How to Rock and Roll on a Skateboard

About the Trick

A rock and roll is a transition skateboard trick. In the rock and roll, your front wheels will go over the coping and you will rock the base of your board on the coping. Unlike a rock to fakie, in the rock and roll you will the pivot and drop back into the ramp with your regular foot forward. Rock and rolls are considered easier than rock to fakies by many, as this trick does not require as much commitment nor precision to get your wheels back in and not hook on the coping. Let’s get into it!

Getting Started

There are a few good tricks and exercises to learn before dialing in a proper rock and roll. First of all, a backside kickturn is essential. Your kickturns should be totally dialed in. Focus on rolling as high as you can without your front wheels hitting the coping, waiting a split second, and then doing a backside kickturn back in. This hesitation will be good practice for the rock and roll, as it is a similar feeling. Next

Next, start barely hooking your front wheels over the coping. Once your wheels hook, put a slight bit of pressure on the tail of your board and again do a backside kickturn. The key here is understanding how much pressure to put on your tail. You need to get back over the coping, but want to avoid so much pressure that you fall off the back of the board. Once this step is dialed in, you are ready to really start doing rock and rolls.

Performing the Trick

Now that you can get above coping and kickturn back in, you’re pretty close to the full rock and roll. Essentially, you’re going to let yourself go higher and higher as you are comfortable. When first learning, your back wheels will probably not leave the ground. That’s okay. Just work on getting up to half a board length above coping, setting it down on the base, and turning back in. As you get comfortable with this, you can finally begin to learn the rock, hence the name of the trick. This is where the trick starts to get a bit more technical.

Once your board is halfway above coping, lay the base down on the coping and continue rocking it up until neither your front nor rear wheels are on the ground – you’re rocking on the base. Rock it forward, and then slowly apply weight back to the tail to rock it back. As soon as you feel your rear wheels hit concrete (or wood, lucky miniramp rider), this is when you pivot back in with that backside kickturn. The real difference in actually rocking and just pivoting immediately is the timing.

When you pivot immediately, it feels very much like a normal backside kickturn. Your rear wheels never leave the ramp and you’re ready to go. When you do actually rock, there’s a split second of an awkward balance point where you’re ready to pivot but your wheels aren’t down yet. It may take a little bit of getting used to, but just focus on the learning steps and you’ll have this dialed in no time. Leave me a comment letting me know if you think rock to fakies or rock and rolls are easier! Before I could do them both proper, I thought rock and rolls were easier. After learning them proper, I think rock to fakies are easier and more fun. Best of luck!