You Paid For Every Note - Use Them All! (Improvising Is Easy!)

[Baloney Balderdash]

What your music teacher doesn't want you to know... - but this is no clickbait scam! :

 

Ain't that the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Mottlefeeder]

Wow - hadn't thought of it that way before.

David

[MattW]

Great Vid!!

[Heathy]

Great vid. I wish I’d seen that years ago. The importance of the plucking hand is understated in a lot of teaching.

[Simon.]

Damn. Wish I could have watched that when I was starting out! Such a great, but simple, concept.

[Muzz]

Paused it at 1:30, right after he said 'You don't have to play the right notes...' I'm gonna cut and paste that bit onto my phone for my next gig. Should come in handy:

 

'Victor Wooten says it's up to me which is the right note, and you're just a chuffing guitarist, so you can do one...'   🙂

Edited March 13, 2023 by Muzz

[Baloney Balderdash]

29 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Paused it at 1:30, right after he said 'You don't have to play the right notes...' I'm gonna cut and paste that bit onto my phone for my next gig. Should come in handy. 🙂

Why not just cut it after 'You don't have to play..." , and take the night off?

 

I am pretty certain, which is clear if you watch the rest of the video, that he meant right notes, as in the notes that strictly theoretically fit the key, and specifically in the context of improvising, which is what this video is about.

 

And I am pretty certain he didn't mean that you can use whatever notes you fancy to play any song in the world, regardless of how it was actually written, and no one, including your bandmates, will be able to tell the difference anyway.

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash
typos

[Muzz]

I watched the whole video. Humour failure somewhere.

 

I've played in a band where I brought a 12-string bass to a rehearsal and no-one noticed...

[Baloney Balderdash]

 

3 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Humour failure somewhere.

12 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Why not just cut it after 'You don't have to play..." , and take the night off?

 

[Muzz]

I'm pretty sure both comments were funny somewhere around the middle of this pic... 🙂

 

[paul_5]

58 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Paused it at 1:30, right after he said 'You don't have to play the right notes...' I'm gonna cut and paste that bit onto my phone for my next gig. Should come in handy:

 

'Victor Wooten says it's up to me which is the right note, and you're just a chuffing guitarist, so you can do one...'   🙂

Preach it brother!

[paul_5]

51 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Why not just cut it after 'You don't have to play..." , and take the night off?

 

I am pretty certain, which is clear if you watch the rest of the video, that he meant right notes, as in the notes that strictly theoretically fit the key, and specifically in the context of improvising, which is what this video is about.

 

And I am pretty certain he didn't mean that you can use whatever notes you fancy to play any song in the world, regardless of how it was actually written, and no one, including your bandmates, will be able to tell the difference anyway.

 

I think the context of his advice is everything - he;'s talking about improvising, not simply playing a tune. If you're playing a tune that punters expect to recognise, then you'd better be sure that it IS recognisable. If you're improvising over the chords then we can start to blur the boundaries of what's right or not.

[benthos]

Fantastic stuff. Always good to hear Victor speak.  Thanks, @Baloney Balderdash

[iconic]

I've been using this technique since I started playing...unfortunately not by design 😉

I'd listen to Victor talking about potato pealings, great oratory. 

Edited March 28, 2023 by iconic