Victor Wooten’s Nashville studio is part workspace, part museum, part living autobiography. Since 1996, it’s been the room where he can write, record, and master—but it’s also where decades of bass history, family history, and personal mythology all live side by side.

In our new feature, Wooten walks us through the instruments that shaped his life in low end: the Univox bass his parents found when he was still small enough to need one, the oversized Olympic bass he bought because he wanted to be like Stanley Clarke, and the Fodera Monarchs that became the sound most players now recognize as unmistakably his.

Along the way, he tells the stories behind opening for Curtis Mayfield as a kid, meeting Clarke at age nine, and eventually acquiring the very bass Clarke used on “School Days.” He also breaks down the finer points of his tone—from his yin-yang Foderas and active EQ setup to the heavier-strung basses he reaches for when a track needs a deeper, more foundational sound.

But the heart of the video is bigger than gear. For Wooten, bass is not just an instrument—it’s a role. It’s the base, the foundation, the thing that lets the rest of the music stand. Watch the full feature above.