Joey, yes , real sight- reading ,different from memory aid  reading ; like when you already know a little tune that you are reading can be  so much more susceptible  to clams with rust interpretation.  I can deal with Bass and Treble clef OK , BUT , that TENOR CLEF can take me to the Clams With Rust  whole note rest ! and stare and think;     LOL _______!

One last question; How long or how proficient need I become before you guys let me in on the secret handshake?

What secret handshake? How come I didn't get the memo?

I'm still waiting myself. . .

Never heard of it.

Yeah, Joey, the Stanley thing has always left me puzzled, even more so after seeing him live from very close to the stage.  He is a BIG dude, and could probably palm a basketball; for pete's sake he played 44 scale upright bass for the first half of his set!!  And then he plays electric on about the shortest scale bass you can find.
 
Vic Wooten,who I saw on the same night, is a really SHORT guy, and he plays the standard 34 scale on all of his Foderas.  
 

 
Whatever works for ya is what works for ya.

Well, there is always the secret order of the 3th arm according to Paul TBO.
 
A great piece of advice I received for bass playing was it's OK to play the wrong note, just play it at the right time. Thank you, Trevor!

Mica, just read the above thread and I am still laughing! I must spend more hours pouring over the many bits of sage wisdom these pages have within. I also have the 'hobbit hands' so I feel the need to work a little harder on some pieces due to reach. I use all but the 'pinkie' on my right hand (too short) but I use my thumb a lot for picking through chords.

I too have used everything BUT the pinky all my playing life (going on 35 years now).  I've used them to pick, pluck, hammer, and intonate (something I particularly like my Alembics for).
 
But as many have said here, there is no magic formula or technique - whatever you do that gets you the sound and tone you need is the right thing to do (if you're actually playing and not miming, that is).  

My son used a good bit of his college years working on finger-picking guitar like Townes Van Zandt.  A couple years ago he was here & had his high school band over to jam.  The bassist was unavailable, and the other guitarist is better than David, so he played bass - and played it like Townes Van Zandt playing guitar.  Really pretty amazing sound.  Which is, as others have noted, the one true criterion - if it sounds good, it's right.
 
Peter