Guide to life

Measure twice, cut once

When carrying a Double Bass up stairs, go backwards

If it sounds right, it is right

Two wheels good four wheels bad

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

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

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

Hook your lead through your strap

Listen first, then play

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

Trust your instincts

It's worth learning some scales. Sorry.

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

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

Bad things happen when good people do nothing

So many drummers, so little time

Phone your mum

Don't eat silica gel

Take a spare - You never know

Aim for the eyestalk!

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

Just go for it

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

Nothing has the wow factor of a Double Bass

Except possibly a Stick

Wear earplugs. Wear earplugs. Wear earplugs.

The canonicity of spin-off media is unclear

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

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

The Bass. Capital T Capital B

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

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

Be nice to sound engineers

Don't put drinks on top of amps. Ever

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

If you can walk you can dance

If you can talk you can sing

Turn the amps off first, then the desk

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

When bouncers grab you, go limp

Invest in good quality leads

Get a good drummer. Then listen to them

Tea, pretty strong, not much milk, no sugar

Life isnt like the movies

Ernie Ball Super Slinkys 45-100

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

Gaffa tape all your leads to the stage

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

Befriend the bar staff

Everything's bigger in the Bass department

Gaffa tape is brilliant

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

Choose life - Choose PHP

A Confederacy of Dunces is the best book ever

Turn the desk on first, then the amps

Save the cheerleader - save the world

A peanut isnt a nut, its a legume

Happy endings are a myth

New strings make all the difference

Rodeohead is a work of genius

Bowed harmonics sound weird

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

A good luthier is worth their weight in gold

Why? Why not?!

Some people can lick their elbows

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

Pay in cash and haggle - you might get a discount

Take a book

Halfwound strings are kinder to your fretless fingerboard than roundwounds

Put your CDs back in their boxes

Don't drink and dial

You are not what you wear

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