Andy’s World of Bass – Mission Statement

After much consideration and reaching deep into my heart for the best solutions, I’ve decided to make subscribing to my new educational and gear feature website Andy’s World of Bass completely Free.

It’s meant to be casual, fun and friendly, a great place to learn some useful real world musicianship skills, and get helpful insight on various instruments and gear!

When setting out to make this dream a reality I had to try to figure out many things. Primarily, finding ways facilitate the investments of my ongoing time to host the site, filming, edit and prepare all the content, research instrument and gear specs, write interviews, and search out sponsors. It would be logical to have a business plan designed to recoup the money for the development and monthly running costs of the site, paying staff members and guest instructors, extensive SEO implementation and on going promotion. My original thought was I would have to charge a subscription fee.

However, something in my heart told me to do it differently. I came to this decision by taking a good long look at my motives for doing it in the first place. I get the greatest rewards in life from sharing and from giving back what I’ve learned and experienced through music with others. My primary goal is, and has always been, to be useful and to be of service to others regarding inspiring though music. When I operate in this frame of mind, with gratitude and a dedication to my purpose driven goals, I enjoy what I do, and the result is I do my very best work. If I was to charge a subscription fee there certainly would be players out there world wide who simply could not afford it, and they would sadly be left out. To me that would be a shame and a sin. Also there is the element of making sure that all of my fantastic sponsoring/supporting brands have the opportunity for their instruments and gear to be seen and heard by the largest audience possible. They are contributing in various ways to support me, and deserve to be represented in the best possible way I can.

So, rather than charging a fee I have made it completely free to subscribe, to enjoy every feature and benefit from all the content, for anyone at anytime.

I do though have a “donation box” and encourage subscribers to donate what you can. If you like what I’m doing and want to help me continue to improve this site and keep it evolving, then please contribute as often as you like. Also, we’ll do quarterly fund raising announcements, and those who choose to meet the highest pledges will be awarded special gifts like a bundle containing: a 90min private Skype lesson, all of my albums, my book and my 3 educational bass course dvd’s.

So I leave it in your hands, and in the hands of the great spirit to provide, and I’ll do my best to make it as fun, informative and entertaining as I can!

How it works –

I created Andy’s World of Bass to offer an online environment for bass players of all styles and levels of playing experience, to learn and share in a fun and casual setting.

My primary purpose is to inspire, while helping you to expand your playing skills and your musicianship knowledge, and also to showcase all kinds of great basses and gear.

In my daily lesson videos, I’ll share many useful techniques and musicianship concepts. I’ll be covering right hand techniques such as finger style playing, palm muting, double thumbing, slap bass and playing with a pick. I’ll focus on left hand techniques like positions, fingerings, and shifting. And, I’ll give you various nuance techniques to help add character to your bass lines, and develop a personal soulful touch. I’ll also discus and demonstrate various musicianship concepts like supportive fundamental playing, individual style development, tasteful baseline composing, soloing, and of course grooving! We’ll explore style characteristics of Rock, Funk, Soul, R&B, Fusion, Blues, Country Music, Modern Electronic Music, Metal, Punk Rock and more! This is not a a curriculum based traditional academic learning format. However, I’m affiliated to several of the best out there and will direct those serious players to them who desire more structure and theoretic lessons. I also always encourage every player to have a local private teacher.

I’ll be showcasing various instruments and gear from my extensive personal collection, in addition to basses, amps and cabs from the ever growing team of sponsoring brands. I’ll play and demonstrate bass guitars you can get for only a few hundred dollars, all the way up to exquisite handcrafted boutique instruments by builders from all over the world. I’ll do amp and cab comparisons, and check out various effects and accessories too. Every video I post will go into the user friendly archive section where subscribers can visit the lessons and gear features again and again. You will never miss a thing!

To encourage confidence building and performance skills development – I’ve included an interactive bulletin board where subscribers can upload your own playing videos, and then we all can give respectful encouragement, and offer support to each other. There will be limitations of video length and format, and all content will be screened prior to publishing to avoid spam, and content which is not acceptable.

There is an informative interview section as well, where I’ll publish my exclusive editorial artist interviews with many iconic and up and coming bass players, instrument builders and gear designers. Already confirmed interviews include: Evan Brewer, Norm Stockton, Victor Wooten, Rodney Skeet Curtis, Lee Sklar, Adam Nitti, Cody Wright, Phil Chen, Hutch Hutchinson, Stu Hamm, Laurence Cottle, Scott Reader, Todd Smallie, Anthony Wellington, Robert Trujillo, and Johnny B Gayden.

You will find links to all the supporting manufacturers, affiliated educational sites and recommended social media communities.

I look forward to sharing in the wonderful journey of bass and musicianship with you all – thank you, and I hope you will subscribe and join the club!

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Bassist, Author, Educator
Spreading the joys of musicianship worldwide

Andy Irvine