The Forward Roll: Banjo's Cool Beat

Depending upon which banjo teacher you talk to, which banjo instruction book you read and which banjo video you watch, one of the first things you learn as a bluegrass banjo player is that you need to practice somewhere between a handful and a banjo case-full of rolls.

Among the various banjo rolls are the following:

• Forward Roll
• Backward Roll
• Forward-Backward Roll
• Reverse Roll
• Alternating Thumb Pattern
• the Foggy Mountain Breakdown roll

If I had to pick one roll that captures the heart of the bluegrass banjo sound, I’d say it’s the forward roll. And I’d be even more specific: it’s the forward roll played in G tuning, played on the G chord (the I Chord in the Key of G), and played on the open 5th, 3rd, and 1st strings.

A single measure of the forward roll might look like this:

Or like this, if you started the roll on the 1st string:

3 Over 2

The real magic happens when you move beyond the boundaries of the single measure. That’s when the banjo’s cool beat takes center stage. As you keep that same forward roll going nonstop for two, three, four measures, you’ll become aware of the “3 over 2” sound:

It's the pattern of 3 forward roll notes (on the banjo) being played over the 2 downbeats (on the bass) in each measure.

Bluegrass Band Rhythm Section

Let’s take a look at the sound of one measure of a typical bluegrass band rhythm section. The bass plays on the two downbeats. The mandolin or fiddle chops a muted chord on the backbeat (or upbeat). And the guitar strums an up-and-down pattern that covers the four beats already mentioned, plus the four spaces between those beats.

A diagram of the bluegrass rhythm section looks like this:

The bass is represented by the disc, the mandolin chop by the vertical bar, and the guitar strums by the diagonal arrows.

The rhythmic pulse consists of the bass on the downbeats (numbers 1 and 3) and the mandolin chops on the backbeats (numbers 2 and 4). The pulse is a strong foundation that basically stays the same measure after measure.

The Cool Beat

Take a look at six measures of forward rolls being played on the G chord (the I Chord in the Key of G). Each successive downbeat is played with a different finger: thumb, index, middle. The banjo sound keeps changing while the rhythmic foundation remains the same. That's the banjo's cool beat!

Look closely at the tab. What happens on each of the downbeats? You play each downbeat with a different finger. Because you’re playing “3 over 2”, it takes three full measures before the same finger plays on the same downbeat again. You have to play from the first note of Measure #1 to the first note of Measure #4 before the thumb again plays on the first downbeat of a measure.

Backup for "Fireball Mail"

You can put the forward roll to practical use by applying it to the backup of the popular bluegrass banjo jam tune Fireball Mail. The tune starts with six measures of G and the tab shown above is a perfect example of what you can play as backup during that section. You can find several lead breaks to Fireball Mail in my book of banjo tablature "Right Hand Man".

Embrace the forward roll and listen for opportunities to try your hand at playing “3 over 2”. Other songs that start with six measures of the I Chord: Gold Rush and Bringing In The Georgia Mail come to mind. What are some others?