Howdy! Any tips or tricks for playing banjo in the key of E? Are there any roll patterns that seem to work especially well?
A lot of the music at my church is in E, and I’m trying to find the best approach. I’d prefer to stay in open tuning or capo 2 and play out of D, rather than retuning like John Hartford or capoing to the 4th fret and playing out of C. I’d love to hear what works for everyone else.
Thanks!
Personally, I capo 4 and play out of C. Leaves a few more open strings to play with. There are a lot of banjo players out there better than me that will play capo 2 and D like you said. It just feels more restrictive to me.
Tune your banjo down two frets and play out of the G position. I love the deeper tones
That’s true! Adam did that on one of his Spillwater Drive songs on their first album. It sounded great!
Check these out, especially the first one. Anything on playing in open D will help you out, as you can capo 2 and use the same concepts.
https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/banjo-backup-utility-rolls-in-d-banjo-intermediate
https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/waypoints-learning-the-banjo-neck-d-chord-banjo-intermediate
It is possible to play in open E without retuning, mainly if your name happens to be Alan Munde. Until then, I opt to capo 
If you do play in open E, you will want to adjust the 5th string—the open G note will be very dissonant over an E major chord. You can go up either a half step (to get an Ab note) or spike at 9 (to get a B note).