Wow! I was about to post a very similar thread, glad I bothered to look over here first. 
Anyway, I've been playing for three months now, and I know squat. 
I wish I would have gotten my teacher the same day I got my first bass. I'd know a lot more. My problem is I tried teaching myself at home for the first couple of months and now that I have an instructor, I have to completely restart. Because, now that I have an instructor, there's no more primary use of my thumb, no more 
guitar fashion finger plucking (I have an explanation for this one), and no more cheating with tabs (still working a lot with this one), and no more guessing at my timing/rhythm (time to get a metronome). The timing thing just got brought up at my last lesson, yesterday, because my 12 bar blues started out 4/4 and ended up 32/4 probably. lol Anyway, that means it's back to page one in my Bass Book 1, again 
, and this time I have to pay attention to tempo. I don't have the CD's anymore, nor do I have a metronome, and I just can't remember how to keep count in my head, so I'll have to bring up the online metronome and do my best with it. I'm not one to have a lot of patience, so I honestly get a little frustrated, having to restart over and over, but if that's what it takes, I'll do it (dedication baby!). Besides, I learned some cool little Reggae basslines that involve raking and my old thumb tecnique! 
That balances things out for me, and explains something I was wondering about, I think. A little off topic from the thread, but based on the sound of the rake, is that the technique a player like Bill Dickens uses a lot, to play so insanely fast?
Anyway, I've been playing for three months now, and I know squat. I wish I would have gotten my teacher the same day I got my first bass. I'd know a lot more. My problem is I tried teaching myself at home for the first couple of months and now that I have an instructor, I have to completely restart. Because, now that I have an instructor, there's no more primary use of my thumb, no more guitar fashion finger plucking (I have an explanation for this one), and no more cheating with tabs (still working a lot with this one), and no more guessing at my timing/rhythm (time to get a metronome). The timing thing just got brought up at my last lesson, yesterday, because my 12 bar blues started out 4/4 and ended up 32/4 probably. lol Anyway, that means it's back to page one in my Bass Book 1, again , and this time I have to pay attention to tempo. I don't have the CD's anymore, nor do I have a metronome, and I just can't remember how to keep count in my head, so I'll have to bring up the online metronome and do my best with it. I'm not one to have a lot of patience, so I honestly get a little frustrated, having to restart over and over, but if that's what it takes, I'll do it (dedication baby!). Besides, I learned some cool little Reggae basslines that involve raking and my old thumb tecnique! That balances things out for me, and explains something I was wondering about, I think. A little off topic from the thread, but based on the sound of the rake, is that the technique a player like Bill Dickens uses a lot, to play so insanely fast?
