Great discussion guys. I guess the other thing I'm realizing is that generally the type of music I think of playing differs depending on the instrument; the banjo mainly rootsy folk and bluegrass stuff, the bass more the jazz, rock side of things, as well as backing my own demos. It does seem the banjo offers more possibilities in the singer-songwriting area which is going well these days; I'm wondering what the writing possibilities are on something like banjo. sb