A
roll is a
sequence or
pattern of picked
banjo
notes in
Scruggs style
bluegrass music.
They tend to be built of 8th notes, with scattered 16th notes as well as the occational quarter note or half note for emphasis or pause.
Rolls are named after the right hand plucking pattern, not the fretted strings that are being plucked. A forward roll is still a forward roll whether it is strings 1-3 being plucked, 1,2, and 5, or 2-4. In short, the patterns are portable.
Rolls are different from riffs in three respects:
- they typically make up a four beat measure.
- they are components and can be strung together to create melody as well as counterpoint
- they are not typically breaks, although they certainly could be building blocks to construct a riff
Some common rolls that
Earl Scruggs used on a
five string banjo, and examples of them as sequenced string numbers and fingers used (
Thumb,
Middle,
Index):
- forward roll - TIMTIMTI, 51251251
- backward roll - T-MITMIT, 3-125125
- reverse roll - TIMTMITM, 32151231
Example rolls here taken from Earl Scruggs and the 5-String Banjo, ©1968 Peer International Corporation