Guide to life

Don't eat silica gel

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

Get a good drummer. Then listen to them

Measure twice, cut once

You are not what you wear

Befriend the bar staff

Why? Why not?!

If it sounds right, it is right

New strings make all the difference

So many drummers, so little time

Put your CDs back in their boxes

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

Turn the amps off first, then the desk

Take a book

Gaffa tape is brilliant

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

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

Happy endings are a myth

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

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

Save the cheerleader - save the world

Two wheels good four wheels bad

A peanut isnt a nut, its a legume

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

Be nice to sound engineers

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

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

Hook your lead through your strap

The canonicity of spin-off media is unclear

When carrying a Double Bass up stairs, go backwards

Trust your instincts

Just go for it

Aim for the eyestalk!

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

Rodeohead is a work of genius

Gaffa tape all your leads to the stage

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

Bowed harmonics sound weird

The Bass. Capital T Capital B

Life isnt like the movies

A good luthier is worth their weight in gold

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

Pay in cash and haggle - you might get a discount

Don't drink and dial

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

Don't put drinks on top of amps. Ever

Wear earplugs. Wear earplugs. Wear earplugs.

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

Turn the desk on first, then the amps

Nothing has the wow factor of a Double Bass

Except possibly a Stick

If you can walk you can dance

If you can talk you can sing

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

Bad things happen when good people do nothing

Choose life - Choose PHP

Phone your mum

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

Listen first, then play

Tea, pretty strong, not much milk, no sugar

Some people can lick their elbows

Ernie Ball Super Slinkys 45-100

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

When bouncers grab you, go limp

Everything's bigger in the Bass department

Invest in good quality leads

A Confederacy of Dunces is the best book ever

It's worth learning some scales. Sorry.

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

Halfwound strings are kinder to your fretless fingerboard than roundwounds

Take a spare - You never know

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

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