Victor Wooten is without a doubt one of the most fearless musicians. Check out some incredibly insightful wisdom on how to approach your instrument for better improvisational skills!
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This is the real shit that actually makes you a better musician.
Exactly
Word! Perspective
Indeed, this is a before and after in my life
Punk musicians agreed, it's hard to get it wrong.Thanks for giving half of the formula away.
V
This is some of the most practically brilliant and encouraging teaching you'll ever see out here on the KZheads. Shout out to Victor Wooten, man 🏆
Victor is a great player and a great teacher. Once we find the groove of a song we have all 12 notes to play, and if a wrong note comes under our fingers we can play it, and make it all right. Just think if this sort of thing could work out with the women who claim bad chemistry, and we could then go on and dance the night away..
Love me some Vic and some Beatdown. I’m not surprised that you share a similar thought process to Vic. Much love
Thats soo true🤍 it reminded me of Bob Ross
Just being a half note off at any time really got me.
Abs the funny thing is this is also a life lesson at the same time! A way to see the world in a healthy evolving way.
“Your body says this is good and your brain agrees”😂 this is probably the best bass video I’ve seen to date
As a wise man once said, "Free your mind, and your ass will follow"
Sounds like something Karl Pilkington would say
Did Wooten just demonstrate that if you play all the wrong notes with absolute confidence, people won't doubt your playing and assume you're just a genius? Dear God that's brilliant
Real improv
And skill. If you play them confidently and skillfully. It's absolutely how it works. Music is all manipulating people's brains to make their bodies move around.
let's Feel the rythm deeply and everything got its right place.
Omar Rodriguez Lopez enters the chat ❤
It sounds like politics and politicians. Yup, pretty confident they’re all just closet musicians
Vic is the Bob Ross of music. We don't have wrong notes, just happy accidents.
Great observation. 💯
Exactly!!!
and the root note has some little friends over here in the fill yes ... I can feel him channeling BoB
FR!
Happy accidentals* 😉
Victor needs a teaching channel. So good.
I believe victor would prefer a “showing” channel not a teaching channel
His channel is analog...he has a music camp in Tennessee.
Musical Bob Ross
Idk if the world is ready
He doesn't need it . we do.
As a veteran guitar player of 15+ years ,who just recently started playing bass for a band, I can confidently say that this one video has changed my entire perspective of how I look at the fret board. This man is a national treasure.
welcome to the wonderful world of getting yelled at by drummers for being "too wooten "
I wish you the best in your bass-playing journey.
I'm on the same journey as yours.. 12 years of guitar playing and started playing bass for a band since 8 months
@@charan7363 basically the exact same journey!
Man, I've been playing for almost 25 years and I wish I could consider myself a veteran guitar player
I'm a guitarist who's been playing for 40 goddamned years, and it's rare that I run across a teacher who's informative, entertaining, gracious, smart and funky as Sir Wooten. He's taught me more here than probably a good 25 guitar teaching vids have. This guy is the bomb
I'm the same way. I started playing in the mid 80s. I studied classical and jazz guitar and also took music theory lessons in college. I've played since my very early teens and it was only a few years ago in my late 40s that I heard Victor Wooten say the simple fact: No matter what note you play when soloing, it's never more than a half step away from being in key. That blew my mind and I went from having trouble trying to find the key of a song I wanted to solo over to just being able to play without having a clue what the key of the song is in a second or two. I've studied music in the past, how come I never realized this very simple fact myself? LOL Victor Wooten is an amazing educator and my #1 suggestion to watch for anybody on any instrument. Not just for bass players.
Victor Wooten... destroying everything you've ever learned about music theory in 15 minutes.
he's not wrong tho
HONESTLY
VW the living legend and modern philosopher.
Not destroying but rephrasing it.
Destroys but also builds you back up 😅😁
this man is a genius. and what a great lesson: having to do it "right" is the biggest anxiety-inducer that ruins learning improvisation and forces you onto well-traveled (boring) paths.
Yeah! It really is a lesson for living.
Truly a genius.
That's really true, and that's the thing with me until now, i fell so pressured to no play the wrong note that I miss more than I would
Very good explanation
“Even though the note is technically wrong, the brain will accept it if you add rhythm to it. You paid for every note, use them all.” I’ll never forget those words.
Reminds me of Thelonious Monks’ approach to the piano.
I chalenge you to use the right note, but in different tempo.
I've been playing bass for over 30 years, and I tell ya, whenever I see Victor Wooten giving advice, I click immediately. I always come away with a big ol' smile on my face, and somehow absorb a whole bunch of knowledge that makes me go "Wait. I never even *thought* of that!" Much love.
And you've never used a capo to change keys, but you listen to this man and continue to call yourself a bassist?
@@panchoverde5078Let’s hear your recordings so you can show Vic how it’s really done.
@@jpined14 dude, Victor will literally tell you it's ok to hit the wrong notes and play out of key. He's a loser bassist.
This man is very kind and humble. As a beginner you feel encouraged, instead of blown away.
"So it sounds more like i'm moving, but it's really the chords moving around me" Bro, no way to deny it: at the side of being an awesome teacher, this man is also a poet!
Yeah with everything he says. We're improvising every moment of every day. I am a professional at this. I felt that so hard.
I started playing without learning any music theory. Then I learnt music theory and it felt like a cage, trying to play what is "right". Then I listened to jazz and realised that there are no "wrong" notes. Just how you play them.
When a person of the skill set of Victor Wooten can explain a topic that not only explains, but enables and removes the paralytic of fear from the topic, you know he doesn't just have mastery of the topic, but has the spirit of a teacher and a human being that wants us all to gain mastery as well. That takes take skill, heart and maturity.
AMEN
He played all 12 notes in the scale and it sounded better than anything I ever thought of playing. Thanks Dr. Wooten.....
The way Victor breaks it down is masterful. But he's absolutely right, took me 10+ years to realize - it's not what you play, but how you play. I learned theory first, which was very helpful. But rhythm and dynamics - that came with time.
This man is like the best teacher I’ve ever heard for music
I am a pianist who strictly goes along with the notes available to me in a key. But currently I am learning bass so I got here, and OH MAN was this so refreshing! Started doing improvs on bass with feel and rhythm only, and for the first time in my life have I allowed myself to finally let loose. Amazing stuff, God bless
Just know the same applies to your piano. Nothing stopping you from playing non diatonic notes on piano either
It's a weird phenomenon how we can get stuck in rigid thinking on our primary instrument, then we mess around with a new instrument for a couple of months and all kinds of new pathways open up.
@@LionAndALamb lol true
Where has this been my whole life
I really appreciate that you show a lot of this with only one finger on the fretboard. It helps guide whats actually happening
Sticking with one finger also shows the power of simple experimentation rather than the need for more complex technique. So many music teachers start students off with exercises with all fingers, but music doesn’t require that many a lot of the time!
What makes Victor such an incredible musician for me is not his bass playing, but the humble philosophy he puts into practice that many other virtuosos lack. What a legend!!
I wish I had known this like 30 years ago. :)
It's not by accident that he's one of the best bass player ever. So inspiring. Please, make a monument to this man!
Probably the best bass teacher ever.
Love Victors approach to playing, and ive done this in the past subconsciously. Just slide up half step! Love it
You know, why is it that Victor is just comforting in general? If I have an anxiety attack I could just listen along with him and try to play on my bass. Is that just me?
More than 10 years ago, I wanted to play bass because of this man. Today, I'm still learning from him.
me too still learning 25 years later
This video is just amazing. "You pay for every note. Use them all". I'll take that to heart. Thanks Mr Wooten.
He’s the best teacher because he removes all the pressure of “getting it right” and brings focus to the groove and having fun while playing.
This man has consistently made better musicians out of all of us with just his wisdom and words.
Aside from being ( easily ) one of the absolute greatest bassist to ever walk the earth . He's by far the best teacher I've ever seen or heard . As it pertains to bass and music in general .
It's amazing that he's as good a teacher as he is a player. Some people can't explain all this, and he is so likeable and I just want to hug him of showing me such cool stuff.
Jaco Patorius had a rather unsuccessful term teaching at the University of Chicago. When asked how to get better his answer was "just watch tv". Victor is a top class teacher.
@@mattaylor5627 From everything I've heard of Jaco. Number 1 was from Marcus Miller. Jaco seemed pretty insecure. Especially for how amazing he was as a bassist and songwriter. Hey everyone has their quirks but when it comes to teaching we're in full agreement Victor is the man flat out.
@@amin4993 If I met him I'd just stand there and listen guaranteed i would learn something I'd never think of or find any where else. The man is a genius on the bass and explaining it just as well. How many incredible bassist can we say that about. Marcus Miller is incredible but when it comes to articulating the craft Victor is phenomenal!
He's got such a warm, positive vibe. It makes you feel good just to hear him speak.
This video covers the best musical advice I ever learned. I don't even play bass, I'm a guitar player, but while watching a Victor Wooten video 8 or 9 years ago I heard this tip: "No matter what note you start to play on it's never more than a 1/2 step away from a note that is "in key" for what you are soloing over." If you play a note that's not in key you can easily do a half step bend up or slide down and you are now in key! If your first note was out of key you now know that the note above AND below it aRE in key. You have 2/7 of the notes in the key already figured out. For years I would try to figure out the key by playing up/down the neck on the 6th string trying to find the root. As soon as I learned this I could almost instantly start playing "in key" with any song - even before I figured out what key it was in. I just wish I heard this tip back in the mid 80s when I started playing guitar. It would have saved me so much trouble. LOL
'Oh G major that my key I gonna go dancing' you got me. Love your way of teaching man. Truly something else.
Victor is the Chuck Norris of bass. He says a note isn't out of key, so now it isn’t. Thanks for this. Takes the pressure off.
Plus the odds are in your favor with hitting the "right" notes
To really understand how good this is you just have to read the comment section. Not only does he make these lessons so easy to understand and interesting, he never comes across as pompous or condescending. You can see he loves to teach and pass on his knowledge as much as playing.
"Wrong notes" create those wonderful tension/release moments that pretty much everyone loves but don't know why. Victor Wooten, great lesson sir! Any musician can benefit from this lesson. Playing to loops made me into such better musician. Exhaust your possibilities!
what an amazing communicator.
It is very appropriate for Mr. Wootens bass to display the Yin and Yang! A perfect balance. Incorporating wrong and right notes together 👍 brilliant. This has taken away all fears of wrong notes for me 🎸
3:10 blew my mind!! I'm currently focusing on making my own bass lines and this helped a tremendous amount 🤯
Not only is he one of the best musicians of all time but also he is one of the best teachers ever. I didn't know before watching this. Such a treasure!
I'm not nearly on this guy's level. I'm not even a bass player, but I know he would make me a better musician inside an hour. such a pleasure to listen to, watch, and learn from. thanks for taking the time, brother.
This is probably one of the most helpful music tutorials on KZhead, Victor Wooten is amazing
It’s so nice to have Victor on your side ! Motivation is the key and the way he speaks is even more than motivating! It’s ❤
I've been playing bass for years, since I was 16, and I've always improvised a lot, just jamming, and always felt guilty because I know I play what some would call wrong notes in my bass runs. But on purpose. Not that anyone complained about my style of playing, but this is a lesson by Victor which actually makes me feel justified in what I've been doing. I've just never been able to explain it the way he does. Thanks Victor. I needed this.
Learning to PLAY is Fun . His book the Music Lesson is worth your time awesome read .
Victor is such a chill sounding dude.
"You pay for every note, use them all." Super cool dude.
Not even a Bass player but I'll sit and listen to a master musician talk about his craft any day.
Victor Wooten - more talent in one finger than most people have in their entire body. LOL! But seriously, if you've ever seen him in concert, he can't help but teach then, either. He's always engaging the audience and dropping little nuggets of genius into them. I've been lucky enough to see him twice (I don't exactly live in a hotbed for live jazz), and both times have arguably been my favorite concerts ever. I took my wife to see him last year, and she said that hands-down it was the best concert she had ever been to.
Mr. Wooten is a great teacher.
VW is not just a musical genius. He is a life coach
You can't help but love Victor Wooten
He's such a genius I bet if Victor Wootem sat down and composed music he'd be the Motzart of the 21st century
Mozart would be amazed 😅❤UK 🇬🇧
This is exactly what I did when I started on guitar 30 years ago and knew nothing about chords or scales. I thought I was crazy, but you just legitimized my approach to soloing. Love this guy.
When Victor talks not only my music brain listens but I feel some spiritual sharing too.
This was the most helpful video by far I’ve ever watched of improvisation props to this guy
One of the most common sense and useful music lessons on KZhead.
He is a natural teacher, excellent!
"You pay for every note. Use them all?" Priceless.
This is brilliant! Simple concepts, but only simple because they’re explained by someone with such mastery!
Victor Wooten never disappoints. He puts this magic into everything he does
This is how I taught myself guitar, keys are just points of reference but sound is the atmosphere you’re making so it legit can be anything
Lord, I play trumpet, I wish I had you as a music teacher. Thanks, Jim Hester
I absolutely love Vic Wooten!! His playing AND teaching styles are so unique, he's found the way to make making mistakes encouraging! Absolutely wonderful human being all the way around!!!
I always appreciate - AND LEARN - from Victors videos! As a mediocre- (minus) bassplayer I always find so much I can use to evolve when watching Victors videos. Great teacher! Really!
"See, I don't even know em" cracked me up 😂😂
"You paid for every note, so use them all", I wanna frame this, brilliant!
I'll cry the day I meet him and just say thank you:') there are lot of teachers and books stressing on scales, arpeggios, modes, theory, substitutions in a way that it is overwhelming and intimidating. But this is so reliving! DONT BE AFRAID TO IMPROVISE
I know right? We need more Victor Wootens out there.
@@camf8372 He's got brothers lol.
@@jcout25 I mean that as in we need more people that teach, like Victor or have the same style of teaching music like he does
Victor Wooten - every time he does a 10-15 minute clip for free for everyone to view on KZhead you feel like you've been transformed in what you know and understand. Simply no one like him to put it in such simple understandable terms, and that proves his genius as a player and as a teacher.
Best bass lesson on youtube. Hope the algorithm spreads its far and wide so every beginner bassist can enjoy the teaching of this brilliant man
I love this man, everytime i hear him talk, i want to hug him
this was like talking to an old friend whom you forgot understands you. Same tribe brother. Excellent way to explain the infinite correlation between every single note without wrong or right just flow and see what shines. Thanks so much for this splash of facts mr wooten, i finally hear someone explaining how cool and beautiful dissonance could be. Rhythm is almost everything. I hope all players open this door
I am honestly floored that we even have access to this. What an enjoyable experience! Thank you, Victor for sharing this incredible lesson with us!! 😊 🎶 💜
❤❤absolutely we salute you Mr Wooten UK 🇬🇧
My man turning sh!t into gold, or maybe diamonds. Protect that man at all costs. 💪🏻
I love that you're explaining this, while sitting next to a Rubik's Cube - another thing that's easy when you know how to do it.
Best 16 minutes of my entire life!! I’d never learnt so much before and in such a short time. This helped me sooo much as someone who struggles to compose/improvise!! Victor is an absolute LEGEND👏🏽
It's been a month. How's the music going?
@@marktaylor3290 better than ever thanks, started learning Victor’s you can hold no groove!
This video is gold. It made me remember how I became a multi-instrumentalist. Discovering for myself the stuff Victor shows in this brilliant video explains exactly how the theory-ignorant drummer I was had the balls to get up in front of people and make music on guitar, bass, keys, and other instruments. At first, I was just jammin'. I barely knew any theory at all, and all I had going for me was my ear, my sense of rhythm, and my love of making music. It grew from there. If you have The Burn, you can do it. 😎
I am also a drummer. My sense of rhythm has helped me very much when picking up other instruments. Gonna really put that to the test when I buy a violin this winter 🎻
@@Spookdookin I thought fretless bass would be difficult because, you know...no frets. But it turned out to be no problem at all. Good luck with the violin!
This reminds me of a lesson a learned when first starting on bass. Someone at sometime said "never loose the groove to find a note". I've never forgotten that statement. Another one was "play bass like drums with notes"
I don't know but as a Zimbabwean beginner bassist, i find his lessons really helpful than all other bassists out there with to many licks and stuff. Really learn't a lot from this.
This guy is a great example of a real Master ❤
This man is The Boss! Love his vibe. 👏👏👍🙏🎸🎸❤️😎
"If you can walk, you have good rythm." Bruh this tutorial is not wheelchair accessible. Seriously tho, no bass tutorial ever made me smile this much, Victor is just such a nice man and a great teacher.
That's why he's the GOAT! 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
Literally the best video on improv I've ever seen. It's so simple you can teach it to a kiddo. Especially relating to the odds of hitting a "right note" and the idea that even if you hit a wroog note, so long as you do it with some sense of rhythm, it will sound good. Hence why we like chords that include #9s or #11, b13s etc.
Pure genius, great teacher
“If I’d have run from it, it’d have left you feeling bad”. God. Poignant
This basically singelhandedly solved my greatest issue as a musician.
Victor is the most humble, intelligent and and practical teacher of all time! And a musical genius with unbeleivable groove! Thank you for the music , maestro!
this is the affirmation I've been waiting for. Now I'm suddenly a virtuoso.
"You play for every note. Use them ALL."😄😄😄 I like that.
Man! I love him, he’s so cool. What a great masterclass. Thank you so much for sharing.
Awesome way to look at improvisation, I her a lot of musicians say "I can't improvise" Thanks Victor for the awesome knowledge and perspective, you inspire me to keep playing bass lol. Churr from NZ!
" The note that after the one you think you got wrong corrects the one in front of it " - Miles Davis. Thank you Mr. Wooten for this 💎 of a lesson .
This is the best music teacher that ever walked the earth.
Great video! More than 20 years ago I just thought "Victor is a top slapping guy. But I'm not slapping, not my thing." But then I realised what a heartful great musician Victor is! Such a great grooving bass player and I love those videos, where he just starts with something really simple and _grooves heavenly_ ... even if he just uses one string, finger, whatever. _GROOVE and make the people FEEL_. Thank you with _respect and thankfulness_, best regards, Stefan
Letting the chords move around him which allows him to move less is such a valuable tip to make fast chord changes more manageable.
I’m a guitar player and have been for about 8 or 9 years. Something has just struck me a couple weeks ago that I think it’s time I really dedicate myself to learning bass. I’ve found that, over the years, I care less about what the guitar is doing and more so how the bass and the kick drum are dancing with each other. Plus I feel like the way I write music and what I enjoy just fits the bass more than the guitar so now it’s just a matter of pinching the money together to get a bass and an amp and I’ll be practicing like crazy. But Victor Wooten’s videos always inspire me in such a massive way, he’s a hell of a teacher and gets you excited about things that some might consider boring: like music theory. I don’t find it boring and it’s super interesting to me regardless but Wooten just has that charm that makes him like a magnet.
“If the body moves it’s right” I felt that
personally, I dance to the key of songs. also - i've been playing for 19 years and this lesson was tremendously helpful. also - may God help the audience at whatever open mic has to sit through somebody working out this chromatic lesson live😂😂😂