Banjo roll

Monroe's string band...was already congested with accents and with the rhythms those accents redundantly enforced; with its unbroken and continuous stream of notes sharply voiced in bright, acid tones, the banjo roll broke up this congestion, bringing about a kind of rhythmic division of labor in which several strata of rhythm were distributed among the instruments....

This is not to say that the banjo player does not call upon rhythmic accents; if he [sic] did not his music would seem little more than the mechanical ratta-tat-tat of a machine gun.

Like the bones of the minstrel band, whose precision... 'lent articulation to the ensemble,' the banjo's flowing, sinuous, twisting ribbon of notes fills the entire length and breadth of the music, outlining its rhythmic infrastructure, sharpening and brightening its image, running within the music like a stream of water, now in a broad torrent, now in intricate rivulets below ground....the activity of the roll patterns creates a counter-melody which enhances the effectiveness of the melody.Earl Scruggs is known for being the pioneer of banjo picking.

Scruggs grew up in a musical family where his parents and siblings all played instruments including the guitar, piano, fiddle and the organ.

When Scruggs was 21 he began playing with Bill Monroe group called Blue Grass Boys which is where the term “bluegrass music” comes from.