As published by Carol Kaye.
"WHY IT'S CALLED AN ELECTRIC BASS.
It was called the "FENDER BASS" when first manufactured and sold early 1950s, a brand new instrument, made by the Fender company, shaped by Freddy Tavares, who worked for Leo Fender. I spoke with Freddy at the Fender factory in the 1970s, to get the history of the shaping of this instrument. He then said "you're playing it wrong", so I said "how should I play it?"....he then put it on his lap like a classical guitar and proceeded to play a few lines on it. Being a rather large man (probably over 6'2"), it was easy for him to reach the neck and he said he played polka music on it on his gigs, very easy bass lines. He had no opinion about how bass players were playing in the 1970s, 20 years later.
Back-tracking from that time, when I published the first of many educational books I issued beginning in 1969, I pondered what to call it, "How to Play The _________Bass" since there was a String Bass, called that in the Musicians Union Directory, and the Fender Bass for this bass.....but I reasoned, having played some of the finest guitars Gibson ever made, the Gibson L-5, L-10, and Super 400, and even the cheap wood "poor man's L5" - the ES 175 good electric guitar, that someone would someday put out a better bass than Fender, and it should have a generic name. So because the String Bass was commonly called the "Acoustic Bass", I successfully re-named the "Fender Bass", the "ELECTRIC BASS" -- my first book was: HOW TO PLAY THE ELECTRIC BASS published 1969 by my company, Gwyn Publishing Co. Inc. and sold worldwide, plus it was in all the music schools worldwide too. And not only did the Professionals love it, they immediately called it that, the ELECTRIC BASS, but so did our MUSICIANS' UNION, Local 47 and all the other Locals and the FEDERATION call it the ELECTRIC BASS in their Directories 1970s on. So there you have it.
It was NEVER called the BASS GUITAR by professionals, but yes in the UK, and Australia, and by Mel Bay (who published his books in the TREBLE CLEF!) who called it wrongly the "Bass Guitar"....there was a Bass Guitar, the DANO (short for Danelectro) BASS GUITAR - a 6-string instrument with horns tuned the same as a Guitar down one octave - NO SUCH THING as "Baritone Dano", that came later in the 1970s - always called that by the MUSICIANS' UNIONs in their Directories all over the USA and Canada.
So yes, some still erroneously call it a "bass guitar" which is sort of an insult to real bass players.....the Viola isn't called a VIOLIN nor the cello either but look somewhat the same (cello just a lot bigger), why mis-name the real function of the FENDER nee ELECTRIC BASS a "guitar" or "bass guitar"??
The DANO bass guitar was an adjunct instrument, never a real "bass" in function. It wasn't a well-made instrument, we all had to have it practically re-make to make it playable for the record dates (change the pickup, the bridge set up, the strings etc.). Record dates yes, sometimes used the Dano Bass Guitar, the Fender Bass, and the String Bass, all 3 on the same parts on record dates for the advantages of the different sounds...then I come along and get all 3 sounds on the Fender Bass which is why I was No. 1 Call immediately in 1964 and they usually only used 1 bass after that.
Yes, the first Fender bassists played with a pick (all except Monk Montgomery who played with fingers, he was the very first to use the Fender Bass in the Lionel Hampton Jazz Orchestra in the 1950s)....
The first Studio Elec. Bassists? Probably in this order, RENE HALL (who also had his own solo DANO Bass Guitar-featured albums out mid 1950s) but played the Fender Bass on record dates, Ray Pohlman, and Arthur Wright - who all were guitar players and yes - they played it with a pick and the producers loved the sound of pick-playing on the Fender Bass........then I became popularly hired when in my 5th year of recording 1963 as a guitar player, was asked to play the Fender Bass (borrowing someone's, I forget who) when the guy didn't show up, so I accidentally played it at Capitol Records on a record date 1963, and by 1964 I was FIRST CALL - meaning Record and Film Co's called you FIRST ahead of anyone else, on Fender Bass from then on. They loved my sounds, my invented creative bass lines, I could sightread fly-specks if needed (movies ,and TV shows much-needed asset as well as inventing bass lines), and they all knew me already as a fine guitarist for recording for 5 years in Hollywood, knew I had a great sense of time (important with rock drummers), Jazz drummers all had great time sense.
Producers like Quincy Jones, Dave Axelrod still call it the "Fender Bass" but of course everyone else adopted my name for it quickly in 1969: The ELECTRIC BASS. And yes, those who aren't Studio Musicians some still call it by its erroneous name "bass guitar" not knowing this history.....the UK and Australia and some in Europe do too, but the professionals call it the ELECTRIC BASS, both for the fact that it is Electric and its function? BASS."