BernardAlbrecht

I'm a big Victor Wooten fan, and can understand your feelings towards his playing, but the same things can be said about a lot of musicians. I love the Flecktones, but there's not a single one of them that doesn't "overplay" at times. The Flecktones as a band are a highly technically able band. What might seem like overplaying in isolation fits into the band perfectly. If you had the ability to add a wanktastic flurry of notes every now and then, wouldn't you do it? I know I would. To me it'd be like owning a Ferrari and never driving it over the speed limit. The temptation would be too hard to resist. No, I wouldn't add flurries of notes simply because it adds nothing to the music. It could be just the type of musician I am, but I believe that every note of a song (on any instrument) should be there for a reason. Take Mark King of Level 42. To me he's the height of what good bassplaying is, and one of the reasons I like him is because all the notes he plays are adding something to the song. The slap-bass might not be to everyone's taste, but in terms of what he's playing it's pretty restrained. As for the Ferrari example, I'll say this: driving it over the speed limit might be fun for you, but it's mightly pointless from the viewer's point of view. I think Vic plays some of the best, solid, most flowing, walking basslines out there when he's playing with a group, but I've yet to hear someone complain. No one ever says "I like the guy's playing, but his lines were just too simple. He could have easily played 32 notes per bar, but he only played 4." Saying someone's basslines are too simple? I do that all the time...although it might have something to do with the music I listen to (a mix of jazz-funk and progressive rock) and also that I'm a jazz player myself. He's one of those bassists that other bassists seem to either love or hate, but I don't think it's right to call him overrated. He's a band player trying to solo. There are far better soloists out there and few better band players out there.

I've tried time and time again to listen to some of Wooten's solo stuff, and whilst I appreciate the technicality of it, it just seems that it's over-played, over-hyped and generally not that 'groovy'. Take his version of Amazing Grace (it's on YT). Brilliant technical ability, but the fact is that you could easily strip away half the notes played. It sounds messy and overdone to my worship-music playing self. I LOVE Bela and the Flecktones and his playing in the band, but to me he is NOT a solo player. He makes up for souless playing with streams of notes and fast playing. Am I alone?