help with victor wootens You cant hold no groove

[lewibassist]

Hiya i have been working on this solo for a while and i cant seem to get the timing of the muted notes i understand that he plays them quite fast.I have his book with the transcription in.But the problem is i cannot get the timing right .Does anyone have any tips for me on how to get it to sound close to how vic plays it.

[Wrong Robot]

You can't hold no groove if you ain't got no pocket

[lewibassist]

Thats very true

[iareplaythebass]

Darn these leather pocketless pants!

[Mike Flynn]

Basically - I strike the muted G string with the back of my nails on my plucking hand, on the downstroke - then catch them again on the up with the tips of my fingers - the result should sound like little snap, almost like a snare snap, but quick like "du-du". Practice hammering the G on the third fret of the E string while hitting the muted open G string and get a groove going - work your own out, or cop one of Vic's. Put it this way I emailed Vic once cos I wanted to get the groove from the start of the second Vital Tech Tones Cd down - and he emailed me back saying "You can work that out, just listen to it" so I did and I did, learn it my way but it sounds the same.

So that's the other bit of advice - just keep listening to it and watch the DVD if you can and check out how his hands work against each other - think more like a drummer and combining the two hands together shouldn't be so much of a problem after say five or six years of hard wood shedding! Only kidding - good luck.

[lewibassist]

I am still having sutch a hard time with this song. I have just bought victor wooten at bass day 98 dvd. And i still cant figure out how he gets the muted notes. I have the transcription book and it says that you pop two muted notes on the g string and then hit two g's on the e string then pop two muted notes on the g string the two g's on the e string. And on the dvd when he plays it live it does not sound like he his doing that. Does anyone have any tips on how to achive the sound he has live on the dvd.

[EmmSee]

The sound on the Bass Day 98 vid is a bit different. He is less fancy with the main groove. Like the other poster said, you don't have to do it exactly like Vic, just make sure it's groovin'... play it with the metronome and catch the main points of emphasis, and you're golden.

[Fliptrique]

the general rule while learning any song, is, when you have some problem with timing, SLOW IT DOWN if you can play it perfectly on time at bpm 40, and your fingers are fast enough, you`ll be able to play it at 100, 120 etc, etc...

some time ago my teacher asked about a song i think i can play very well. i said "under the bridge" he asked me to play it at bpm 40. i couldn`t do it. after a week of practice it came to me. and completely changed my perception of the song, groove in it etc. etc. timing is not all just chops and hands, it`s also in your head.

[Warwickthumb]

Didnt Vic say for that part of the song that he didnt know if thats exactly how he played so he just wrote those notes to show rythem. Im not at home so I cant check for sure. Anyways what I wanted to know is how to keep the notes for the main groove from ringing out so much? Hammer from D to F and then G and A# I belive. IM guessing its a matter of practice, but I was wondering how some of you guess do it.
Joe

[EmmSee]

To keep the notes from ringing I use my left hand as a mute.

In that tune, my left hand's always moving, it's constantly playing muted-slaps, hammering-on the fills and low G's.