Review – Andy Irvine’s Bass Mechanics Crucial Groove from TrueFire

Andy Irvine’s Bass Mechanics Crucial Groove from TrueFire is a course all by itself. This course instructs on the most basic, and yet, overlooked function that the bass player is responsible for, and that is the GROOVE. Nothing else matters, if you don’t have the groove. As Andy states, “Behind every groove is technical and harmonic mechanics”. That statement could not be said in a better way.

There are two sections in the course, and I have spent ample time on each course, and plan on spending a lot more time.

The first section has twelve essential concepts and techniques. This covers everything from palm muting, using a softer touch, note duration, adding expression and emotion, getting the electric bass to sound like an upright, leaving space for the groove, using dead notes, and funky grease, which I have to say, must be Andy’s favorite technique, and starting to be one of mine as well! Everything you need will get you prepared for section two of the course, and it is a must that you complete section one before moving on. Each lesson in section one is detailed and straight to the point, giving you multiple views of what Andy is doing, so that nothing is left untouched in each course.

The second section puts all the pieces together. Section two is concentrated on applying what you learned in section one to the groove. Andy explains each course in detail by playing the groove, breaking it down into sections, and then letting you jam the groove over a progression created just for that groove. The jam section of each course also lets you loop the progression so that you can just focus on a certain section at a time. There are twelve videos for section two. Section two covers soul, funky fingerstyle, blues, funk era bass both as fingerstykle and slap, double thumbing, and even a real cool country groove.

Andy Irvine’s Bass Mechanics Crucial Groove is a course that needs to be in every bass players library. While Andy does cover the groove, he also explains in detail what he is using to make up the groove, whether it be a certain scale or just explaining the technique itself. No groove is left behind here. Both sections contain PDF’s that you can print out and each PDF has notation and tab. Each course has three windows for different viewing and they can be viewed at three different speeds, slow, normal, and fast. Let’s not forget about the loop function in section two when jamming with the grooves. Whether you are a pro groover or just starting out, I can guarantee that there is something in this course that will get your groove on even more!

Check out Andy Irvine’s Bass Mechanics Crucial Groove!

Andy is the host of his own website/bass community called The Daily Funk Club which features video lessons, guest instructors, bass and gear demos and interviews with many of the worlds top bassists, already including: Victor Wooten, Lee Sklar, Adam Nitti, Igor Saavedra, Robert Trujillo, Vail Johnson, Norm Stockton, Cody Wright, with many more to come! In addition, there is a vibrant community section, which enables subscribers to create a profile and share their own bio, music and videos. The Daily Funk Club is driven by donations and sponsor support, making it completely FREE to subscribe and benefit from all of the content and fun interaction. Andy also released his second bass learning course with True Fire entitled “30 Beginner Bass Grooves You Must Know“. His newest course, along with all of his other previously released bass learning materials, his book “Passion and Action a Musician’s Journey”, and all three of his original music albums are available in his store section. All can be found at www.TheDailyFunkClub.com.