The Best of Victor Wooten: transcribed by Victor Wooten (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Highly regarded as a bass innovator, Victor Wooten has made a name for himself laying down the low-end for both Bela Fleck and during his guest stints with the Dave Matthews Band, and in his own successful solo career. The Best of Victor Wooten features his playing on 14 great tunes, which Wooten transcribed himself! This deluxe songbook includes note-for-note transcriptions of: Amazing Grace * Blu-Bop * Cherokee (Indian Love Song) * Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) * Sex in a Pan * A Show of Hands * The Sinister Minister * You Can't Hold No Groove * and 6 more, as well as Wooten's performance notes for each song, an insightful biography, an article on his gear, and fantastic photos!

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Cherry Lane Music (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575604132
• ISBN-13: 978-1575604138
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #172,583 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent for building technique, September 2, 2003

By	David J. Balatero "capture the ham" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm definitely not at the level of bass playing where I can pick up a transcription book of Victor Wooten's songs and be playing them a couple of hours later (not that I won't try, heh).

But there are definitely some grooves in here that intermediate level players such as myself can play and just groove on for a while (see Sex in a Pan).

Where I've been able to use this book most is in building my technique up, especially in the thumb stuff. I've been working through Classical Thump slowly, and gradually getting more speed and dexterity in playing through this piece, and it's helped me out as an etude for my thumb technique. To quote Victor's program notes, "Once you get this song under your belt, you'll pretty much know everything that I know."

This book has 12 other cool pieces to tackle, varying in level of difficulty. Some other thoughtful features of this book are the program notes included for each song, as well as the complete notation legend. Also, all the music is notated in staff and TAB, giving you two options to choose from there.

Overall, although this was delayed in being released, it's a very complete transcription book that, in my opinion, goes above and at the same time is a little bit more personal than the transcription books of great bass players that I've bought before.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Got bass?, January 14, 2005

By	Jinsoo Kim (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Let's be real here, folks; you won't learn a lotta these songs any other way than to buy this book. And they're not even transcribed by someone else, Victor himself wrote out the pieces so you know they're accurate. I transcribed "Norwegian Wood" by watching his hands on the Bass Day video and warped the tape because I rewound & paused it so much. If only this had been available then, I wouldn't have had to spend another $25 on the DVD....

Seriously though, if you're an avid Wooten fan you'll be pleased, several of his more difficult songs are in here. I think "The Sinister Minister" solo has been long awaited, as well as "U Can't Hold No Groove" and "Amazing Grace". I tried to knock out "The Vision" for a while but now I don't have to! You won't learn anything revolutionary about his technique, but if you follow Vic closely you know the tricks already. You're limited by the fact that he plays so fast you can't figure out the notes. No longer!

I definitely think that "Me And My Bass Guitar" should have been in here, but I've got enuff songs to learn for now without tackling that one.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great tool for advanced bassists, March 31, 2006

By	Andrew (So Cal) - See all my reviews

For a really long time I had been wondering how Vic played that one little arpeggio at the beginning of Sinister Minister, how he pulled off two bass melodies at once, and just how he was doing that thumb stuff. Everything in here is transcribed note for note by Vic himself. After I bought this book, not only did I learn how he did it, but I integrated some of his techinques into my own musical vocabulary. The combination of the rhythms shown in the staff and the precision of the tablature makes it much easier to learn the techniques of the world's greatest living bassist.