If you want a bass you should get a good one? But what makes a “good bass guitar”? Firstly, you must decide on what type of musician you want to be. What I mean is this a hobby or is this something you seriously want to do as a gigging musician? Once you decide your path, commit to it. It will save you time and energy.
There are various types of electric bass guitars. Each having their own pros and cons. I won't elaborate on every type of bass guitar. Instead, I will discuss the basic electric guitars to get you started. The electric bass you should choose from are P Bass, Jazz Bass, P Jazz Bass, Music Man, Semi-hollow and Acoustic. These types of electric basses can vary with the number of strings and frets they have. In addition pickup and preamps that they may contain.
P Bass: is an electric bass guitar that has one pickup that are two magnet pickups wired in series setup in staggered positions. It is a simple bass designed to get fundamental frequencies from the bass.(I will discuss harmonic and fundamental frequency in another blog) Some older versions of the P Bass have a thick “baseball neck”. That just means the shape of the neck is more round rather than flat. Modern versions of the P Bass have falter necks making it easier to play faster. (Although, may vary depending on your hand other miscellaneous factors) This called the feel of the bass neck. They can come passive or active. P Bass can also vary in the number of strings they have. From four strings to five strings. It's very rare to find a six string variant of the P Bass and personally I never saw one.
Jazz Bass: is similar to the P Bass in its body structure and form but with a few differences. The main differences are: the neck is thinner at the nut and the neck is flatter. Instead of one pickup there are two pickups in two different positions. The special thing about Jazz Bass is that they can be wired in different ways. The can be wired in series or parallel or even both. Giving you a wider range of tonal options. In addition to being passive or active the Jazz Bass can have different options for tone and volume settings. Talk about having options! There is a reason why a lot of pros have Jazz Basses.
P Jazz Bass: is the combination of the P Bass and J Bass. The P Jazz Bass is configured with two pickups. The northern pickup is the P Bass pickup and the southern pickup is the Jazz Bass pickup. This configuration will allow you to get tones of both the P Bass and the Jazz Bass.