The non-jazz improvisation series is a concept that germinated in Dick Weissman's mind while he was attending music school. He wrote a 15-piece arrangement of the old square dance tune, Cripple Creek, and wanted the trombone to take a solo as part of the arrangement. When the trombonist kept playing a bebop solo that was totally unsuitable for the chart, Dick realized that - in addition to the many musicians who do not improvise - there are even jazz musicians who don't know how to improvise outside the limits of their own stylistic backgrounds.

This book approaches the five-string banjo as a musical instrument freed from the prison of specific musical genres. Old-time music, clawhammer, bluegrass and many eclectic adaptations of the banjo are utilized to demonstrate a variety of musical styles. A number of the selections are in different tunings. All examples are written out in traditional and tablature notation.

Part 1: Basic Techniques of Improvisation
What You Should Know Before Starting this Book
Using the TAB
Chord Diagrams
Roman Numerals
Metronomes
Capos and Tuning
Tuning Gears
Bridge Placement
Chordal Improvising
Adding Notes to a Melody
Passing Tones
Upper and Lower Neighbor Notes
Improvisation
Rhythmic Improvisation
Bile Them Cabbage Down (Melody and Variations)
Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad
Sourwood Mountain (Melody and Variation)
Scales, Modes and a Mild Dose of Music Theory
C and G Major Scales
Ionian Mode
Dorian Mode
Phrygian Mode
Lydian Mode
Mixolydian Mode
Aeolian Mode
Locrian Mode
Improvising with Modes
Ionian Improv
Dorian Mode
Phrygian Mode
Lydia's Lunch and Lydia's Supper
Old Joe Clark
Aeolian Mood
Locrian Tune
Mixed Modes
Modes Starting on Other Notes
Minor Scales
The Natural Minor Scale
The Harmonic Minor Scale
Expectation
The Melodic Minor Scale
Podmoskovnya Vyechera (Midnight in Moscow)

Part 2: Various Musical Styles
Country and Western
AWalk in the Country (Melody and Variations)
Making Up Your Own Variations
Recording Your Improvisations
Country Folk Styles, Right Hand Techniques and Improvisation
Railroad Bill (Basic strum, Melody, Hammering on, and Variations)
Bluegrass Banjo
Little Maggie (Melody, Variations, rolls, and playing up the neck)
Rhythm Banjo, Pete Seeger Rhythm Approach
Rhythm Strum No 1, 2, and 3
The Fifth String
Rhythm Banjo with Clawhammer (Frailing Style)
Right-Hand Position
Bluegrass Rhythm Banjo
Bluegrass Rhythm Strum No 1 and 2
Pick Style Playing
Irish (Celtic) Music
The Irish Washerwoman (Melody and Variation)
Rhythm Banjo for The Irish Washerwoman
Strumming in 6/8 Time
Rakes of Mallow (Melody and Variations)
Playing in the Key of D
Fifth String Capo
Chords in the Key of D
Eighth of January
Folk Banjo
Waltzes
Waltzing at the River
3/4 Strums
Arpeggio Variations
Jazz Waltzes
Wildwood Flower (Melody and Variations)
Fifties Rock: Improvising from a Chord Progression
I VI II V Progression, Variations, and Examples
Country and Folk Rock
Nevada Motels (chord progression)
Rhythm Banjo for Nevada Motels
Mixing Rhythm Patterns
Nevada Motels (Basic Melody and Variation)
String Bending and Vibrato
Nevada Motels (More Variations)
The Blues
Boogie Blues
Blues Banjo
Banjo Blues (Melody and Variation)
Slide Banjo
Slidin' Home (Basic Melody and Variations)
Reading Music in Open Tunings
Ragtime
Raggedy Rag (Melody and Variations)
Chords Up the Neck
Risin' River Rag (Melody and Variations)
Odd Meters
Five Times Four (Melody and Variations)
Odd Meter Rhythm Banjo
Strums
The Other Béla (Melody and Variations)
Cajun Music
Pardon My French (Melody and Variations)
Gospel
Sunday Sermon
Spanish and Latin-American Music
Spanish Ears (Melody and Variations)
Latin-American Rhythms
Bossa Nova
Bossa Nova (Melody, Variations and Rhythm Patterns)
New Age Banjo
Aging Rapidly (Melody and Variations)
Other Tunings
Chords in Open D Tuning
Not That Lonesome (Melody and Variations)
Mountain Minor Tuning
Shady Grove (Melody, Double up-pick strum, and Variations)
Open C Tuning
Bunessan (Morning has Broken) Melody and Variations
More Explorations in Open C Tuning
Free Form
More Tunings and the Fifth String
Double Drones, Re-tuning the nd String
Open C Minor Tuning
Open D Minor Tuning
Triple Drone Tuning
Slide Banjo
Some Other Tunings
D Tuning Variation
Tunings and Tablature
Additional Chord Diagrams
Composing Your Own Music and Developing an Original Style
Appendix: Recommended Books and Recordings
Improvisation
Bluegrass
Blues and Ragtime
Classical Banjo
Clawhammer
Pete Seeger Style
Dick Weissman
Dan Fox