I spent the weekend outside Nashville at Victor's (http://www.victorwooten.com/) new location for his Bass/Nature camp (http://www.victorwooten.com/basscamp/). The week before, they did one last camp at the old location, and then some folks stayed on and spent the weekend fixing up the new spot. There were roughly 100 friends, family, bass campers, and strangers (like me) helping.

Rocket Music's (http://www.rocketmusic.net) bass instructor (Cameron McLaughlin of Balancing Act (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=44764626), and one heck of a bass player) has been to several of these camps over the years, and he invited me and some of his other students down to participate, and we jumped at the chance.

Victor has purchased a nice spread of land (I heard 150 acres) about an hour west of Nashville. It's a really beautiful spot, right on a river, lots of trees and rolling hills. The only existing structures were a barn and a couple cabins.

I spent the weekend working on a geodesic dome. It's roughly 30'-40' in diameter and 30' tall. I was part of the crew that framed the circular platform on which the dome sits, assembled the dome structure, and got the dome covered. The last piece of the covering went on just after dark on Saturday night, and it was so great to stand outside and see it glowing from the lights inside. What a cool structure!

Another crew got a 2-story sleeping quarters framed and under roof in just two days. And a third crew spent the weekend cutting trails and clearing brush.

As you might expect, the evenings were filled with lots of bass playing. Victor put on a small show Friday night, he did 20-30 minutes of his stuff. What a great experience to see that up close and personal! And there was another guy, Bob, who was blowing some MEAN sax every night. He's a very sympathetic player, always looking to play WITH people instead of OVER people. I think there's a lot to be learned there.

Anthony Wellington was there, too, I got to chat with him about his monstrous bass collection... wow! He and Victor are headed out on tour this week, catch 'em if you can!

If you've never heard of the camp before, check this out:
http://www.victorwooten.com/basscamp/

The fall camp has been cancelled because Victor will be on tour with Stanley and Marcus. But I know I'll be applying to go to the Spring '09 camp, and you should, too!! The application process will open up sometime this fall or winter.

What an awesome sounding experience! I'll be applying for the Spring '09 camp as well!

That HAD to be cool watching Victor up close and personal... and I'm sure you wow'd him w/ some "Mr. Yuck" slapping and popping throwbacks! :D

Wow... how many bands have I been in since Mr. Yuk? I can't count that high :)

Isn't it frightening to think that people will remember how good you are based on the last time they saw you play (which was what? 18 years ago here at VA Tech?). The Electric Woodshed (5-6 years ago) was the first band I was in that I consider to be good from a mature playing point of view. And now The Kind is really good, too. Mr. Yuk and the bands in between were just wanking ("hey, look what I can do!!!").

But it's fun to think back on those years... but, dang, I feel old!!! Let's hope that passes :)

Let me get this right.... you built him a dome for FREE?

wanna come camp in my yard?

Wanking? I just think about all the noise that this guy was making 18 years ago :eyebrow: many basement and gigging bands later and I'm STILL not happy with where I am! :D

:bassist:

Wow... how many bands have I been in since Mr. Yuk? I can't count that high :)

Isn't it frightening to think that people will remember how good you are based on the last time they saw you play (which was what? 18 years ago here at VA Tech?). The Electric Woodshed (5-6 years ago) was the first band I was in that I consider to be good from a mature playing point of view. And now The Kind is really good, too. Mr. Yuk and the bands in between were just wanking ("hey, look what I can do!!!").

But it's fun to think back on those years... but, dang, I feel old!!! Let's hope that passes :)

You play bass for the Kind? I used to play in metal bands with Rick back in the 80's :)

I wouldn't say for FREE :)

Victor (and his wife Holly, and his extended organization) supplied all the materials, catered the entire weekend, organized everything and everybody, and supplied amps for the jams... all in all, they were extremely gracious hosts.

I just pounded nails when asked, and otherwise tried to stay out of the way :) There was a core group of 6-8 guys who are serious carpenters (and bass players), and they pretty much ran the show. The rest of us volunteered our time, travel expenses, amd limited skills to build something that, I think, will be a valuable resource to the bass world for years to come.

So if you have the pull to bring 50-60 serious bass players (not to mention Steve Bailey, Chuck Rainey, Marcus Miller, etc.) together for a week of learning and playing, I'm there!

How the worm has turned! Rick was way heavy, and I'm basically a funky southern rock sort of guy, ala Little Feat & Allmans... now we're playin' hippie jam stuff. What a trip!

I love playing w/ Rick. He's got some big ears on him, too, he's another very sympathetic player. Makes me look good :)

Did you ever play with George Penn? He was drummin' with the Yams From Outer Space back then. Anyway, he and I played in the 'Shed for a bunch of years, and he's another one that makes the bass player look great. His pocket is HUGE!

Rick was a youngster and we used to practice in his basement. I remember when he made his singing debut with "Shake Me" at the old Iroquois club :p Were you playing with them last year when they played at Elmwood Park? I think it was for the Va Tech benefit? If so I was there.

Yep, that was me and my Alembic Europa at the park!

Cool. You had a good tone going on. Good chops as well. I wondered what kind of bass that was...I thought it was a Cirrus at first then possibly a Grind :D

Hey, thanks! I was playing through the festival's backline rig (Ampeg something or other)... not my usual amp choice, but it sounded OK.

The Kind has been "ampless" for a few years now. Everything goes direct (including Rick's electronic drums), so monitors are all we have. Fortunately, we have 4 monitor mixes available so I can get my facefull of bass and kickdrum without bothering the other members. I use a mess of pedals and an Alembic F1X preamp before my signal hits the board. With a good PA, it can sound pretty righteous.

We play every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month at Champs in Blacksburg, so we're on tomorrow night if you're looking for some music :)

Cool when connections happen.
I'm hoping to get to VW's camp sometime - sounds like a good experience and major fun.
I was bummed to see it cancelled for this fall.

About to start his book "The Music Lesson"

Absolutely, I love meeting folks from TalkBass! Maybe we'll meet at the Spring camp? I'm there for sure if my application gets accepted...

Greg - You going?

I've applied, but I've not heard anything yet. I hope I get in! I think it would/will be a great experience.

If anyone is interested, the application process is now open for the next camp that's coming up on April 21-26:
http://www.victorwooten.com/basscamp/

My birthday is 4/24, so it would be a really nice birthday present to myself.

:hyper:

i was thinkin about going this year, is it any fun? Did you learn a lot?

This one coming up would be my first full-on bass camp. The time that I went before was more of a work weekend with some jams at night, it didn't really have any of the workshops and other activities that the actual camps have.

My bass instructor (Cameron McLaughlin) has been to several camps, and he REALLY got a lot out of them. About bass and about life in general.

Holler when you get your acceptance email...

Greg,
We should have a GTG here in the burg. I think there may be enough local TB'ers to make it a success!

Yeah, that'd be cool! I know at least half a dozen local TB'ers, and that constitutes a GTG for me. We could probably arrange to have the lower level of Champs reserved for a Sunday afternoon, and we could bring in amps and basses while we toss back a few. My calendar is crazy for the next month or so, but maybe in the spring sometime?

And Kesslari - are you going to this next camp? It sure sounds like you are! If so, how long did it take for you to hear you were accepted? It's only been a week since I applied, I'm just hoping I didn't apply too late.

Greg - I just applied. Haven't been accepted or denied yet. I'm just an optimistic mofo...
So don't worry about not having heard yet - neither have I. And I have no idea how long before we do hear. Though I hope it's with enough time to get a decent flight out there... :D

Cool! Well, hopefully we both get in and get to meet face-to-face!

No news yet... have a great weekend.

Yeah, that'd be cool! I know at least half a dozen local TB'ers, and that constitutes a GTG for me. We could probably arrange to have the lower level of Champs reserved for a Sunday afternoon, and we could bring in amps and basses while we toss back a few. My calendar is crazy for the next month or so, but maybe in the spring sometime?

I'd be down for that! Count me in.

I have heard of this camp before but just now checked out the site.

I like the part where it says that this camp is not run for profit. 60 campers at $700 each is $42,000 for six days, that's not chump change.

...and you must apply and hope that you are one of the "lucky" ones that gets to pay off Vics mortgage.

Also, the donate button made me smile.

Room and board for 7 days, plus 7 days of wold class instruction. I'd call it a pretty fair price. I'd actually call it a really good price.
But hey, that's just me.

Room and board for 7 days, plus 7 days of instruction. I'd call it a pretty fair price. I'd actually call it a really good price.
But hey, that's just me.

+1 !

People should look at it like this: Average bass instruction - $15-20/half-hour with a good instructor. Figure a conservative 6 hours instruction per day x 6 days = 36 hours of instruction. That's well over $1000 to $1500 worth of lessons from world-class instructors! Plus food...plus shelter...plus fellowship with other musicians... I have to go sometime!

And these aren't your average music store instructors, these are world class musicians! Victor, Anthony, Mike Pope, Steve Bailey, etc. You get to spend a week hanging with and learning from cats like that, and that's not worth $700? OK...

There are a bunch of people involved in the planning and operation of these camps, and they're working a whole lot more than just the actual 6 days of the camp. People's time and energy is worth something, and I don't fault them at all for trying to cover expenses.

I have heard of this camp before but just now checked out the site.

I like the part where it says that this camp is not run for profit. 60 campers at $700 each is $42,000 for six days, that's not chump change.

...and you must apply and hope that you are one of the "lucky" ones that gets to pay off Vics mortgage.

Also, the donate button made me smile.

I work for a non-profit organization. We still have things like electric bills and payroll for employees. I'm positive there are a ton of other more conventional and less time consuming things Vic could do with the dough that would benefit just himself.

And if you figure that most of the musicians he brings in for the camp wouldn't go on the road for less than a couple/few grand a week, he's not without expense there. Even though most of us tend to be easy on him because we believe in what he's doing there. By the way, he doesn't live in that facility. He has a mortgage to pay elsewhere aside from what the new facility is costing him. Sure, he's not running a charity for aspiring bassists. It's a business like anything else. But I think his primary focus is to create a unique environment for bass players in which they can get a hands-on feel for where he's coming from and what he has experienced in his life that has contributed to his success, which is something a lot of players would really like to know. I know him well enough to be sure that he is totally legitimate and sincere. Even if he doesn't pocket anything from the camp itself, the fact that it's HIS brainchild is a big positive for the overall Victor Wooten legacy which continues to grow and reach farther. Look at celebrity foundations and the like. These people wouldn't create them if there wasn't some sort of benefit for them. Even if they have so much money they can just throw it away, there is ALWAYS some tax benefit or something. And there's overhead as well. I know it's been tight over the years in terms of paying the overhead to run the camp, and building this facility was an effort to mitigate that over the long haul. He's basically looking for ways to get his message out without losing his butt. But don't fool yourself into thinking he's just rolling in $42,000.00 at the end of the week. All catered meals have always been included in the price as well. How much would 15 trips to a cheap restaurant cost you? There's 20% of your $700 right there.

As for being one of the lucky ones, I think different camps have different goals built into them. So the level of players may or may not be an issue. I know that some camps are strictly for people who've been at previous camps. But I don't think there's a player in the world that wouldn't be welcome at some or one of these camps throughout the year. It's not "exclusive" in that way as far as I know.

Amen, Mike. Thanks for chiming in!

Just heard from the camp - I'm in! Cool, now I can start getting excited :)

Hey, that's awesome news! I missed it when you posted. Congrats.
I still haven't heard. I have a feeling that's not good news, but that's OK.

Just got the word. I'm in!
I'm already excited...

Looking forward to meeting you, Greg.

Cool, congrats! I can't wait :)

I'm going to have to do this sometime soon...can't really afford to think about it anytime in the next year or so ($700 is more than reasonable, IMO, but well outside of my personal budget for the time being...:hmm: ).

Looking forward to hearing what it's like Greg...oh, and on your GTG, DEFINITELY keep me informed man, if it's at all possible I'll definitely make the trip up. FYI, a full-on Roscoe GTG is in the planning stages, I'll be making a thread up in our corner of the TB universe before the end of the week!

Cool - count me in for your GTG, too, Gard, assuming the boss lets me out to play :)

So Greg - you getting stoked?

Yeah, boy, it's coming up fast, eh? I've been so focused on my Roscoe, I haven't really started planning for the camp yet... Guess I need to get on that.

I've been listening to Palmystery and S.M.V. all day... man, Victor is a sick, sick, man. I hope he's contagious.

:help:

:D

I attended the camp in the Fall of 2001. We were devided into groups of campers. In my group was Jaco's two sons (one of whom was a drummer), Bela Fleck's brother, and a few other guys. The week was unreal! EVERYBODY there was incredibly nice! Good times! I'm a nature dork anyway so the stuff in the woods was awsome to me! If you get the chance GO! You won't regret it!



Oh yeah. We played basses too.

Greg, you mentioned a Blacksburg Area GTG earlier. Want to share camp stories when you get back?

Yeah, man, that sounds like a blast! Might be fun to combine the GTG with a gig. Hang out, swap stories, try gear... and then a Kind show! If anyone is up on Dead or other classic rock stuff, you'd be welcome to sit in for me for a few tunes. That'll be my first opportunity to gig my new Roscoe, too...

Thursday, May 14th is our next Blacksburg show at Champs. We could GTG at Champs from 7-10, then jam from 10 to whenever. Swap stories, drink beer, try gear. Sounds like fun to me.

Thursday nights can be a pain, but you're only young once! Or you're only as old as your state of mind... or whatever!! If I have to do it, you can do it, too!

Here's proof positive that the Roscoe and I made it to camp. Like a dumba**, I forgot to take my camera so I've been scouring other campers for pics of the Roscoe.

I don't know what's cooler...
1) My Roscoe
2) That dome that I helped build a year ago
3) Being able to learn sitting 10 feet away from Victor Wooten and Anthony Wellington

http://www.rocketmusic.net/images/Roscoe-At-Bass-Camp.jpg

Answer: #1



:ninja:







...why no, no I'm not biased, not a bit. Why do you ask???


;)






...cool pic, Greg, I'm looking forward to a full report on the trip!

:)

Oh, and here are some more fun photos of some of the seriously talented instructors we had...

The one and only Chuck Rainey tellin' it like it is in The Dome:
http://www.rocketmusic.net/images/Chuck-Rainey-At-Bass-Camp.jpg

Gerald Veasley gave a great 1-2 hour talk and demonstration one evening after dinner. He mixed Bach and funk at will, it was a sight to behold. And he's a really funny MF'er, great sense of humor.
http://www.rocketmusic.net/images/Gerald-Veasley-At-Bass-Camp.jpg

Adam Nitti tore it up for two hours one evening. "Wow" doesn't begin to cover it.
http://www.rocketmusic.net/images/Adam-Nitti-At-Bass-Camp.jpg

Reggie Hamilton did an evening talk as well, yet another amazing cat with gobs of experience and sage wisdom to share.
http://www.rocketmusic.net/images/Reggie-Hamilton-At-Bass-Camp.jpg

Seeing Vic and Steve Bailey banter back and forth all day everday was a real treat. Steve is a serious smartass, and seriously funny. Not to mention a complete BEAST on bass. Anyway, I jokingly called these basses the new Steve Bailey signature model... I hope he forgets that was me before the next time I see him :)
http://www.rocketmusic.net/images/Vic-And-Steve-At-Bass-Camp.jpg

Sifu Brian Edwards is one seriously bad man. He's a teacher (Sifu) of Wing Chun Kung Fu, and he has taught thousands of special forces soldiers hand-to-hand combat skills over the years. Victor and lots of folks in Victor's circle also study with him. He offered some great exercises for strengthening your hands and tendons, and he put on a pretty impressive and hilarious display of how not to fight.
http://www.rocketmusic.net/images/Sifu-And-Vic-At-Bass-Camp.jpg

And here's the mandatory last day at camp group photo...
http://www.rocketmusic.net/images/Everyone-At-Bass-Camp.jpg

This one time... at bass camp... man, I STILL can't say that with a straight face.

Ooops, I almost forgot probably my favorite instructor - Anthony Wellington. Anthony brings a systematic/mathematical approach to his teaching that really speaks to me personally. For instance, if you look at doing 4-finger exercises - how many combinations of fingerings are there? Why, there are 24 possibilities of course:

1-2-3-4
1-2-4-3
1-3-2-4
1-3-4-2
1-4-2-3
1-4-3-2
2-1-3-4
2-1-4-3
etc.

So if you're going to do finger exercises, don't just do SOME of them. Make sure you hit 'em all, and math can help you identify them all.

On top of all that, Anthony is beautiful player. He can thump you into submission or make you cry with some beautifiul melodic stuff.

http://www.rocketmusic.net/images/Anthony-Wellington-At-Bass-Camp.jpg

What he said. In spades.
Beautiful, inspiring, insanely musical experience.

Hey, J - Ya made it back safely! Good to know :)

When you have a chance, would you please post that pic you took of of me playing Stanley's bass? Pretty please?

Thanks!
Greg

um... THIS picture? :D

http://www.doumbek.com/personal/s7300211.jpg

Thanks, bro! That is indeed the one... how cool that Victor let us all stroke on his basses, plus this one that Stanley Clarke played on School Days. See that switch just under my right hand? It's right were my hand goes when I slap, so I'd have a hard time rockin' out on this bass. The frets were super small too (thin and short), the thing practically felt fretless.

Victor's basses were very nice (duh!!). He uses light strings (40s) and a pretty low setup. Hearing his tone live makes me want to give 40s another shot. There's no shortage of beef in his live tone.

man sounds like it was fun! wish i was there!
I study with anthony tho here in MD

Oh, man, I want to do that, too. Anthony's about 4 hours away from me, though. I'm hoping to catch some one offs with him whenever I'm in the DC area...

Of course, Anthony is no slouch in the bass collection area, either. He snickered when I was impressed by the 8-9 Foderas he described.... I said something to the effect of, "Man, that's an incredible collection". He was like, "Well, that's just the Foderas...."

I'm really enjoying catching up on this thread, Greg! Thanks...

Okay, anyone else not seeing the pics Greg posted? Not sure what's up with that...

Reggie Hamilton. A bass player's bass player. I love him! I've been lucky to chat with him two times over the years, and he's as beautiful a human being as he is a bassist. And...FWIW...one of my true doubling heroes. Very few cats can sound authentic on both electric and upright IMO, and he's way up on the list.

Oh, man, the pics are worth way more than my silly rambling... are you not seeing ANY of them, Jerry?

And your comments on Reggie are spot on. What a SUPER nice dude, and a beast both ways...

I'm seeing them now, Greg - thanks! Awesomeness. This thread has SERIOUS mojo. Two words, baby: Chuck. Rainey.

Just wow!

You left out the third word. "Freakin'. "
Chuck. Freakin'. Rainey.

Such a humble cat, and he gives a resounding message about how powerful the fundamentals are. Hearing him say "well, you know, I mostly play roots and fifths, and I'll throw in the occasional 6 or 9" and you realize it's like Joe Frazier saying "well, you know, I mostly throw jabs and crosses, and I'll throw in the occasional hooks and uppercuts"...

Yeah, but it's HOW you throw them. Amen.

You left out the third word. "Freakin'. "
Chuck. Freakin'. Rainey.


I stand all totally corrected. :D Well said. I appreciate you guys sharing your experiences and letting the rest of us live vicariously! I can only imagine the inspiration you guys have stocked up to get you through the long hot summer.

Yeah, it was pretty frickin' unreal... I still can't believe it, to some degree.

I've been consiously trying to avoid sharing too much detail... a lot of the experiences can be ruined if you know what to expect going in. I just hope the vague allusions to what happened and the gratuitous name dropping will inspire some other folks to make the trip in the future :)

Greg,

Side question, How much do individuals get to interact with the legends ? Is it more of a classroom type thing or does Victor,Chuck,Steve etc, hang with average dudes?

Looks like a blast, I'd like to go just to be able to meet these cats.

God Bless, Ray

Oh, yeah - you get to meet 'em, play bass with 'em, eat with 'em, hike w/ 'em, sit around a camp fire with 'em. A big part of the attraction is that they're all so open and available, plus totally down to earth.

Players of all levels attend (some stone cold beginners, intermediate players, a few advanced), and all are welcomed and encouraged. Nobody is disparaged, it's all about helping everyone become a better bass player, no matter the current skill level.

During the big jam on the last night, everyone got up and played. And Victor was either singing or dancing with EVERYONE. Not to mention a room full of 60 other bass players all dancing and having a great time. It was really incredble.

Cool Man,

I look forward to applying to the next one, and hopefully I might get accepted.
How difficult do you think it would be for someone who walks on crutches? I have cerebral paulsy and use forearm crutches to ambulate. Are the facilities pretty well accessable? I can get around great and am very headstrong, but I wouldn't want to try to walk a flight of stairs every night to get to sleep.
Thanks for responding.
God Bless, Ray

Well, it's rustic for sure. Just getting from one building to the next (and there are three buildings that you rotate amongst several times per day) has you going across some mildly rough terrain. It's like a bad gravel driveway. If you're headstrong, I'm sure you could hang.

You do need to get your bass moving with you most of the time, but someone would certainly volunteer to help with that (or you could sling it around in a gig bag on your shoulders if you like). We had a young blind guy at this past camp with us, and we had a guy from Russia who spoke very little English. Both of them received assistance from everybody, getting them where they needed to be on time, helping them on and off stage, etc.

You get grouped together in groups of 15 or so, and those are the folks that you get to know the best. Those 15 folks always go together from one place to the next, very much like a team.

There are only a few activities (out of 20-25) that you might not want to participate in. Several things involve a blindfold, for instance, and there is some hiking in the woods (it IS Bass/NATURE camp after all). But you could make that call on the spot, or I'm sure the organizers would be happy to advise you before hand which activities might be troublesome for you. I would think, though, that most of the activities should not present a challenge for you physically.

The indoor sleeping spots are all upstairs, but many folks camp outside. No stairs in the tents, for sure :)

I say go for it!!

Greg,

Side question, How much do individuals get to interact with the legends ? Is it more of a classroom type thing or does Victor,Chuck,Steve etc, hang with average dudes?

Looks like a blast, I'd like to go just to be able to meet these cats.

God Bless, Ray

Just had to add....
I was at this last camp as well, and every time I approached Anthony Welling,Victor, Steve Bailey,Reggie Hamilton,Chuck Rainey, or any of the guys there with questions, they listened very attentively and gave me through answers until my brain was fat dumb and happy with musical knowledge and know how, and I really appreciate that. I also hung out talking non bass related thing. It's very chill.
It's a super great place to be and a great opportunity to learn tons and have lots of fun. Im super excited for reunion camp!

I'm going to buck up and get myself in a little better shape. Need to bail some belly and get my legs stronger. I WILL be applying, and if I'm accepted, I want to do my best to be a part of everything physically possible. I won't be letting you other cats get a leg up on me for a lack of work.
If I am accepted, you other guys better keep an eye out for me. If something awesome is going down, I Will Not be afraid to Flatten you.

Crossing Fingers Guys,
God Bless, Ray

Best of luck man!