Guide to life

Get a good drummer. Then listen to them

You can't polish a turd

But you can stick a flag in it

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

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

When bouncers grab you, go limp

If it sounds right, it is right

When carrying a Double Bass up stairs, go backwards

Choose life - Choose PHP

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

Nothing has the wow factor of a Double Bass

Except possibly a Stick

Trust your instincts

Measure twice, cut once

The Bass. Capital T Capital B

Everything's bigger in the Bass department

Don't drink and dial

Phone your mum

Take a spare - You never know

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

Turn the desk on first, then the amps

Take a book

Hook your lead through your strap

Tea, pretty strong, not much milk, no sugar

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

If you can walk you can dance

If you can talk you can sing

The canonicity of spin-off media is unclear

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

Wear earplugs. Wear earplugs. Wear earplugs.

Two wheels good four wheels bad

Put your CDs back in their boxes

Be nice to sound engineers

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

Listen first, then play

Gaffa tape is brilliant

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

New strings make all the difference

A good luthier is worth their weight in gold

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

Life isnt like the movies

Some people can lick their elbows

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

Rodeohead is a work of genius

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

Hartnell. Troughton. Pertwee. Baker T. Davison. Baker C. McCoy. McGann. Eccleston. Tennant. Smith.

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

A peanut isnt a nut, its a legume

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

Pay in cash and haggle - you might get a discount

Don't eat silica gel

Bad things happen when good people do nothing

Just go for it

Halfwound strings are kinder to your fretless fingerboard than roundwounds

So many drummers, so little time

Befriend the bar staff

Ernie Ball Super Slinkys 45-100

Why? Why not?!

Turn the amps off first, then the desk

Gaffa tape all your leads to the stage

Bowed harmonics sound weird

Don't put drinks on top of amps. Ever

Invest in good quality leads

It's worth learnig some scales. Sorry.

Save the cheerleader - save the world

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

You are not what you wear

Happy endings are a myth

Keep a blank minidisc (or tape) in your gigbag and ask the engineer to record your gigs

A Confederacy of Dunces is the best book ever

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

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

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