Wooten Can Do More
 

ive heard some people ragging on us victor wooten fans, saying that he can just play fast, and he is too sloppy, and its just a bunch of ghost notes.
but i personally love it alot more when he just slows it down and holds a steady groove. dont get me wrong, his double thump is amazing, but sometimes i just like to hear his fingerstyle grooves and his melodic tapping. i just wanted to know if anyone else feels this way. wooten is sometimes looked to as overated, but i dont think so at all. IMHO he is a very amazing bass player and innovator, and i highly respect him.

The problem is that many have only seen him play the fast slap groove, which is great, but there is so much more to him. I agree, his best stuff isn't slap, but other styles he plays. At the end of his DVD Live at Bass Day, is some amazing footage.

all you gotta do is see him with Mike Stern to see that he can groove like mad. At some pretty blistering tempos, too.

Right here, i feel the same dang way. I think he's a great bassist, and the stupid-fast double thump is impressive from a percussive standpoint, but from a tone perspective, it just rubs me to wrong dang way.

Actually, Wooten encourages people to groove and then add the flashy stuff,

he describes the groove as the cake and the flashy stuff as the icing. you first have to bake the cake and then add the icing.

If you form an opinion on Wooten after just hearing his double thumbing, you're missing the biggest part of the picture.

can someone post a yuotube link to a downbeat wooten groove with no slapping, thumping or popping PLEASE!?!

slow grooves with lost of S P A C E is what I love about bass... it's harder to play well at slower tempos because you have longer silent gaps before you come in.. and coming back in in the perfect spot is really hard work..

try playing whole notes in 4/4 at about 70bpm with a 4ths feel drum groove... just come in on the one each time, record yourself doing this and analyse just how far out each of your hits is.. do it in 8th's easy.. whole notes with perfect timing.. HARD!!

For proof of his genius, just listen to the song "Big Country" from Left of Cool. His fretless playing on that song is incredible, AND he manages to work "Continuum" into the solo. It doesn't get more brilliant than that!!! "Stomping Grounds" is another song that shows him holding it down, and getting flashy. Of course, you can always hear him playing the Victor version of root 5 on "Cheeseballs In Cowtown". There are countless examples of him holding it down, and doing it well.

victor wooten is great when he isn't slapping.. that's not because he sucks at slapping but because slapping sucks... :hyper:

Vic is the complete package. What's to over-rate? He sings, writes, plays any style, fast, slow, he even break dances, as we saw in the Youtube clip! He's even got talented siblings!
Show me ANYBODY who's 40ish now, been playing since the age of 3, who sucks. Impossible to find such a person.

When he solos, it makes me wanna wretch, but when he grooves, it makes me wanna dance. He's such a great groover. Listen to him play with the Flecktones, where he is a soloist, but he holds it down most of the time. Pretty sweet stuff.

IMO - I'd have to say his stuff with the Flecktones is the shiznit, simply amazing, but i don't favor his solo work(not refering to his "solos"), some of its ok, but not like the flecktones. Has anyone here heard his version of TEEN TOWN? After hearing that, i can garuantee Jaco's turning in his grave:scowl:

Yeah, I hated his Teen Town (off the Jaco tribute, right?), his tone is waaaaay to smoothed out... and that solo... Yuuuuuck.

Jaco>Wooten

IMO. Not even saying that due to history or any other B.S. reason. Ignoring all other major reasons, tone is one of the main things. Jaco had this huuuuge thick tone, I don't like the modern nasaly bass sound.

What he said. I loved his playing on that tour.

Not exectly a simple groove but truly beautiful and AMAZING Victor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9a4ThBNacY

The biggest lesson that can be learned from Vic



more of us need to be wearing the finish off our basses rather than letters off computer keyboard.

:cool:

^^^^ Very True :) ^^^^

i've always like wooten for the fact that he's got crazyamazing technique, but still knows how to groove. there are plenty of wankers out there... and while wooten can wank, he can also groove.

:rollno: :rolleyes:

i have yet to hear anyone here on talkbass rag on victor wooten for any of these reasons. link?