well technically a bass guitar is completely different to an electric guitar. the first and most obvious thing- it has four (sometimes five) strings, that are much lower than those found on an electric, and are as such a lot thicker, and for a beginner, can be harder to play.
bass guitars are very different to normal guitars in terms of how you actually play one. whereas an electric generally is played with a plectrum, bass can be played with fingers or a pick. the bass is the one in a typical band that lays down the root notes of a chord progression, with the guitar typically adding the actual chords/harmony. of course that is the very conservative way of playing a bass, everyone plays in their own style, and you could look at Les Claypool or someone like that for an example of virtuous, unconventional bass playing.
I'm not a bassist myself, so what I've said is quite general, and may not even be the kind of information you were after, but meh.. lol