Posted this in a group on Facebook..thought it was worth repeating....
I feel we need to eliminate the "elitism".in art....just because a person plays a certain type of music or has a particular skill or a certain kind of gear...it doesn't not make them better or worse than any other. In my 40+ years of playing I have met few if any musicians I would classify as "bad" and those were more based on their attitude than skill. I HAVE met players whose playing I did not like, or disagreed with...but that is a judgment on art, NOT skill.
The first step IMHO: NOT Jazz Musician, NOT Rock musician, NOT Classical musician..JUST MUSICIAN!!!
Unless someone is asking you to play a specific song or type of music or is interested in "talking shop"..is should not matter!!!
More bass specific:
Pick, fingers, feet, sticks, stones...4, 5, 6...27.etc..it is ALL GOOD!!!
Coming together as a community will do us ALL better as musicians and artists...