Virtually everything you can do on a guitar can be done on a bass and vice verse. Anything you know, you can teach your friend and it will have an application on the Bass.

I learned to play bass more by watching guitarists than I did by looking for bass lessons. My high school music teacher showed me the very basics of what notes are where and some simple techniques, after that I picked everything up by jamming with people.

First I learned to recognize chord shapes (which was my first inroads into learning Guitar) which taught me what root notes to play. Next, they taught me song structures and what notes "worked" for a given chord or in a given key. After that, I started to realize that I could play chords, too.


It all relates and it all interlocks with everything else. Specific bass instruction I do think is a good idea; just don't be afraid to show your friend something and let them know to keep an open mind.