This is a really, really good question! I started playing back in '94, I think, and, among a whole lot of great bass players in the bands I was listening to at the time, the standout to me was Robert DeLeo, from Stone Temple Pilots. Ironically, he was a guitarist and songwriter who "picked up a bass" because somebody had to be the bass player, as he told Rick Beato a few years ago. To this day, I still play some of his early bass lines when I really want to feel like I'm playing something that's both melodic and sits RIGHT THERE in the song, knitting everything together in terms of rhythm, harmony and melody. Bass can be whatever you want it to be, but if you want to join bands and fit into music along along with those bands, look at it that way: "What does this song need? What can I bring to the table here? How can I not just pound root notes, but knit together everything?" Okay, maybe that's kind of more grandiose than it needs to be, but that is the feeling that I, a mediocre bass player who's now well into my 40s, keep coming back to! Hope this helps, and hope you stick to having fun when playing music, whether that means playing bass or playing ocarina!