I must say that I'm not overly impressed by the tutoring you're receiving, to judge by the dialogue above... Playing tunes and songs is fine, and is, indeed, the End Game, but learning to play a musical instrument (any musical instrument...) should, in my view, imply somewhere learning Music. All those frets, strings, numbers and patterns are crutches. Useful, when one is disabled, but not an ideal means of locomotion. It may be helpful to start thinking of the bass as a means of playing notes, rather than patterns. Learn where the notes are (yes, where's the 'E'..? then the 'F' etc..). Name and play those notes on each string. Learn and listen to Intervals (start with the easy ones: thirds, fifths...), and play them on each string, from each starting note. Learn and play chord notes... All of this, and much more, will make progress much, much faster. Keep playing tunes and songs, but start with very, very simple ones, and name each and every note as you're playing them. The fastest way to learn how to play is to do it all very slowly, moving on only once each step is taken. I would have thought that most good tutors did things this way. Bert Weedon had it right.