Along with all the hip ideas above, I would recommend listening as an ingredient to your musicianship skill set that can be honed and also becoming the catalyst to finding the magic , the secret as you say. Often times as players we become myopic, focusing on ourselves, our bass parts, and while doing this, we are paying limited attention to the inspiration around us. Get inside the music by freeing yourself up, opening your mind and groove to complimenting and digging what surrounds you musically and otherwise. When you read up on a successful artist they speak of the alchemy, the link to other things musically, sometimes spiritually, and quite often their surrounding cast of characters. As bass players, we are inherently team players, yet with so much shedding and shredding, you get up on the bandstand, and realize that you haven't been listening to the other players in the ensemble, which is where all the good stuff comes from. Music is dialogue. You have to become present in a situation, realize that you are transparent, sometimes driving the bus, yet always aware of the musical situation and how you want to compliment, augment, cater to, and release a bass part that is serving the situation, the song, the groove of the moment..consider where you want the groove, the song to escalate to..bottom line, your heart is in the right place, you just have to open up to the endless possibilities that a musical situation can offer. Remember that no two people, bass players view the situation identically which is why you might have great players performing on different tracks to one project...To each their own..find your voice...it's somewhere between your head and your fingertips...groove on!
