Hi TLR,
While I hardly consider sitting listening to the Eagles all summer a waste (
), I'm glad to hear your interest in bass guitar.
My main instrument is 6 string electric, but I do have a bass and play bass.
I'd love to answer what I can about bass and perhaps link you to people who know more than I on the subject, and other websites.
I learned to play guitar myself, I never cared for school, so I wasn't about to put myself through another form of it! I started playing the year after high school so I got a late start. I actually took lessons when I was younger but blew it off. It took something else to get me to play, and I did so by myself with the help of the internet and slowing down songs and learning them.
While it's easier for guitarists to pick up bass because some of the notes are the same than it is to start from scratch, bass is far from a simple instrument and is a crucial aspect to music and is very respectable from my point of view. While a lot of people might play a bass, there is a difference between that and really playing bass being a great rhythm section. Very good to hear of someone interested in it!