Banjo roll

In bluegrass music, a banjo roll or roll is an accompaniment pattern played by the banjo that uses a repeating eighth-note arpeggio – a broken chord – that by subdividing the beat 'keeps time'. "Each ["standard"] roll pattern is a right hand fingering pattern, consisting of eight (eighth) notes, which can be played while holding any chord position with the left hand."

"When used as back-up, the same pattern can be repeated over and over throughout an entire song, (...[with chord changes] as required), or the roll patterns can be combined with one another and with [back-up licks]... The roll patterns can also be used to embellish the vamping style of back-up, especially when the chords are played high... These roll patterns can be used as back-up for any song played at any tempo." The banjo is commonly played in open tunings, such as open G (as are all of the examples): G'DGBD', allowing rolls to be practiced on all open strings (without fretting). Rolls are a distinguishing characteristic of Scruggs style banjo playing, with older styles being more melodic. The older style of banjo playing has been described as "in 'phrases,'" and with, "really no connective tissue between four notes and next four notes...sorta like a gallop. Snuffy [Jenkins] was a little like that...old sounding, choppy...".