Victor Wooten Bass Lessons

Victor Lemonte Wooten is the preeminent bassist of his generation and one of the most influential bass guitarists in the 65-year history of the instrument. Over the course of his five-decade career, Victor has had a major impact on the art of the bass guitar through his innovative playing techniques, genre-uniting music and his bass nature camps. Born in Idaho to a military family, and raised on the island of Oahu and on the West Coast, Wooten received bass lessons at age 3 from his brother Regi. By the time he was 5, he had made his stage debut with his four older brothers. As The Wootens, they spent the ’70s opening for high-profile acts like Curtis Mayfield and War, before the family settled in Newport News, Virginia in the early ’80s. There, the brothers gigged regularly at Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, and performed up and down the east coast, meeting musicians in New York and Nashville.

In 1988, Wooten moved to Nashville, where he connected with New Grass Revival banjo ace Béla Fleck. Within a year, Fleck, Victor, his brother Roy (a.k.a. Future Man) and Howard Levy formed the Flecktones, and were on their way to their first Grammy. On the bass side, Wooten formed Bass Extremes with fretless 6-string savant Steve Bailey, and then released the shot heard ’round the bass world: his remarkable 1996 solo debut, A Show of Hands, followed by his acclaimed CDs, What Did He Say? and Yin-Yang. Meanwhile, seemingly everyone wanted the award-and poll-winning bassist on their project, leading Wooten to projects with artists like Branford Marsalis, Dave Matthews, Bruce Hornsby, Prince, Mark O’Connor, Gov’t Mule, Bill Evans, Vital Tech Tones (with Scott Henderson and Steve Smith), the Jaco Pastorius Word Of Mouth Big Band, India.Arie, Keb’ Mo’, Eric Bibb and Bootsy Collins.

The dawn of the new millennium saw the debut of Wooten’s first Bass Nature camp in Tennessee and the release of his spiritually enlightening novel, The Music Lesson. In addition to his 2005 and 2008 releases, Soul Circus and Palmystery, and four CDs by the Flecktones (including 2011’s Rocket Science), Victor traveled a jazzy path in touring with Chick Corea, forming SMV with Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller, and recording and touring with Mike Stern. More recent to the Wooten empire is the establishment of Wooten Woods Retreat, in 2009, for all of his music and nature camps, and the formation of Vix Records, in 2011, launched with the release of an audio soundtrack version of The Music Lesson and the updated Show of Hands 15. Most recently, Victor has been touring in support of his 2012 dual CDs, Sword & Stone and Words and Tones, while preparing more projects for Vix Records.

Victor Wooten: Harmonics

In this pack, bass superstar Victor Wooten offers 6 different lessons on harmonics, running the gamut from natural, artificial and chord harmonics to sliding harmonics. The lessons are intermediate in level and will open up new palettes of sound for you.

Victor Wooten: Hand Exercises

In this pack, bass superstar Victor Wooten offers 8 different lessons on hand exercises, stressing muscle development for strength, stamina, flexibility and tone for both the right and left hands. The lessons are beginner to advanced and are guaranteed to prepare you physically and mentally for any and all musical tasks at hand.

Victor Wooten: Tapping

In this pack, bass superstar Victor Wooten offers 8 different lessons on tapping, from proper technique and tapped chords and scales, to two-handed tapping for bass-and-chord rhythmic patterns. The lessons are intermediate to advanced and will result in tapping becoming a major component of your playing vocabulary.

Victor Wooten: Looping

In this pack, bass superstar Victor Wooten offers 8 different lessons using a loop pedal to develop time, groove, feel, articulation and phrasing. He also explores improvised groove and soloing concepts. The lessons are beginner to intermediate and will tighten up your time as well as inspire your creativity.