i just recently acquired a bass, and i am dying to learn how to play. what is the best thing for a new player to do (besides lessons) that would allow me to "excercise" bass techniques, etc? i suppose my first step should be learning scales, any suggestions would be great.

Just mess with it and learn your favorite Tool songs. I never got any lessons and I've been playing backup git for 6 months...

Just make sure you're always learning something. Once you've got a favorite song down, learn a newer, harder one. You'll be very frustrated, but you'll grow much quicker.

And yeah, chords are a good thing to learn. I'm just starting to learn them...

learn the notes, and where they are on the fretboard. this way, you wont be dependant on tableture, and can actually play along with a guitar.

from there, learn scales, and practice them, your chords are just part of a scale.

G major (Ionian scale)
g-------------------------------
d-------------------2--4--5---
a--------2--3--5--------------
e-3--5-------------------------

play the first note with your middle finger, (3rd fret) on the E string. This is a G. then, play the next (5th fret...) with your pinkie - keep you hand in the same spot, just use the finger that is in the right place - 2 index, 3 middle, 4 ring, 5 pinkie. practice it forwards and backwards.

the first and last notes are the root note, in this case a G. start it somewhere else, middle finger on the 5th fret - then your in A. Exact same fingering pattern - you can play the scale pretty much anywhere. practice it all over the fretboard, using different root notes.

so (for the most part) if your playing with a guitar, whos playing a G chord, you want to play in the G scale - maybe just playing the note G, or somethin more complicated.
a basic chord (triad) is

g--------------------
d--------------------
a-----2--5----------
e-3------------------

with the 3 being the - root, in that instance its a G. again, same structure works all over the place. in this case, its G - B - D. your bassline might go - G G G B G G D G
to go with a G chord on guitar.

of course, you can play the notes of the scale or chords in any order.

the tab section on this site is messed up, whats a reliable website for tool tabs?

bassmasta is pretty good for tabs...

that's some sound advice lucydog, I never learnt this way and kinda wish i had... I started out just playing along to songs, learning by ear, and although it worked for me as I am pretty good now I think I am mmissing a fair amount of technical knowledge that I would have picked up along the way had I taken lessons or followed a more structured pattern of learning

however do play along with songs as well as learning notes and chords, just to put what you are learning into practise and get a little more joy out of the learning process.

http://www.tooltabs.net/

this website is the best i've seen so far

it has clicked, thank you

yeah, i kinda taught myself, along with the help of some good guitar players. they will sit there and strum through a song, tell me the chords as they are playing them, and make me figure out the line to play. thats the best way to learn, in my opinion, is just to play along with other people, mess around with different styles and techniques.... and of course practice at home so you have those techiques.

ive been meaning to get into some lessons, but dont really have the cash.


do you know how to play a minor chord lord worm?

Gm

g-----------------
d----------------
a-----------4----
e--3--5-------

3 with your index, 5 with pinkie, 4 with ring (3 is the root)

pretty simple



also... notice that

g------
d------
a-------
e--3--

and

g-----
d----5
a-----
e-----

are both the same note, techinically these are part of a chord, are the start and end of the scale. you can start a chord at either one, (or on any note in the scale pretty much...) compare some basslines with the guitar chords, you will notice some bassists start in a different note, but play in the same key (your scale) as the rest of the band, more often they start with the root note, some rock bassists never leave the root note.

so this is how a chord triad techincally looks

g--------------------
d------------(4)------
a-----2--5----------
e-(3)-----------------


g-------------------
d--------------(4)--
a-----------4------
e-(3)--5----------