When you play bass for a while and you get into music theory and start to love it, you find yourself acquiring favourite modes or scales.
Or is that just me??
You then play those scales and modes (which are really just collections of notes with a unique pattern) and realise they sound amazing.
(My favourite mode is the Lydian mode by the way... Also, if you want to geek out about modes and increase your musicality, watch this lesson:
In this lesson we'll take a quick look at the beautiful-sounding Mixolydian b6 (or Aeolian Dominant/Hindu Scale - don't get put off by the weird sounding complicated looking names!).
Scroll down for the free PDF and backing track.
Mixolydian b6 Shapes and Backing Track
The most important thing with stuff like this is to make music as soon as you can. This is the way to understand music theory and to figure out how to use it in your playing.
Another great thing to do is to listen to songs that use what you're learning.
Here's a great song to highlight the Mixolydian b6 mode (Led Zeppelin also liked to write using it).