i honestly don't even fully grasp all those aspects. the town i grew up in was close to Mexico and limited on certain resources... I was just glad to have a bass, an amp and a tuner as a kid. the guys i jammed with said i had good count... the drummer would follow me... i never put much thought in it... i was too concerned with not messing up.
i learned in the cover tune frame of mind where i always thought how good you are was based on how many songs you knew and/or how complex they were. i never considered myself very good because i'd make mistakes or couldn't play this or that song...
later I got caught up in high school drama, girls and partying and such and put the bass down because i was over the Motley Crue, Guns N Roses and Black Sabbath type shit that I knew how to play while striving for Cliff Burton Metallica chops etc. My music tastes shifted to stuff that I either couldn't play, didn't have playable riffs (A Tribe Called Quest, Method Man) or was way past my skill (Rage Against the Machine). So i would always pick at a bass or sometimes pick at mine but never more... Still, always trying to play or remember how to play someone else's song. I even play a guitar likes it's a bass...
Some years went by with no playing at all and finally my mom gave me an old one... she had picked it up. Since then I've just noodled and started writing my own song... so to speak... never could remember anything and never took formal classes so all would be lost once I set the instrument down.
I finally got Cubase and started recording... looping and slicing and dicing has been what's got me back in to it... I have chops in me (or so I've been told) but not the consistency. Being able to noodle and try to get something right and then finally splice it all together has been whats given me new found inspiration.
I wish I would have learned proper... and put in the practice time all these years.

i love it though.
anyway... sorry for the long diatribe. this threads properly derail so what the hell... at least were talking about making music.
Happy whats left of Friday from California.
cheers!
oh and eyeknow the question at the beginning of my spew was the reason for it... I was trying to explain why I just went at it rather than ever learning the science of it. the bridge always scared me...
