Some Tips Learned Over The Years

• Avoid nylon or "smooth" straps. With the weight of the bass and movement onstage, the strap will uncomfortably slide all up and down your shoulder, and all night long it'll feel like you've been pulling up your pants onstage. Not a very comfortable feeling.
• If your strings ever break mysteriously at the bridge, check your saddles. If there are any string "bite" marks, snags or burrs on the saddles, it means that they are wearing down your strings and the constant vibration of the strings makes the burrs act like little saws on the windings of the string. Eventually the core gives in - and POW, there goes a string - and possibly an eyeball.
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• It's not always the guitar cord that is shorting out. Check your wiring and your connection into the bass. It could need cleaning, adjusting, or maybe there's a damaged or loose wire.
• Never wear sunglasses on stage. You can't see. You WILL trip on a cable, guaranteed, and the audience will think that you're trying to be a rock star. Sunglasses and stage don't mix.
• NEVER suggest to the band on how great of an idea it would be for you to do a bass solo. First off, you're showing off. Second, you'll look silly if you screw up, and finally, don't rob the time from your band unless they all agree to it.
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• Always clean your fretboard when changing out strings. Good time for a serious maintenance look-over. Check to see if the neck needs to be adjusted. Check the nut, make sure it's not cracked or loose. Look for burrs in your saddles.
• Stage layout - always a good idea to make sure no one is standing to your left if you are a right-handed bass player. I once knocked our keyboard player offstage with the neck of my bass guitar. He didn't speak to me for a week, poor guy.
• NEVER SING if you feel uncomfortable about it. NEVER HARMONIZE if you're not sure what notes to hit with the lead singer. Avoid "falsetto vocals" if at all possible. Falsetto only belongs when you are driving in the car, ALONE, and with your favorite CD playing.
• You can allow the "other" bass player in the "other" band to use your bass amp. But NEVER loan out your axe.