Victor Wooten appreciation

[cynicist]

Is anyone else into him? I have enjoyed his solo work for ages and recently I have started listening to his stuff with the Flecktones which is also amazing.

He is probably my favourite bassists ever and one of, if not the most, talented I have heard. I also love the way he puts so much emotion into everything he plays whether it is fast and furious or slow and melodic.

What do you all think of him?

[Sleek]

hes amazing. i love his solo with dmb

[Keenan]

Classical Thump is one of my all time favorites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FvXUVHECwM

[cynicist]

I love classical thump. One of my favourites is the live version of "The sinister minister" it has one of the most insane bass solos I have ever heard.

Sleek- "hes amazing. i love his solo with dmb"

You live in the UK, are you going to see him this saturday? It will be the first time I see him live and i'm so pumped about it.

Edit: Wow, only 2 replies, it's seems Victor Wooten is really underappreciated around here. I you have not heard of him I urge you to check him out on youtube.

[artifact]

ive been a Woot fan for a couple years now. He sometimes does clinics at my local music store. he blows my mind, especially with any double thumbing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czu8TUgWkE8 here's wooten and Beauford from DMB

[Roofus55]

Ive heard his stuff with bela fleck. Im not exactly a fan, but his bass playing is top notch. Im more of a claypool guy. I fuckin love les claypool.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kA3d5W8o770

Check out that killer bass line from bonnaroo this year.

[puppetmasterjjk]

I remember watching a bass battle between him and his brother on youtube a while back, pretty good shit from what I recall.

[Ernie Shiester]

Great bass player but just too fucking much for me. I'll take Marcus Miller's style any day of the week over that guy.

[cynicist]

Great bass player but just too fucking much for me. I'll take Marcus Miller's style any day of the week over that guy.

I love Marcus Miller too. I think you have to listen to Wooten for a while before you really appreciate him. When I first heard him I appreciated his skill but didn't particularly enjoy the music. I had the same experience with Primus and Dream Theater (two of my favourite bands now).

I found after listening to him some more and checking out a wide range of his material I began to really enjoy his music. If you are new to him I recomend listening to some of his stuff with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones before moving onto his solo music.

[psychomonkey62]

Well, he's obviously gonna be good.

He's black.

[Frostdaddy]

Ive heard his stuff with bela fleck. Im not exactly a fan, but his bass playing is top notch. Im more of a claypool guy. I fuckin love les claypool.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kA3d5W8o770

Check out that killer bass line from bonnaroo this year.

Holy wah-wah on the cello. Kick ass.

EDIT: This unedited version is better. http://youtube.com/watch?v=gAlYfDnVt6g&feature=iv

Sorry, back to Wooten. He's good.

[Ernie Shiester]

I love Marcus Miller too. I think you have to listen to Wooten for a while before you really appreciate him. When I first heard him I appreciated his skill but didn't particularly enjoy the music. I had the same experience with Primus and Dream Theater (two of my favourite bands now).

I found after listening to him some more and checking out a wide range of his material I began to really enjoy his music. If you are new to him I recomend listening to some of his stuff with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones before moving onto his solo music.

I can't listen to the Flecktones for more than five minutes at a time because Futureman bugs the shit out of me. Nothing personal against him, and I have heard he is a monster behind a trap-kit (and I'm sure he's a heck of a nice guy as well), but for whatever reason the prolonged exposure to any synth-sounding drums gives me a severe headache - unless they are used tastefully as accoutrements to an acoustic kit a la' Billy Cobham or Jack DeJohnette.

I'm not too keen on the voice of the electric banjo as the primary solo instrument in a fusion group either - it sounds great for bluegrass but after three or four fusion-type songs...the novelty starts to wear off and the fact that the banjo is so percussive (i.e. no sustain) makes it a bit brittle to hear after a while. Still, when I listen to Wooten, whether it is his solo stuff or early 90's Flecktones, it is obvious to me that the man and usually all the players he is with are a true virtuosos. And he does have a tremendous sound.

Bass was my first instrument and it is rare when I can't hear something on bass and almost intuitively know how its done on the neck - whatever it is. I've just logged so many hours on the damn thing and my brain has fired whatever synapses it takes that tell me what to do when I pick it up so many times...its almost intrinsic to me. That and 90% of all bass lines are generally pretty simple....

I remember I saw Bela and the Flecktones open up for DMB - I guess it was around 1999 or 2000 - we were a little late and we walked in during the middle of Fleck's set....Wooten was doing a bass solo and I was absolutely floored and couldn't for the life of me figure out WTF he was doing to get the sounds that I was hearing. It made a real impact on me. This was, of course, before YouTube and his instructional videos, which I, like everybody else, watched religiously for a while when they came out and were first posted.

tl;dr

...great bass player but (for me...strictly my personal taste) he's just not up there on the list of things I want to listen to right now (which, by the way, in case you are interested, today was off the top of my head: Tom Kennedy, Jonas Hellborg, “Ready” Freddy Washington, Pino Palladino, Steve Rodby and John Patituci - now there's some MF bass guitar for ya'!).

[alexpan]

You can download and listen online : http://www.musicf5.com/search/Victor-Wooten/1/mp3

[Ernie Shiester]

Really? Gee you can download music and listen to it streaming on the internet now?

How cool. I really have to turn this box on more often...I like the pretty blue light anyway.

:rolleyes:

[Roofus55]

Holy wah-wah on the cello. Kick ass.

EDIT: This unedited version is better. http://youtube.com/watch?v=gAlYfDnVt6g&feature=iv

Sorry, back to Wooten. He's good.

wow thanks!

[temp100]

He's a great bassist with a nice sense of melody, but I think he does go a bit over the top at times. A pioneer.

[cynicist]

I can't listen to the Flecktones for more than five minutes at a time because Futureman bugs the shit out of me. Nothing personal against him, and I have heard he is a monster behind a trap-kit (and I'm sure he's a heck of a nice guy as well), but for whatever reason the prolonged exposure to any synth-sounding drums gives me a severe headache - unless they are used tastefully as accoutrements to an acoustic kit a la' Billy Cobham or Jack DeJohnette.

I'm not too keen on the voice of the electric banjo as the primary solo instrument in a fusion group either - it sounds great for bluegrass but after three or four fusion-type songs...the novelty starts to wear off and the fact that the banjo is so percussive (i.e. no sustain) makes it a bit brittle to hear after a while. Still, when I listen to Wooten, whether it is his solo stuff or early 90's Flecktones, it is obvious to me that the man and usually all the players he is with are a true virtuosos. And he does have a tremendous sound.

Bass was my first instrument and it is rare when I can't hear something on bass and almost intuitively know how its done on the neck - whatever it is. I've just logged so many hours on the damn thing and my brain has fired whatever synapses it takes that tell me what to do when I pick it up so many times...its almost intrinsic to me. That and 90% of all bass lines are generally pretty simple....

I remember I saw Bela and the Flecktones open up for DMB - I guess it was around 1999 or 2000 - we were a little late and we walked in during the middle of Fleck's set....Wooten was doing a bass solo and I was absolutely floored and couldn't for the life of me figure out WTF he was doing to get the sounds that I was hearing. It made a real impact on me. This was, of course, before YouTube and his instructional videos, which I, like everybody else, watched religiously for a while when they came out and were first posted.

tl;dr

...great bass player but (for me...strictly my personal taste) he's just not up there on the list of things I want to listen to right now (which, by the way, in case you are interested, today was off the top of my head: Tom Kennedy, Jonas Hellborg, “Ready” Freddy Washington, Pino Palladino, Steve Rodby and John Patituci - now there's some MF bass guitar for ya'!).

You certainly know your music. Can you recomend me some albums?

[Ernie Shiester]

I guess the only real thing I know about music is what I like...?

I dunno...you listen to Geddy, Myung and Claypool...that covers the intelligent-rock genre pretty well. You probably already enjoy Chris Squire, Entswistle, JPJones, Waters, Sting and Tony Levin...Paul McCartney...etc.

I guess try to also listen to a little of what those guys are missing: funk/dance...whatever its called. All those guys are too "white". They don't seem to have that heads snapping - let's groove tonight -in your face uhhhhfunk. Maybe Claypool does on some of his stuff...but its so a-tonal, it kind of defeats the purpose a bit it seems.

I guess bass is not commonly thought of as an instrument capable of expressing great joy...when you combine that deep bottom-end with something simple that grooves, people start dancing. To me, as a bass player (and a listener) - nothing is more satisfying.

[Lord Gold]

If you don't like Victor Wooten, you fail.

[cynicist]

I saw him play in Jazz Cafe on Saturday. It was a great show. I thought it was even better than most of the stuff on youtube. They didn't allow cameras or videos in sadly, but if you get a chance to see him live I reccomend you do so.


He and Reggie (his brother) stayed after the show and I got chatting to them. Both really nice, friendly guys and both of them staggeringly modest.