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Victor Wooten is second teir skill wise now

#102
what I found not so good about the improv, is that most of the lines had no connection to one another. i.e. what you play this minute, is in part because of what you just got done playing, and what you are about to play. I call this "lyrical phrasing". A logic to it all.
But, having said the above junk, there are a lot of styles of music which are based around chaos, and noise. The early Who destroying their gear, Nirvana, etc.. so it is tough to be judge, jury, and executioner when it comes to art. If this guy is connecting to a mass audience, regardless of what you or I may think, he wins.
I used know cats who thought any bass player who played atonal lines, really fast was a bad bass player. Then came Hadrien. He is one guy that can play the most atonal, hyper fast lines, and somehow make it all work and connect with the audience. I personally wish there were more cats like him opening up peoples minds to other things besides just keeping the time. especially in rual areas where jazz is a four letter word.
 
#103
Vic is second to none when it comes to playing bass. He is far beyond "average' as someone called him and yes, he has given the bass community a "shot in the arm". this guy has chops but he doesn't have the musical maturity to round it out. We'll take another listen in a few years..
 
#106
I'm not about to hate on Masaki. The guy obviously has tremendous chops and if people dig that style that's cool. But I do agree with those that said he's much more of a Sheehan player than somebody I would compare with Wooten. And there's nothing wrong with that. Sheehan is an innovator and a tremendous player. Not exactly my style, but he's got undeniable skills and seems to be a genuinely good guy to boot.

As for Wooten being a second tier player, I can't fathom that anybody would say that and mean it. And yes, Wooten is a great technical player but nothing more than that? No. In fact I appreciate the fretboard gymnastics and pyrotechnics but it's the part of his playing that isn't warp speed tapping or double thumbing that I really love.

Like the vast majority of this:
 
#107
ryognbass said:
all i could say is that this guy has quite a bit to go before reaching the musicianship and humanity of Mr. Wooten.

cheers
Click to expand...

+1 to the musicianship part. I don't think any of us would be able to say anything about his "humanity" though, unless we've met Masaki or something. ;)

That said, I wonder if the OP watched the video of Wooten's rendition of Amazing Grace, solo'ed on bass. I personally thought that REALLY showcased Wooten's feel on the bass and in music in general. I'm still not a big fan of Wooten's crazy double-thumb thing, but everything he does in Amazing Grace sounded very musical to me.

Masaki still plays clean and fast and can do stuff I can't do, and I'm sure the respect he gets for what he does has merit, but I personally got bored of his solo's.
 
#112
I had a chance to meet Vic. He was very humble face to face. I called him Mr. Wooten. He said to call him Vic. Very nice and friendly. He gave my dad a (manly) hug. Which meant a lot to me cause Vic had to wait for my dad to stand out of his wheel chair.


I still say the best bass player is a dark basement somewhere playing a 4 string squier with 3 year on strings. Playing through a crate guitar amp.

Sorry for the ramble.
 
#116
I watched the vids. my first thought was huh? he's great and all. If i play for 45 years, I might not reach half of this dude.

Is he over Vic. well he is better than vic at what he does. but to compare the 2 in the wide area of the bass, me as a listener I gotta turn vic up and this dude down.
 
#118
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