Get back to the basics

[TMulbass501]

Hey everyone. I'm new here and I just wanted to say it's nice to find a place with so many other bassists, i like being able to bounce ideas off of other people who actually get what you're talking about. But anyway, I have come across something in my playing that I need to fix; when i started playing my first teacher was a guitar player and all he taught me was rush, which i'm greatful for. The only problem is, he never really taught be about locking in with the drummer and making the song groove. Well, i've been playing for about 6 years, and i'm not horrible, but i feel my playing lacks the basic fundamentals that are necessary to being able to jam well with other musicians. For example, when my drummer and I jam, we don't lock in very well all the time, which is probably due to somethign we're both doing wrong. It just seems like he's trying to add too many fills, and i end up just wandering around to try to push the music forward. I guess what I'm asking is, how do I get back to the basics to i can lock in with my drummer and give our guitar player a little room to breathe? Oh yeah, also, how do you get your drummer to understand that maybe their playing isn't as solid as they might think? I want to get him to play something that really grooves, but doesn't make him fill every 5 seconds. Any help you guys could give me would be great, thanks!