When Leo Fender invented the instrument
he called a Precision Bass, he had
modest goals. As he later told music journalist
Tom Wheeler, “We needed to free
the bass player from the big doghouse,
the acoustic bass. That thing was usually
confined to the back of the band, and the
bass player couldn’t get up to the mic to
sing. And … guitar players would have an
advantage if they could have an instrument
with frets that would make doubling
on bass easier for them.”