Victor Wooten: Groove Workshop

A video of him teaching advanced students.

Though this review is not a 5 star let me start off by expressing that I think Victor is a fantastic player and is very talented at what he does. The video has some great concepts and I would recommend it just for that reason but personally I have always felt he is a master at techniques and flash which is what captures you but typically he overplays, over uses the triplet technique and plays too many wrong notes. Miles Davis has shown us, Dissonance can be very cool but it can be over used as well. Victor does express in the video that he has a tendency to overplay and it is something he tries to stay focused on. I'm not really crazy about any of his music, ie the Fleck Tones and his solo work but do find him a master at his techniques and interesting to watch him play on some of his grooves. There are some great skills to learn from this video but be sure to get that The key to Flash playing is incorporating it tastefully at the right time and not over doing it.

As a saxophonist/conga player who is now learning electric bass I found this video to be an outstanding learning tool for musicians who concentrate too much on technique and not enough on feel and the groove. One old blues musician told me that evey musician should learn to play the blues to get the "feeling" of popular music and once you had that foundation, you would be able to play any form of music: jazz, reggae, pup, salsa, rock, R&B, whatever, with soul and technique that was tasteful. This video is definitely related to what that blues musician told me. As a saxophone/conga player some of the "tricks" Victor mentioned I have been doing for years, nevertheless the way he put it into words was impressive. His chapter about rhythm and tempo is very informative and again all musicians could use the exercises he has the other musicians do in this master class. Every chapter of the video had useful information for playing "in the pocket". For bass players I think this is a must have for your learning bass collection. Again I'll say that all musicians can benefit from watching this video.

This video focuses on the widely overlooked aspects of music. All music education is based upon notes. But does it end there? What about timing, groove, dynamics, tone, listening, and all the other aspects that define the difference between an average player and a great player?Those aspects aren't taught anywhere. Actually, Victor doesn't really "teach" those aspects either. But he successfully demonstrates them and widens your point of view about being a musician. This video would widen your horizon and make you find out what to focus on for the following years of musical growth - and what you shouldn't overrate meanwhile. For example; he plays a solo in Gm with all the notes NOT included within the Gm scale, being careful about the aspects mentioned. Then, he plays a solo in Gm with all the notes included within the Gm, intentionally ignoring the aspects mentioned. And guess what? The first one sounds better.His insight about evaluating music as a language and the necessity of having people approach to learning music like learning a language was also very good. Like; did we start learning our language by memorizing the rules first? Probably not. So why learn music by memorizing rules first?I highly recommend this DVD to any musician at any level.

The format of the DVD is a master class with several advanced bass students in a very interactive setting. Victor lists 10 key elements in music and goes over each of them emphasizing that all 10 are equally important. The 10 elements are: notes, grooving, articulation, technique, emotion/feel, dynamics, rhythm/tempo, tone,phrasing, space/rest and listening.Vistor's idea that music is a language and should be learned the same way we learn to talk is revolutionary compared to the way I was taught by going right to the mechanics of music. We learn to talk by listening to others who can talk and pick it up at a natural pace one step at a time. The people we talk to encourage us and give us enthusisastic support for even the smallest progress. We need to do this more in our music education. This DVD demonstartes this in the interaction between Victor, Anthony Wellington (fellow instructor and excellent bassist) and the students.I highly recommend this DVD especially for bassist but also for all musians.

This is an excellent instructional DVD for musicians of all kinds. Here is an opportunity to sit in on a 5 hour master class with one of the best working and recording musicians playing today. Expertly filmed are Wooten and bandmate Anthony Wellington with a class of six topnotch bass players playing mostly jazz and blues. But this is for musicians of ALL kinds and stripes: his presentation is about playing and communicating in the realm of music. The DVD is structured around what Wooten and his class identify as the 10 most important elements of music, the last and most important one being listening. Interspersed are several exercises (and some awesome playing!) that a musician of any genre can use. My personal music ambitions are to play old time Appalachian, country and some bluegrass, and I have a bookshelf of instructional DVDs in my genre, but they are all about playing the notes. Wooten's "Groove Workshop" is about playing music, whatever your style. I found plenty to grab and run with. This first was to learn how not to be afraid of playing a "wrong note."

I'm biased because I think Victor is teaching and playing on a wonderful level. Not for him the bass music of rigid dogma, but a free, more relaxed method of teaching, steeped more in expanding a personal feel and experience through the vibration of bass strings. His method is designed to feed the player's inner soul .. not their ego.

Victor Wooten: Groove Workshop [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC) I was looking around for something different to add to my own bass playing, not to involve all the boring theory and science in most bass DVD's, I definitely found it here in Victor Wooten Groove Workshop. watching it was like being their live and it's funny too, I learned something in the first ten minutes, I read the music lesson and I was curious as to see the physical demonstrations from Vic's story it works so well!. I would definitely recommend this to any musician not just bass players, if you enjoyed the book  THE Music Lesson  get the DVD its awsome!, or get the DVD then enjoy the book! your choice. Victor Wooten: Groove Workshop [2008] (REGION 1) (NTSC)THE Music Lesson

Shows you more than just technique and basslines. Wooten shows you how to open your mind to new ways of playing music and my playing has increased tenfold after practicing with this. Worth every penny to aspiring or veteran bassists alike :)

I read his book which was quite good. I have not seen the whole DVD, but I have seen is promising.

Tremandous!