Whats the differance between a bass and a guitar

If you want to hear Bass check out Primus. They use a two bass setup and do no use regular guitars. While you may not like the style or song content it is very different on the ear and worth hearing for that alone. Things not mentioned:

Basses traditionally have 4 strings, but most bangs use a 5 or even 6 string bass. These extra strings are even lower in pitch than the regular bass strings. While a traiditonal 4 string bass is tuned to C at the lowest note Basses are routinely strung differently. You can tune any stringed instrument differently depending on string tension, but I have seen it much more often with bass. Take primus for example, they play with two basses, but they are tuned differently in order to get more range. Guitars are strummed, and in some cases plucked with a pick. Basses on the other hand vary depending on music type. A standup bass can be played with a bow (even an electric one actually). Jason Newsted (old bassist for Metallica) used picks frequently, Rob Trullejo (SP on the last name) plucks with all 4 fingers, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers does a lot of slapping the strings (this is common in funk and gives a popping sound I believe). All of these are excepted playstyles. Basses are rarely ever strummed. Also the amp you will need for a bass is much different than a guitar amp, generally Bass amps are quite large, even the small ones.