what is 9x13 ??? 7x15 ???
the answer to the latter 'test' is 177 and 105 respectively and yes a I did use a calculator for those last two.
Your calculator disagrees with my brain, which says 9 x 13 is 117.
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Victor Wooten's Groove Workshop: Help Understanding how to play without thinking.
- Thread starter DuckSoup
- Start date
Your calculator disagrees with my brain, which says 9 x 13 is 117.
my calculator is correct, its my damn fingers that have "operator Error" Ill go patch my post..
A really simple mnemonic for this is that 9x = 10x-x
So in our example, x=13 so 9*13 = 10*13-13 = 117.
Multiplying/dividing by 10 is really easy (simply move the decimal point), so leverage that whenever you can. A couple more examples:
11x = 10x+x
5x = 10x/2
my calculator is correct, its my damn fingers that have "operator Error" Ill go patch my post..
I'm a Physicist and Engineer - doing both for decades. Although it took a second or two for me to calculate exactly what 9 by 13 is, I do know instantly that it's not 177 - just like music, enough hours doing enough math in my brain, I can very quickly say "that's not right" when someone puts math that's not close to the right answer in front of me.
I just did 9 x 10 (90), and 9 x 3 (27) and added them, but your way works as well.
This September marks the 30th year of bass playing for me. I have no natural talent to speak of, and while I'm certainly competent, I'm no master of theory or technique. I have practiced music just about every day since I was a child, and studied really hard. At some point along the way, I stopped thinking about notes, scales and chords, and I just started playing from my heart instead of my mind. Vic's thing isn't a technique or philosophy, it's about putting in enough time with your instrument that you can play what you feel instead of musical formulas. For some people, that may be slamming low E on 8th notes. Or maybe UFOTOFU.
don't worry my fingers fail me on the Bass too. worst part is I purposely put the answer lower so folks (like you it seems) could try to work it out in their heads first!
anyhow I hope this illustrates that it takes practice on the instrument to get to that elusive 'unknown' and 'feeling' that VicWoo does so flawlessly and effortlessly.
If I had been paying bass from the tender age of 5 with older siblings to emulate and parents booking gigs for me with Curtis Mayfield or Sly Stone (one of those.. Ill edit when I find the vid) I may be virtuoso on the bass too.. but not just me, MANY people would be awesome if they put in the kind of work Vic did at as early an age as he did.
time for lunch.
Bass on Brothas and Sistas!
anyhow I hope this illustrates that it takes practice on the instrument to get to that elusive 'unknown' and 'feeling' that VicWoo does so flawlessly and effortlessly.
If I had been paying bass from the tender age of 5 with older siblings to emulate and parents booking gigs for me with Curtis Mayfield or Sly Stone (one of those.. Ill edit when I find the vid) I may be virtuoso on the bass too.. but not just me, MANY people would be awesome if they put in the kind of work Vic did at as early an age as he did.
time for lunch.
Bass on Brothas and Sistas!
When jamming or creating music, I don't really think about the theory. Instead, I have an idea in my mind of what I want to come out, then I let it out! I usually get close the first time around, but rarely exactly. Sometimes it even turns out better than what I was shooting for! The good news is the next measure or phrase is right around the corner, so I have another opportunity to try again or reinforce what I did before.
As a fellow Engineer, think of creating music like iterations of a design. It's OK to have multiple iterations to tryout and build upon util you get what you get what you want.
As a fellow Engineer, think of creating music like iterations of a design. It's OK to have multiple iterations to tryout and build upon util you get what you get what you want.
So Anyway, I saw Leo Kottke at a small theatre a couple of years ago. He said knows he played well if he comes back to the dressing room and has no recollection of what he played during the concert.
Like they say in boxing...'Just Let Your Hands Go!'
Like they say in boxing...'Just Let Your Hands Go!'
Here's my take on it, having been through the DVD and one of Vic's camps. They are talking to a lot of people on a lot of different levels. MOST of those people already have theory, have already practiced scales until their fingers bleed, and may even be trapped by it.
If there was one thing I could change going into his camp, I would have known every chord in every key, everywhere on my bass. I think for a lot of us, especially as adult learners, this is going to be a case of "you need to know the rules before you can break them".
I want to be clear, however, that you don't NEED any theory to attend a Wooten Woods camp. Everyone will get something different, but I just feel that I would have gotten a lot more if I went in with that knowledge.
I'm an Engineer for a living, it's my job to overthink.
I feel your pain! A lot of good advice has been given, though.
Bottom line; you've got to put in the work to develop your ears AND learn your instrument well enough to play what your ears are telling you in the moment. That just takes a lot of time doing, and there's plenty of thought that goes into that process.
First, check out the Vic Wooten quotation in my sig, below. The “secret” you’re trying to suss out is how to get past your own mental roadblocks. In that, we (nearly) all have dealt with it; or should have done.
Keep in mind that we’re rhythm section and the groove is more important for us than the pitch (note) we play. Do you think about string, fret and finger when you play a scale? If you play a clam do you go back to “fix” it or do you keep moving? These two habits occupy brainpower that is better spent making people [including you] feel what the song wants them to feel.
Vic, Ant and your teacher are telling you to worry less about the particular notes and more about what makes you and everybody else bob your heads to the music. It’s a hard, self-imposed barrier to break through but the day you first do it is a day you’ll remember gladly.
Oh, yeah. The music theory can wait. Ignore it if it’s getting in the way of playing relaxed. You’re going to learn a lot of stuff that falls under the music theory umbrella but it’ll be easier to use if you don’t burden yourself with that ponderous and threatening name, “music theory.” If you’re on an orchestral path, ignore this paragraph.
Keep in mind that we’re rhythm section and the groove is more important for us than the pitch (note) we play. Do you think about string, fret and finger when you play a scale? If you play a clam do you go back to “fix” it or do you keep moving? These two habits occupy brainpower that is better spent making people [including you] feel what the song wants them to feel.
Vic, Ant and your teacher are telling you to worry less about the particular notes and more about what makes you and everybody else bob your heads to the music. It’s a hard, self-imposed barrier to break through but the day you first do it is a day you’ll remember gladly.
Oh, yeah. The music theory can wait. Ignore it if it’s getting in the way of playing relaxed. You’re going to learn a lot of stuff that falls under the music theory umbrella but it’ll be easier to use if you don’t burden yourself with that ponderous and threatening name, “music theory.” If you’re on an orchestral path, ignore this paragraph.
Honestly, every instructional video or book that Victor Wooten releases needs to have his book "The Music Lesson" attached. It explains his views on learning and playing music perfectly. It comes across as a zen thought exercise, and might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it has some amazing insights on playing. In short, his whole philosophy is on not just playing the notes, but feeling them as well.
If it helps, here's what he thinks is the most important part of playing (or else he wouldn't write it):
If it helps, here's what he thinks is the most important part of playing (or else he wouldn't write it):
When I am playing my best my mind is literally blank.
It took me a solid decade to get use to singing and talking while playing.
The only thing I can suggest is to sit down and get comfortable with some back ground music and just play around on the bass.
Your muscle memory and your not conscious mind already know what to do, it is the conscious mind that screws everything up.
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I know zero theory, I have to stop and think about what note I am playing when the guitarist ask "what note are you playing".
why because I am not thinking about what I am doing, I am listening to the band.
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too many replys in between to put this in as an edit. so..
around the 10 min mark he starts to talk about his parents and older siblings.
and FWIW the other 3 vids in this collection are deffo worth a watch!
When I went to his camp he stated many times that he was in the rhythm section, not the notes section.
Then he made us solo over a pad using only the minor 2nd. We had to express ourselves with tone, dynamics, articulation, and rhythm alone. (There were actually 10 things in all beside pitch that make up music on the list we developed but I can’t remember them all.) It was a great exercise.
Funkiness isn’t about pitches.
Then he made us solo over a pad using only the minor 2nd. We had to express ourselves with tone, dynamics, articulation, and rhythm alone. (There were actually 10 things in all beside pitch that make up music on the list we developed but I can’t remember them all.) It was a great exercise.
Funkiness isn’t about pitches.
