There are quite a few differences between different types of basses, starting with the neck construction. There is the shortscale type with a short neck, for example, which isn’t a bad choice for beginners. It is relatively easy to play because the frets lie closer to each other than on a longscale fretboard. Yet the tone is amazingly round and fat, but softer at the same time. This results from lower string tension due to the shorter neck.
Then there are longscale basses. As you can guess, their necks are pretty long and you really have to get your fingers moving to catch notes that lie further away from each other. However, these basses generally deliver a harder, more fundamental sound than shortscale types. The latter are lighter and less top-heavy which means better playability in most cases..
A third, rather modern type is the so-called headless-bass. These things don’t have a headstock and the neck appears to be cut at the top (which it actually is). Such an instrument looks physically petite and is in fact pretty light..
