My appreciation for Jazz snuck up on me when I wasn't paying attention one day. I got my hands on a Charlie Hunter Trio CD (since Charlie Hunter was on Les Claypool's solo album), and it rocked. My Jazz collection is pretty much limited to him and Jaco Pastorius so far, but the genre is growing on me more and more.

If you're looking for ways to diversify your rythmic work, here's something that has worked for me: Think about what you're doing, then think about a way to do something totally different. I'd make up little riffs or progressions that I couldn't quite play then practice them until they were in the bag. Two Bocce Wagon songs (The Northfield Special and Moose Hunt) came about from doing just that.

As for my guitar playing, you may allready be more proficent than me; I only really do technical things on bass.