Playing Banjo In 3/4 Time Signature

ByJody
banjo players right hand with picks on

One thing you may be called on to do at a jam session is play in a different time signature than your standard 4/4. If all you’ve done is practice your standard 4/4 forward, forward-reverse, or alternating thumb rolls, you may be in for some trouble. Lets make sure that doesn’t happen. Don’t worry, playing in 3/4 (or waltz time) is a piece of cake on the banjo!! It turns out THREE-FINGER style banjo was made for this. We can also use the basic motions you already know.

QUICK NAVIGATION:

Forward Roll In 3/4 Time

Take your standard forward roll starting on the third string (remember, rolls are not strings, they are MOTIONS).  A very simple 3/4 timing roll on the banjo is:

321321 or 321 321 for easier reading.  

Make sure there are no spaces between any of the notes, no hesitating.  These six notes will add up to the necessary three beats (counting 1 and 2 and 3 and).

Alternating Thumb Roll in 3/4

Let’s take another roll you are familiar with, the alternating thumb roll and turn it into a 3 beat roll.

3251 (that’s two beats), so we need one more beat (or two more notes).  Let’s try:

3251 21, except no spaces 325121.

All we’ve done is take a standard alternating thumb roll and add a short forward-type motion to it.

Forward-Reverse Roll in 3/4

What about a forward-reverse roll?  How can we turn this into a three beat roll

321512

All you have to do is shorten the roll, leaving out the last two notes.

Here are each of the above roll patterns in TAB:

3/4 Banjo Roll TAB

banjo TAB lines showing rol patterns

Audio-Visual

Closing Words On Waltz Time

You should take these three basic patterns and practice switching in and out of them until they become second nature like your standard 4/4 patterns.

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As always, if you need one-on-one banjo coaching, I teach anywhere in the world via ZOOM.  Please contact me to secure your spot today.

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Professional musician and educator of 27 years. I've played Banjo and Acoustic Guitar on the stages of Carnegie Hall, The Grand Ole Opry, and The Ryman Auditorium. 4X winner of the Georgia State banjo and flatpick guitar competitions. My banjo playing was featured in the "A Waltons Thanksgiving" movie.

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