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Angeline The Baker | Inside Out Rolls | Old Time Banjo

Inside Out Rolls

by Gerald Jones

Back in the 1973 guitarist Robert Davis took me to watch a rehearsal with his band, The Stone Mountain Boys. Their banjo player, the late Eddie Shelton, was amazing. He had a fresh sparkling sound that was both elegant and somehow complex. His backup was especially nice. I asked him about a particular lick and he showed me that the sound was mainly in the right hand. To this point I had never used my middle finger to pick anything but the first string. I believe he called it an "Inside Out7quot; roll. In any case it is a roll that gets a lot of mileage out of simple chord positions. It's basically an eight note forward roll with the second half striking the second string with the middle finger instead of the expected first string.

In example one above the pattern repeats every eight notes. Watch your right hand fingering especially the middle finger on the second string on the next to last note. This roll is used almost exclusively in Blackberry Blossom on the next page.

Example two shows some of the harmonic motion possible with very little effort with this roll. Alan Munde uses this to great effect on his version of How High The Moon.

Example three demonstrates a pretty descending scale on the first string..

In example four below you can see how to use this roll and chord positions to play Blackberry Blossom. This can be used either as a backup or as a lead break. Alan Munde uses this on his instrumental album Banjo Sandwich. The first four notes spell out a G chord and the second four spell out D7 using just one position and this roll. The second and third measures fit the C to G chord changes. The fourth measure gives you an A7sus to D. The second line is almost totally a repeat of the first except for the last measure. Enjoy...