I had my first lesson yesterday, and he started teaching me chords.
Look at this picture:
http://img465.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bass0017wo.jpg
It's a pretty big size, but the file itself is small.
I understand the 2, 1 4, 2 4 stuff, but here's what I forgot to ask him. Which chords do I play for the bottom section? I know that I'm supposed to play the Dominant 7 chord for all the parts that say F7, but other than that, I'm totally lost. I also have no idea where I'd play them on the neck. I'd hate to go to my lesson next week and say "Well, I did absolutely nothing. I'm totally lost." PLEASE HELP!

He wrote out a standard blues progression for you. So you are correct to play dominant for the F7, Bb7, etc.. The G-7, and A-7 are minor 7th chords so if you know your dominant 7 chords just flat the 3rd and you will have the minor. Example F7 = F, A, C, Eb. F-7 = F, Ab, C, Eb. So your G-7 chord is G, Bb, D, F and the A-7 chord is A, C, E, G.

Hope this helps. Reply back is you need more help.

Tim

thanks! what you said definitely helped. could you tell me which chords are which?
like,
F7 is Dominant 7
Bb is Dominant 7
A-7 is Minor 7
and so on...i'm still a little confused as to which chords to play for some parts.

What part specifically? The parts at the top (without indicated roots) seem to just be indicating the fingerings for the chords, and the chord progression is pretty clear. Is it that you don't know where to play each one on the fingerboard?

i understand the chord fingerings, but what i don't understand is what chords i play at the bottom part.
see how sedgdog said
"So you are correct to play dominant for the F7, Bb7, etc..", so what parts chords do i play for C-7, and D-7?

C-7 is Cminor7 which = C, Eb, G, Bb and D-7 is Dminor7 = D, F, A, C. You may want to start out just thinking root and 5th. So C-7 would be C & G, D-7 would be D & A.

These notes of the chord are your "chord tones". Why they are so cool is they will always sound good. You are doing right to learn them. This blues your teacher gave you is a great opportunity to learn the minor and dominant chord tones.

All the best,
Tim