Guide to life

Everything's bigger in the Bass department

Invest in good quality leads

Listen to your singer when s/he's singing, but not when s/he's talking

Get a good drummer. Then listen to them

Hartnell. Troughton. Pertwee. Baker T. Davison. Baker C. McCoy. McGann. (Hurt). Eccleston. Tennant. Smith. Capaldi. Whittaker.

A peanut isnt a nut, its a legume

Hook your lead through your strap

Life isnt like the movies

If you know the key and the tempo, you can give it a go

Measure twice, cut once

Happy endings are a myth

It's worth learning some scales. Sorry.

A good luthier is worth their weight in gold

Any idiot can play the guitar. It takes a special kind of idiot to play The Bass

Trust your instincts

Tell the sound engineer if you use feedback (or they might try and get rid of it)

Choose life - Choose PHP

Some people can lick their elbows

You are not what you wear

Sometimes you're the pigeon, and sometimes you're the statue

Clarinet & flute players usually keep a packet of Rizla in their cases

Two wheels good four wheels bad

Don't eat silica gel

The Bass. Capital T Capital B

Ernie Ball Super Slinkys 45-100

When bouncers grab you, go limp

Don't drink and dial

Put your CDs back in their boxes

Nothing has the wow factor of a Double Bass

Except possibly a Stick

The Lion might be the king of the jungle, but nobody messes with the elephant

Halfwound strings are kinder to your fretless fingerboard than roundwounds

Take a spare - You never know

If you can't afford it, you can't have it

If you have to use pliers to remove bridge pins, put a towel inbetween them

Aim for the eyestalk!

If someone wants to pay you three hundred quid for a half hour set, let them

Befriend the bar staff

Wear earplugs. Wear earplugs. Wear earplugs.

New strings make all the difference

If you do what you've always done, you get what you've always got

Why? Why not?!

So many drummers, so little time

Listen first, then play

Tea, pretty strong, not much milk, no sugar

A Confederacy of Dunces is the best book ever

The canonicity of spin-off media is unclear

Just go for it

Turn the amps off first, then the desk

Gaffa tape is brilliant

Be nice to sound engineers

Plug one end of a lead into an amp and touch the other. The noise it makes is a G

Bad things happen when good people do nothing

You can't polish a turd
But you can stick a flag in it

If you're playing Double Bass in your New Rocks, set the endpin higher

Bowed harmonics sound weird

Phone your mum

If it wasn't horrendously difficult and painful, you did it wrong

Turn the desk on first, then the amps

Take a book

When carrying a Double Bass up stairs, go backwards

If it sounds right, it is right

Gaffa tape all your leads to the stage

Pay in cash and haggle - you might get a discount

If you own a cat, check your shoes for dead mice before you put them on

Don't put drinks on top of amps. Ever

If you don't ask, you don't get

Save the cheerleader - save the world

A little bit of kick and snare drum in your monitor can be useful

If you can walk you can dance

If you can talk you can sing

Rodeohead is a work of genius

There are two secrets to good comedy. The first is always leave them wanting more.