hi there jjapolo, and thanks for posting!
i have to be honest and tell you i'm not as familiar as i should be with some of the newer offerings and choices out there, as i've mostly been teaching out of my own curriculum with my students for many years... hopefully some others will chime in and offer their input, as well, but maybe i can offer some starting suggestions for you...
having made that disclaimer, there are some pretty good 'old school' books out there that offer some good material. for a complete beginner, i know a lot of folks that still recommend the mel bay method books. if i recall correctly, they have come a long way since the beginning as far as revisions and updates. honestly, though, i haven't looked at that for a long time so i'm not too sure what's in it now. if you have any interest at all in jazz and improvisation, i really like rufus reid's 'the evolving bassist' and 'evolving upward' books. really cool stuff for the development of walking bass lines and such... chuck sher's 'improviser's bass method' is pretty decent, as well. if you're open to an online course, we have a course at
www.musicdojo.com called 'bass first steps' which walks you through the basics and gives you a good foundation for moving forward.
anyways, i hope that helps! (others, feel free to chime in!)
adam
