Daily Grooves for Bass (Book & CD)
Carl Fischer Music's new Daily Grooves For Bass is a volume of daily grooves for intermediate to advanced students by New York City composer and bass educator Patrick Pfeiffer. Rather than resorting to standard, typical exercises, bass players can step up their chops by practicing pro-level grooves worthy of any seasoned bassist's repertoire. Each groove is limited to one or two measures and then repeats, just like many bass grooves in real performance situations. Daily Grooves For Bass spans a range of different keys and feels, such as shuffle, 16th-note and triplet. All grooves are notated in standard format with tab files available on the enclosed CD, which also includes MP3 files. Players will not only improve their techniques but also build up a library of inspiring bass grooves. --Upbeat Daily"Written by New York City pro-bassist Pfeiffer, Daily Grooves for Bass is a much-needed method for intermediate to advanced bassists. The method is clearly organized into fifty-three weeks of material. Sections divided into days of the week contain appealing grooves that are never too much. One could easily pull a daily groove into practice and aim for year-long longitudinal accomplishment. The book could be a great help to musicians for sight reading practice. The book comes with a CD that includes MP3 audio tracks and a PDF file of the grooves in tablature. A serious student could mix reading, the tablature, and the CD to develop reading and aural skills. Pfeiffer wrote the book primarily for the four string electric bass, but he includes over forty grooves that work on a five string with the low B. While some of the writing is idiomatic to the bass guitar, I tried these on my upright bass and enjoyed the experience tremendously. Clearly, Pfeiffer is a bassist writing to help bassists, but an expanded might be a possibility. Daily grooves for bass might help trombonists and baritone saxophone players in a jazz band setting. Furthermore these grooves might sound really hip on a bassoon or a bass clarinet, not to mention what a jazz choir might gain from these exercises. Ultimately,Daily Grooves for Bassis a success, and fills a gap in materials and practice routines for bassists. The positive book is charged with Pfeiffer's enthusiastic and realistic outlook, reflected in his statement, "Becoming a great bass player doesn't happen overnight! It takes practice, discipline, and perseverance." --V.C. --ASTA Journal, June 2011