pushing the tempo in a jam setting feels natural, and I'm not actually very conscious of it.

I have used a metronome for roll practice and it has helped my sound.

Thanks for the replies. I'm actually trying to practice with the metronome right now, but to be honest, it's really boring. Thanks again!"

In Pete Wernick's book "Bluegrass Banjo" on like p.2 or 3 there's 6 banjo rolls. Forward 1, Forward 2, Alternating Thumb, Forward Backward, Foggy Mountain Breakdown Roll and 1 more (name escapes me right now)

so that's 6 rolls, get a timer and set it to go off at 5 minutes and do each of them for 5 minutes a day for 30 minutes. Do that for a month and that'll get that right hand smoothed out quite a bit

Concentrate on the planting of your RH fingers more than playing,

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Originally posted by Joseba Andoni

Thanks for the replies. I'm actually trying to practice with the metronome right now, but to be honest, it's really boring. Thanks again!"

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You can put a show on to keep you company. The keyboard desk warriors usually come after me when I say that with their "100% of your focus should be on practice" but I'm not sure that there's many pros that NEVER watched tv and woodsheded at the same time

Boring? No pain, no gain….. hang in there!

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Originally posted by ScruggsMcGee

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Originally posted by Joseba Andoni

Thanks for the replies. I'm actually trying to practice with the metronome right now, but to be honest, it's really boring. Thanks again!"

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You can put a show on to keep you company. The keyboard desk warriors usually come after me when I say that with their "100% of your focus should be on practice" but I'm not sure that there's many pros that NEVER watched tv and woodsheded at the same time

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I used to have a music teacher that would encourage practicing the basics while watching tv. It certainly can be helpful to get the muscle memory down. You want to be able to to move your fingers without having to think about it. This frees your brain up to think about the next lick you might want to try out, or engage with an audience, or tune in to what your fellow jammers are doing.

As in Earl‘s book, use this fingering on the left hand as you do your rolls.

0xx85

This video explains how to do it:
youtu.be/J6wrHPSAX5I

You can also use the app strum machine on the phone, that is less boring, and practice it with your favorite bluegrass song.

To keep it from being so boring, try doing 2 bars of g, 2 bars of c and 2 bars of d and do that over and over. If you can find some software that you are able to input chords in, then you have music to roll with and that helps keep the boring tolerable.

Also, try sliding into a root note and finishing off the roll. Again any little frill you can add will keep the bordom at bay.

I used to use Band in a Box (and still do) for practicing my rolls. If you can't afford that software, maybe Tabledit would work as I know you can input chords into that software and again, have music to work with while you concentrate on your rolls.

You might also try counting and you roll, sometimes that helps keep rolls even.

Practicing with a metronome is great, but try recording yourself with the metronome and then listening back to it. Feedback is really important. Play for 30 to 60 seconds while recording. Listen to the recording. Do it again, adjusting based on what you heard. Do it over and over. Eventually you’ll hear the sound you want. But you can’t really play and listen. Recording for feedback is the key.

You’ll need to do it every day for a while.

Backing tracks
 

these are not free but they may make your practice a little less boring. Because it's going to take a lot of practice. 

Hi Joseba,

Use your body's timing to get rolls smooth. Try saying out loud and counting: 1, 2, 3, 4,  5, 6 over and over. Do you notice that when you say and count that over and over out loud it sounds even? Play your rolls with the same timing as your voice and body gives you. Counting is really not only mechanical, it's physical also....Jack

Originally posted by Joseba Andoni

Hello to all the forum members,
How are you all doing? I have a question.
I want to work on the timing of my rolls so they sound completely steady and even, without any micro-pauses.
I’m looking for a fluid, cyclical sound where the beginning and end of the roll connect seamlessly.
Right now, my rolls sound a bit choppy; I want them to have that continuous, cyclical cadence typical of the Scruggs style.
Could you suggest a practice method?
Is there a specific roll for achieving that bluegrass sound? I’ve noticed that some musicians get that sound simply by playing a continuous roll.
Andoni
Please excuse the language; I have to use a translator.

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The metronome is your friend. But the best thing anyone playing music is to play with other musicians as much as possible. Thats the facts jack.

Some wise advice I was given was to truly practice WITH the metronome. I was good at turning it on, but only being half-aware of it. Depending on your metronome, you can also vary the frequency of the clicks so that they happen for every note, every other, every 4th, etc.

I also was advised to pick through the string quickly, even when playing slow, to avoid unwanted string noise.

Free Bluegrass Backing Tracks dot Com.

I don't believe there is "a specific roll for achieving that bluegrass sound" (because all of them do or can) I also believe for exercise purposes one roll pattern that sounds and feels really fluid is an 8-note, 1-measure, forward roll pattern with the two make-up notes (needed for 8) in the middle instead of the beginning or end.

The picking finger sequence is:  T-I-M-T-M-T-I-M

There are lots of string patterns for this, with either open or fretted notes. I can't possibly name them all.

Just a few would be:

4-3-1-5-1-3-2-1   (which gets every string picked)

4-3-1-5-1-5-3-1

3-2-1-5-1-3-2-1

But really almost anything.

Start with all strings open. Then try sliding 2-5 on 4th string when it's followed by open third. That might be a way to introduce drive.  3-2 slide on 3rd string when it's followed by open 2nd is another way to make the exercise sound like you're playing banjo.

Repeating this pattern probably doesn't work for playing leads. If you use it at all in a repeating way it's probably more for metronomic rolling backup, with maybe an emphasis on the one. Lead playing trying to convey melody tends not to sound like this. 

Instead of practicing rolls with a metronome, practice the songs you know with a metronome. Do it at a rate of two beats per measure, not four beats per measure. Playing songs with the metronome will likely be more difficult than playing rolls with a metronome, but the object is to play songs, not rolls.

I watched the video of you playing Jesse James. You're ready to try to start playing that song with a metronome. It won't be easy, but if you stick with it and figure out how to do it, you will be amazed at the results.

Also, I would urge you to listen to the Picky Fingers Podcast interview with Ron Stewart.  He provides a good explanation of what "drive" is.  Below is a link to the podcast video.

Picky Fingers Podcast - Ron Stewart

I appreciate your info. I've been teaching Music Compostion at a Major University for 35 years. I think I've got the hang of how to use a Metronome and playing with others. But thanks....Jack

 

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Originally posted by RDP

The metronome is your friend. But the best thing anyone playing music is to play with other musicians as much as possible. Thats the facts jack.

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I don't know if I can explain this right, but one exercise that's fun is to do a continuous, flowing roll, by slightly changing the accent of the beat. Instead of a standard forward roll, T,M,T,I,M,T,I,M, you do the same exact 3 finger sequence over and over, keeping an 8 note/beat sequence.. You can start on any finger. With the thumb it would be, T,M,T,I,M,T,I,M,T,I,M,T,I,M....
To make that simpler, if starting with the index, would be I,M,T,I,M,T,I,M,T.... With the middle would be M,T,I repeated.
The trick is getting into the groove of the music and accenting the beat on the next adjacent string. (Every 8th) So, for I,M,T, the first Index would get the first emphasis, then the second T (after first T), then the second M after that. Thus, the accent with this method will always go in the order of the next string. Hope that makes sense.

This Method is used by all Music Dept. Universites to teach proper timing and rhythm. It is what I was trying to say below but largely ignored--HA what's new?

Dalcroze Method

Originally posted by Jack Baker

Hi Joseba,

Use your body's timing to get rolls smooth. Try saying out loud and counting: 1, 2, 3, 4,  5, 6 over and over. Do you notice that when you say and count that over and over out loud it sounds even? Play your rolls with the same timing as your voice and body gives you. Counting is really not only mechanical, it's physical also....Jack

 

Originally posted by Joseba Andoni

Hello to all the forum members,
How are you all doing? I have a question.

 

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Something else to keep in mind, is mechanical stuff. If my picks are too straight, they catch too much. If they are too curved they don’t catch enough. If my thumb pick is too long, it bounces off the head too much, like grounding a golf club. If it’s too short, I wiff strings. If my banjo hangs too low, my fingers get too straight, if my banjo hangs too high, my fingers curl too much. And neck angle matters a lot, too high or too low and picks don’t hit the strings square, and compensating with wrist angle can cause fatigue and slop. I’m sure there’s more. All these things have a personal sweet spot, and when everything is just right, magic happens, and smooth even rolls seem effortless.

Metronome si very important in my view but you must be very carefull: I have a long experience as a music teacher and many of my students when playing with the metronome they keep the time at the beginning and then gradually loose the beat, when you are playing with the metronome you must choose a speed that you can keep and be very carefull listening to the beat, then gradually increase the speed… it’s a sort of ‘zen’ approach but Imo it makes the difference…

Timing, smoothness, and bearing engagement regarding the banjo topic. I want to thank everyone for your collaboration in the replies; your opinions are highly valuable and I am truly grateful