Hello. Thank you for this lesson. I especially enjoy the raspberry at the end of the 120 bpm track! If I make it through without goofing up I do the same. It makes me laugh every time. 
Discuss the Banjo lesson: Intro to Banjo Backup Utility Rolls
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Might be a raspberry, or something from the other end. Ben once shared with us what he called “the tonic toot.” It’s exactly what you’re thinking. See, Ben is so musically gifted, he even breaks wind in key.
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I remember that episode, didn’t someone receive a prize for mentioning it. I was too dignified, I didn’t want to cause @BanjoBen any embarrassment. Now that I know more about his character and a certain slingshot prank whilst touring with Taylor Swift I think it’s ok to call him out.
Did Taylor ever discover who was behind that @BanjoBen ?
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Great tools for the tool belt here. Very helpful because I have joined a couple jam groups within the last month! Really fun!
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@Plinker38 welcome to the forum! I’m certainly no expert, but I’ll often vamp when another instrument is taking a break and I think my rolls will be too loud and drown out the break. If there is someone singing, I’m probably playing some sort of rolling backup. But I’ve heard some professionals say that they pretty much never vamp. They just back off on the volume of the rolls. But they are playing into mics and can just back up from the mic to decrease their volume.
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Y’all might like to tryout this little practice loop
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Thank you for that loop. I usually have to go to Strum machine and find something close so I can just keep practicing. Very helpful.
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Hi @Brent.H I take no credit for the tool. I am pretty sure someone here on the forum shared it a while back. I just booked marked it knowing it would come in handy one day.
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HI rspillers, Thanks very much for the insight! Haven’t done much backup so what you say makes great sense and can see what you’re saying about volume. Very helpful info!
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Why is there a little toot at the end of the slow backing track? I usually play “shave and a haircut”.
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@BanjoBen @ambergkeith Keith has discovered your naughty little secret 
and it just blew him away.
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Guys I’m having such a hard time with staying on time with rolling backup, I want to figure it out and go play with others but I seem to just have a mental block with this backup stuff. Any tips to stay on beat??
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Is there a tune/recording you can play over and video for us so we can see where you’re getting tripped up?
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I can try! Let me know if this works. Low quality video, sorry, not really sure how to do this properly!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_rJPko9C0prvZYQ2e07_TUZ1d-MrxdT-/view?usp=drive_link
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That works great, thanks!
What’s tripping you up is that sometimes you’re not playing the full roll pattern, and instead you end early. This happened to you first at 0:28 and it got you ahead of Ben’s backing track for the rest of the song, essentially. Your first time through the roll, you played this:
Wheareas the roll is intended to be played like this:
Do you see how the second roll has the last G note landing on the first beat of the next measure, so it can be repeated without being “offset”, if you will? That note always “resets” you to the first beat of the measure, and then you would play the rest of the pattern:
Whereas your pattern ended early, putting that note before the start of the next measure and offsetting your rolls that followed. Here’s a transcription of what you played:
The fix: Basically, go back and practice the roll patterns and get them consistent so that you are playing a full roll pattern every time, without modifying it like you do here. I don’t think you’re consciously modifying it; I think your fingers are just forgetting the roll pattern, cutting it short sometimes and getting out of sync. Great question, and good ear noticing your issue!
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oh wow, totally see / hear it now. Thanks for the detailed response on this. I’ll keep practising!!
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Hi @ephyp044 Everett I would also encourage you to wear headphones when you practice. It’ll help you stay focused and find the groove. Or as some might say “In the pocket”
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put the backing track through my headphones you mean?
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