Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Discuss the Banjo lesson: Banjo Forward-Reverse Roll Study

#41

Ok thanks for the reply’s :+1:

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#42

Hi @LG1 Welcome to @BanjoBen 's Forum

A week into learning the banjo and your itching to progress. Ha ha, we have all been there Lee. Some words of wisdom coming from someone who has been studying banjo for over ten years.

I think it’s down to the individual, if your musically gifted you will progress faster than someone who is not. The thing with the banjo is if you rush ahead and fail to grasp the fundamentals you’ll find later on you have to come back and revisit lessons you skipped over. I was an active member of the Banjo Hangout for over eight years and I would often come across posts from talented finger pinking guitarists who struggled to play basic rolls on the banjo.

@BanjoBen has spent a lot of time and effort creating these lessons to ensure his students learn to play their instrument of choice properly. As students we should all aim put in the same amount of effort to learn the content he has assembled here for us to study and hopefully one day master.

I concur with what @Mark_Rocka has to say, but would add, don’t skip through lessons just for the sake of jumping to the next tune to play it sloppy. Study the material properly, make sure you practice it well. If you don’t, you will be back on here in every few weeks seeking help with a list of new problems.

Looking at the position of THIS LESSON on the beginners learning track you have already skipped through about a years coursework.

Learning to play banjo takes a lifetime of learning, don’t rush it. enjoy it. Make the most of your Gold Pick Membership but above all have fun.

#43

@LG1 - Speed is something all of us have struggled with patience for. It’ll come. @Mark_Rocka is spot on with his advice.

In addition, I’ll add my practice methods that helped me with rolls. Seeing as how you already play keyboard and guitar, there’s likely no need for you to take a year to learn how to tune your banjo, change your strings, and music theory like @Archie mentioned. But, the rolls will likely take a little time to train your brain. Earl Scruggs recommended 1,000 repeats to concrete it in your brain. I would sit in front of the tv, or in a chair outside, or even just on the couch when my wife would be reading to the kids and mindlessly practice my rolls in a very monotonous way. Just open G. Once my fingers felt proficient to move how they should with all the rolls, then I’d start throwing in some chords.

You’re already playing chords with this roll-study, so your level is probably beyond what I’m already mentioning. When I got these rolls lessons from Ben down (not speed-wise, just memory wise), I would use them to warm up my fingers before I jumped into the new stuff. This kept the songs fresh, and speed starting coming as skills improved.

#44

I am pretty sure Earl said. 10,000 repeats. But I am not going to quibble about a zero.

#45

Except that you already did :joy:

Here’s the banjohangout repeat 1000x times shirt. They reference Earl’s book at the top of the page along with it. Or here’s a blog if you’d like to read about it.

Regardless, I believe the point Earl was making was to play it until it just becomes muscle memory, which was also the goal of the advice I was trying to give above.

#46

It’s all about having the concept concrete in your mind and muscles…speed will come later!

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#47

I forgot to check back in, Still working on the fwd roll and it’s getting better, i found practicing it with familiar chord progressions seems to help , not real exciting but good practice for rolls and chord changing. Thanks for the encouragement. (I guess I need to turn the notifications on).

#48

That’s great @Geno in the beginning it might seem your standing still but in reality when your working on rolls and making chord changes you not only laying down the foundations you are making a great leap in progress. Now that your improving with the fwd roll, start working on the backwards roll but keep on practicing that forward roll.

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#49

Thanks Archie, I’m realizing that I’m hook on the banjo

#50

Thanks for the great responses and I follow all your advice about Bens tuitions methods and walk before running

Thank you all

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#51

That’s just what I’m working on now. I play through the MP3’s at the different BPM & alternate the fwd roll with the backward rolls. Good Stuff

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#52

Hallo everybody,

my name is Ralf. Iam from germany.I started here learning Banjo playing in september last year. Now I have the same question about the 3rd and 4th measure. Pressing down the 3rd string at the end of the 2nd fret with indexfinger works fine. But do press down at the end of the 4th fret with ringfinger works with my hand only if I lift of the indexfinger and turn my wrist.
Bens answer is confusing me, because he talkes about pressing down both fingers. Does that mean at the same time? The tabfile doesent show this.
I hope my english is good enough to explain the problem.

Thx for helping me.

Ralf

#53

Welcome to the board, Ralf!

In the preview video, Ben does not fret the 3rd string on the 2nd and 4th fret at the same time, but it is perfectly fine to do so. The reason is that you only play the 4th fret for 1 note. Before and after that note, the 2nd fret is played. So, there is no harm in leaving your index finger on the 2nd fret.

I can make a video if that would help.

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#54

Hallo Mark,

Thank you for answering me so fast. A video would be great help. I am understandung your explanation, but if I could see your technique would be very helpful.

See you
Ralf

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#55

Hope this helps.

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#56

Mark, I am really thankful for your video. It is great to have someone who helps when understanding is not so easy. I will practice this way and tell you about my progress.
I wish you a good time :wink:

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#57

I look forward to seeing your progress!

#58

Howdy Ralf!

Thanks for your question! It is not necessary to hold both fingers down, but that is a skill that we need to have. For instance, when playing a partial D chord, you would have your index on the 2nd fret of 3rd string (G string) and ring on 4th fret of 4th string (low D string). It’s the same spacing.

#59

Hello Ben,

Thank you very much for telling me the reason why.
I am training this technique, but i think my fingers are no as large as they supposed to. I am trying to strech them, so I am able to fret a wider distance.
But fretting at the end of the 4th fret is not possible to me. My fingers are to short :wink:

#60

For some reason I get the same note with the 1st and 2nd notes of the 4th measure when fretted as shown. Any suggestion why? Banjo seems to be in tune otherwise. Thanks!

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