i have a guitar and a bass, but i haven't played bass much at all cuz i dont know where to go next. with guitar i learn chords and stuff. but bass as far as i know, has no chords. what kind of scales are there? when i got my bass, i learned a few type o and megadeth riffs, then i didnt do much more, the only good thing was that by using the fatter strings, it strengthened my finger which helped with my guitar.......

heres another question. i have trouble using my fingers to pick the bass. i more comfertable using my thumb, but i know that using your fingers is the more proper way........is there a good way to transition into using my fingers

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Just take it slow and start running scales and stuff, using your fingers instead of your thumb...as far as scales go, they are exactly the same as far as what makes up a major, minor, pentatonic, harmonic minor, and all of that.

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A good book for beginning bass players:
"BASIX: bass-method"

It contains a whole lot of info about scales and stuff.
Also a CD is included on which you can listen you the exercises.

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get a good bass teacher with conservatorium education.

nah, i dont have the time/money/patience to go to classes for any instrument

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you can still play chords on the bass...powerchords and veriations of it anyways...just fuck around and see what sounds good chord-wise, it doesn't take long

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that sounds pretty much like playing guitar on bass. playing bass is a diffrent world, may I remind you about that.

playing bass is to complement the guitar...if the guitar is playing a nice sounding lead riff, you can play a nice sounding chord on the bass and let it ring for a bit then add a fill

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It depends what kind of sound you're aiming for too.....if you want a more guitar-oriented sound, then the bass licks don't have to be too complex or anything. (stuff like Slayer, Metallica...most normal metal bands anyway).

If you want a Bass oriented band (such as Primus or *shivers* RHCP) then the guitar becomes less important.....but bass riffs become way more important that normal.

I'm a guitar player....so whenever i play my buddy's bass, i also play it like i would a guitar....i have then "treble" sound locked in my head, i can't do "bass" stuff really. So it is a different feel than guitar.....if you want really good bass riffs, get a teacher, or just hire a real good bass player. Don't have a guitar player make bass riffs, cause they will match the guitar exactly (like some slayer and metallica crap) and sometimes that ain't too good. (make the bass player look really cheap and newbie like)

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I'm not the kinda bass player to really stick to the background, I've been playing a pretty long time and my technique has gotten better thru the years. I've had a good teacher also but I learned the 2 first years myself.
In my band Im about on the same solo-rate as our guitarist, it's weird but for the music we make it's ok. we make a metalcore/screamo kinda combination, compare it to ZAO, Selfmindead, Unearth and Linea77 mixed thru each other.

Memnoch is right, the bass can be used verry diffrently, I don't like to keep on the background, but it also depends of the stle of the bassplayer