@2Timothy4, welcome to the forum! Hope your son gets better soon.
Discuss the Banjo lesson: Banjo Forward Roll Study
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Thank you. It will be a long road, but he’s working hard.
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It does not necessarily have to be that way. It can be quick or instant when you can let God work. Because gospel is not mere word, it is the power of God. How to let God work? Act in faith and show a willing heart to come into (true) Christ. This willingness gives the “standing” for one approved by God in God’s court of law to get the necessary relief. God commanded his disciples to first heal the sick and then to say that the kingdom of God was there (to come in)!
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I’m thankful to have you, and honored to be a ministry of sorts to you as you care for your boy. May God heal him according to his sovereign plan, for we can trust it to be the best thing for us.
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Aman and Aman
Thanks Ben
God bless
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I bought a banjo in the early 90’s went to various workshops (Trischka, Munde), BG festivals and even attended the South Plains BG camp for a week. Well, then life took over, and I’m just now picking up my banjo again.
I wanted to start from basics again (went for a year’s Gold Pick) and check everything, picks, hand position, etc. I knew my timing was not good but my playing never sounded like “music” even though I played the notes in-time. It seemed I was missing something, and with all the teachers, workshops, videos, etc. no one could explain it to me.
Well, I’ve since discovered the issue, and when I listened to your forward rolls mp3 up to speed with guitar, I think I recognized the issue again (or maybe my bias pointed me in that direction).
To make “music”, the lessons I discovered are that accented beats (1st and 3rd???) in each measure seem to add drive, accents on the melody, and note duration variation to add “bounce”, all make the tabs sound like “music” rather than robotic playing of rolls with equal volume and duration for each note.
I think many banjo teachers automatically switch from robotic playing when demonstrating rolls slowly, into playing “music” when playing tunes up to speed while their students are still sounding like robots and wonder why. The mp3 I mentioned sounds wonderful - like “music” LOL.
Could you please direct me to videos that you’ve done here that address these experiences of mine for us “beginners” who don’t automatically have the ear to hear or “feel” the differences. Thanks.
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Hi @drmiller Don 
to @BanjoBen 's Forum. The best advice I have to offer is work through Ben’s beginner banjo learning track. Much of what you encounter you may already know but it wont do you any harm to refresh your memory and at the same time help get you real familiar with Ben’s teaching style. I have been a student of Ben’s for about ten years and every every lesson I study I learn something new. The key to what your looking for is right there in the beginning banjo section, once you unlock the foundational skills you can pretty much tackle any lesson here. Any time you have a query just holler and if Ben’s not around to answer you someone will pick it up and try to help till Ben gets back to you.
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HI Don. Welcome to the forum!
Just the fact that you can hear the difference is HUGE! Be heartened by that.
There is a progression to learning and Archie’s suggestion to follow the beginner track is a good one. It is best to learn basics first and then add the “emotion” later…it helps avoid mistakes like “galloping” through the rolls, etc.
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Too cool! I love that pic! Here’s a lesson in the beginner learning track that addresses it: https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/banjo-shuffle-rhythm-banjo
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Thanks! That’s it (well some of it)! During a one-on-one lesson with Alan M. I asked him why when he played Blackberry Blossom (melodic) it sounded like “music” and when I played the same notes it was blah. I think you explained it better (or what Alan said just went over my head at the time 
This was also covered by Eddie Collins in a recent BNL and video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzWh8P5wx10&t=7s
Still to be learned (by me) is to recognize melody notes (when they exist) and hit them harder. But in order to do that I would have to know the melody of the tune in the first place, right? LOL (I learned my early breaks without even knowing the tune’s melody much less it’s chords 
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Listening is Key here HEAR
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Eddie demonstrated bounce, yes, which is timing. Accenting melody, I feel, has more to do with volume of one note over another in straight time with equal separation of notes. Both are valuable tools to have at the ready. If you can mix the two concepts in one tune I think you are an expert.
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Not sure if this has been talked about on here, but I tend to emphasize whatever note in the roll that comes first in the measure. So for example, 3 T 1 3 T 1 3 T 3 T 1 3 T 1 3 T with all of the 3s being emphasized. I think as a way to organize what’s happening in my brain and make going from measure to measure easier. That, and instincts from a wind playing background. Is this okay to do, or a bad habit that I should steer clear of?
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I suggest you record and listen back to what you are playing.
If you enjoy that emphasis then use it. (this syncopated feel does have its uses, but you already get that using a three note roll against a 4 beat time signature)
If not, work on controlling where you emphasize. Maybe pick a different beat to bring out front. if you tried for the 1st beat you would end up with a more prominent 3 to start but a T would be the next to get attention…and so on…
In the end, the goal is to be able to emphasize what you want to at a given time to fit your taste.
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Recording and listening back sounds like a great idea.
Would I want to ever be able to bring out the melody notes in the right hand? I’m still unfamiliar with how melody and rhythm happens in banjo playing.
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Yes! Exactly!
That would be one of the biggest reasons for being able to control which notes you might want to stand out when playing.
Hint: When working on dynamics (volume differences) playing live is just like recording…you need to leave some head room…in other words; you can’t make a note stand out well if you’re already playing at top volume…
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Hi Sarah, @SMoore The best way I can advise you is to encourage you to work through @BanjoBen 's beginners learning path. The way Ben has structured his lessons explains stuff in such a way that everything kinda falls into place as you go along.
Rolls - Roll Patterns are by in large exercises that help you train the brain to pick the strings in a particular direction. As you practice rolls and become more proficient you learn to memorise them and build up muscle memory in you fingers. After a while you stop thinking about rolls and continue on auto-pilot like riding a bike or driving a car with a stick shift. Your focus is on the road ahead not so much on the mechanical actions of operating the gear stick foot pedals and steering wheel.
Generally speaking the Roll Patterns help you with the rhythm and timing - finding the groove - Using a Metronome or Bass and listening carefully helps you settle in and finding the grove
Watch how these guys use a tractor to help maintain timing.
In this second video the guys use spoons to maintain the groove. Forget the melody for a moment and try playing a continuous forward roll. Don’t fret the strings just focus on listening and count 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
if you falter just keep going and pick up the timing where you can.
Playing the melody on the banjo.
A melody note can fall on any string and in general that is usually picked a bit harder than the fill notes. It helps to know the melody So listening a lot is key to developing your banjo playing skills.
Ben likes to use the THUMB where possible to bring out the melody and if you listen to him carefully he reminds you of this during most of his lessons. Ben also likes to Play the Melody in his arrangements and once you work through the beginners learning path and get into the Build a Break lessons your progress will move forward at a pace. But don’t skip through the lessons in the beginners section there is a lot of important lessons in there that will help you later on as you develop your playing skills. Have fun and enjoy your journey.
Good stuff. I am a banjo newbie and have been learning the basic forward roll, and I have been pulsing the “leading digit.” That is, if the roll starts with the thumb, that is accented. If it starts with index, then index is accented. I think Ben suggested that at some point in the lesson. Anyway, it leads to a pattern I think I hear often in rolls where a melody is not being accentuated. A pulse on 1, the and of 2 and 4. Lather, rinse repeat. I like the idea of the accent exercises to change it up, but I am pretty sure my brain couldn’t handle it while still in “learning the rolls.”
I do want to congratulate you. Watching Ben talk through his thoughts for exercises seemed to make him think harder than I have seen him do while playing 
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