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Victor Wooten's bass strings: the Béla Fleck + virtuoso canon, sourced

Documented bass-string gauges, brands, and tunings Victor Wooten uses with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones (1989-present) and across his solo + session catalog. Fodera Yin Yang signature bass, defining modern bass-virtuoso vocabulary. With citations.

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones · reviewed by the Change Your Strings editorial team · 2026-04-29

Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964, Mountain Home, Idaho) is the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones (1989-present) and one of the defining modern bass-virtuoso figures. Plays the Fodera Victor Wooten Yin Yang Signature bass, his canonical instrument since the early 1990s. Five Grammy Awards. Solo career since 1996. The SMV trio (Stanley Clarke + Marcus Miller + Victor Wooten, 2008-2009) brought together three of the most-cited modern bass figures. Authored The Music Lesson (2006), one of the most-cited modern bass + music-philosophy books. Operates Wooten Woods, a music camp + retreat in Nashville. The defining post-Jaco bass-virtuoso voice.

Jazz fusion Bluegrass fusion Funk R&B NewgrassE Standard (4-string)

At a glance

Role

Bassist

Active

Childhood (1969-)–present

Based

Nashville, Tennessee

Genres

Affiliations

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones (bassist, 1989–present)
Solo recording artist (1996–present)
SMV (with Stanley Clarke + Marcus Miller, 2008-2009)
Wooten Brothers (with brothers Roy + Reggie + Joseph + Rudy, ongoing)
Fodera Guitars (Victor Wooten Yin Yang Signature bass, signature relationship)
D'Addario / Hartke amplification + various endorsements
Five Grammy Awards + many industry accolades

Notable credits

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones (1990)
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Live Art (1996)
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Live at the Quick (2002)
Victor Wooten, A Show of Hands (1996, solo debut)
Victor Wooten, What Did He Say? (1997)
Victor Wooten, Soul Circus (2005)
SMV, Thunder (2008)

Sourcing4 citations · reviewed 2026-04-29· by Change Your Strings editorial team

Who Victor Wooten is

Victor Lemonte Wooten, born September 11, 1964, in Mountain Home, Idaho, has been Béla Fleck and the Flecktones' bassist since the band's 1988-1989 formation. He is one of the defining modern bass-virtuoso figures; the Flecktones catalog + his solo records + his Wooten Woods music-camp pedagogical work make him one of the most-cited bassists of the post-Jaco generation.

Plays the Fodera Victor Wooten Yin Yang Signature bass, his canonical instrument since the early 1990s.

Five Grammy Awards. Authored The Music Lesson (2006), one of the most-cited modern bass + music-philosophy books. Co-led SMV (2008-2009) with Stanley Clarke + Marcus Miller.

Style signatures

Three things across Wooten's catalog you can identify as his:

Double-thumb slap-bass technique. Wooten popularized the technique that adds a second downward-thumb attack alongside the standard upward-thumb slap; the technique doubles the rhythmic density of slap-bass passages.
Tapping + chord-playing on bass. Wooten's solo records use bass as a chord-melody instrument; the technique extends what bass can do as a solo-instrument voice.
Cross-genre flexibility. Newgrass-bluegrass + jazz-fusion + funk + R&B + world music; the Flecktones catalog is one of the most genre-promiscuous in modern instrumental music.

Bassist hub. All bassists on CYS. Tier A virtuoso bass canon parallel: Jaco Pastorius (Weather Report, defining fretless predecessor), Marcus Miller (SMV co-member), Les Claypool (Primus, contemporary peer). Profiles for Stanley Clarke + Stuart Hamm + Billy Sheehan pending.

Related locations. Nashville, Tennessee (Wooten's current base + Wooten Woods music-camp location).

Frequently asked questions

What basses does Victor Wooten play?

Fodera Yin Yang Signature bass, his canonical instrument. Fodera is a Brooklyn custom luthier; the Yin Yang model is one of the most-recognized signature basses in jazz-fusion + virtuoso-bass contexts. The relationship has been continuous since the early 1990s. Multiple Yin Yang variants exist (4-string, 5-string, fretless, various wood + electronics configurations); the canonical 4-string Yin Yang with the Yin + Yang inlay is the most-photographed Wooten bass.

What's Wooten's playing style?

Defining modern bass-virtuoso vocabulary inside jazz-fusion + bluegrass-fusion contexts. Three identifiable signatures: (1) Double-thumb slap-bass technique that Wooten popularized; the technique adds a second downward-thumb attack alongside the standard upward-thumb slap, doubling the rhythmic density of slap-bass passages. (2) Tapping + chord-playing on bass; Wooten's solo records use bass as a chord-melody instrument. (3) Cross-genre flexibility; the Flecktones catalog spans newgrass-bluegrass + jazz-fusion + funk + R&B + world music, all anchored by Wooten's bass.

What's Béla Fleck and the Flecktones?

The newgrass-bluegrass + jazz-fusion + world-music band founded 1988 by Béla Fleck (banjo + leader). Original lineup: Fleck + Wooten + Wooten's brother Roy 'Future Man' Wooten (Drumitar / SynthAxe drumitar percussion) + Howard Levy (harmonica + keys). Levy left in 1992; Jeff Coffin (saxophonist) joined 1997-2008; Levy returned for select tours. The Flecktones have recorded multiple Grammy-winning records + are one of the longest-running cross-genre virtuoso ensembles in modern music.

What's The Music Lesson?

Wooten's 2006 book The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music is widely cited as one of the most-influential modern bass + music-philosophy books. The book combines Wooten's autobiographical material with a fictional Music Lesson narrative; the philosophy chapters address musical timing, tone, intent, and listening as foundational principles. Wooten's pedagogical work + the Wooten Woods music camp build on the book's frameworks.

What's SMV?

The 2008-2009 trio with Stanley Clarke + Marcus Miller + Victor Wooten. Three of the most-cited modern bass figures recorded one studio record (Thunder, 2008) + toured the SMV concept across multiple shows. The trio is one of the most-documented bassist-supergroup configurations in modern music. Each player took solo + ensemble passages; the show structure was effectively three-bassists-as-frontmen.