Victor Wooten help needed!

[jude_b]

Trying to be a good student of the bass, I'm currently trying to learn some Victor Wooten lines, although I'm not convinced that all of the various clicks and pops are strictly necessary.

I bought his book of transcriptions and have had a go at U Can't Hold No Groove. Unfortunately, his transcription doesn't provide directions as to how the various muted notes get played.

Having a go at it cold, I've been playing the groups of four muted notes in the main part as a double pop/double thumb. However, based on Youtube clips he appears to play it differently live, and also seems to drop the last note in each group compared with the recorded version (although I might well be wrong on this).

Does anyone know the method used on the recorded version? He mentions in the book that it's up to the player to play the notes the way they want to, as long as they play them. However, the entire reason I bought the transcription was that I wanted to learn his technique for playing it.

As usual, any help/guidance would be really appreciated - hopefully the description above makes sense if you've learnt it.

(Minor rant: I don't know why it's considered acceptable to provide incomplete/'fill in the gaps yourself' transcriptions in contemporary music books - this isn't an improvisation piece.)

[Mexicola]

There are a few good tutorial videos on youtube to help with getting the right hand technique down. I own the sheet music as well and there's a dead note missing in one of the fills which throughs the whole thing off. If you want to know exactly how Victor Wooten plays it there is a tutorial video on his website but you have to pay for it and I dont know how useful it is.

Play the group of four muted notes as two dead notes on the G string and two left hand taps on the G on the E string if that makes sense?

[jude_b]

Thanks - that was quick!

I think the transcription's missing a few notes here and there. I saw the online tutorial but I'm loathe to pay for it given that I've bought the music.

I'll try what you suggest - it makes a lot sense.

[Bilbo]

Be thankful that you HAVE transcriptions!! When I was learning, there was nothing like this kind of attention paid to bass parts.

[Stuart Clayton]

Vic's online tutorial video is excellent. I too wondered how exactly he did those ghost notes in the main groove, and he outlines this pretty clearly.

Just my opinion, but the video is very thorough, and worth the money.

Stu

[jude_b]

Thanks both.

I don't generally mind working out fingerings and positioning from sheet music. Whilst I take the point about an improvement in the availability of bass music, I'm only slightly peeved with this book as he's using several (to me, tricky) techniques at once and I don't think it's always obvious how to play it from the music - and I think ~£18 is enough to pay for properly transcribed music. Classical piano music gives relevant technique, fingering, feeling and dynamic instructions, as well as several pages of notes on interpretation at the front!

Stu - your books are a very good example of bass transcriptions, I would be struggling to have a go at this 'modern' stuff without them (I had previously thought electric bass playing starts and ends in the 1970's).

Back to the attic!

[jude_b]

Thanks again for the help on this. It's much easier to play with double left hand taps and, on going back to the music, I was misreading the pattern slightly, which didn't help.

[Stuart Clayton]

Thanks Jude. In fairness, I think for that book Victor played it how he remembered it, then another guy actually wrote it out. I think something was lost in translation. He does say in the notes something about the groove being the most important thing, but like you, I wish the transcription was perfect. It's very close though. Most transcription books contain inaccuracies of some kind (except mine obviously... ;-)) but Vic's is pretty good overall.

Stu

[Sibob]

I believe that I remember him speaking about having to transcribe tunes for books. He had to go back and relearn a number of tunes, and so as Stuart says, he might have played something slightly different to the record perhaps. I may be remembering that incorrectly however, it makes sense though.
I can't imagine he's overly fussed about playing something per the record when playing it live.......neither should you, use your ear and embellish upon it

Si

[enricogaletta]

I agree with the last post, transcriptions are very helpful but just try to remember that you have to use it as a guide to learn the main line but than, you have to embellish with yourself, that is one of the most important concept Victor, always says.
If you follow that suggestion, than you'll learn a cool song but, most important you'll start to apply this "dictionary" to your playing and there is a huge difference when, you play a bass line in the way is more comfortable to you compared to a way that is easier for another player, it's just like you want use somebody clothes and you can't fit in because different sizes
For example, tablature are easy but tricky, because force you to learn just in one way, most of the times easy just for who wrote the line, simply because his natural approach. For this reason what Sibob says is true, when you play a song or baseline many times, it's natural after a while change it because, a evening feel, different drum grooves etc..
On fingerboard there are always more than one way to learn and, is not the transcriptions that make the difference, is always the player !

[chris_b]

The first 3 mins of this might help. VW starts simply with fingerstyle and builds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOFf9kBnlGM

[Sibob]

If you REALLY want to get on with some Victor, go and study with him. It's surprisingly cheap (IMO) for what you get out of it, I was there last year and is an amazing experience:

http://www.vixcamps.com

I'd probably recommend the Music/Nature camp (which I attended) as it's a mixture of instruments, the Bass/Nature is just bassists and is also now associated with Berklee, so those guys are gonna be killer players I assume.

Si