Need Tips on Right-Hand "Roll" Technique

Put all your fingers on the strings. Then, starting with the thumb, peel them off. In the beginning, exaggerate the motion - literally turn your hand like you're peeling it off the strings... after you get the hang of it, reduce this motion to make it more efficient.

Best advice I can give you is, look up some sites on how to play the banjo.

Hey thanks. I'm wondering though - are there two different techniques referred to as a "roll"?

Originally I was thinking of something like what NoteBoat mentioned - really a way to play a single chord, almost like an arpeggio but more ornamental. That "peeling your hand off the strings" movement sounds like what I was looking for, and I'll definitely try it.

Then I was looking at banjo sites as Ricochet suggested, and I see some very specific picking patterns with names like forward rolls, reverse rolls, Scruggs rolls, etc. One site even had similar patterns for guitar. But what's interesting is that the patterns seem independent of the chord - in other words, the "roll" isn't so much a way of arpeggiating the notes of a chord, but it's more of a rhythmic pattern that drives the music. At least that's what I could tell from browsing.

Either way, both of these methods will be helpful to me. Thanks again!

yeah, rolls are right hand picking patterns. unlike guitar, most of them only use the thumb, index, and middle fingers...

But what's interesting is that the patterns seem independent of the chord - in other words, the "roll" isn't so much a way of arpeggiating the notes of a chord, but it's more of a rhythmic pattern that drives the music. Well, yeah, it's both.