Hi all,
Just wanted to update and say thanks.
After a lot of reading I decided that there wasn't enough of a difference between the lower end Yamaha and Ibanez basses to worry a total beginner, and just bit the bullet and got what I could for a decent price on eBya. That ended up being a Yamaha RBX370 for £72. Pretty happy with that! It's in decent nick and I got some new strings and a replacement string tightening key from The Bass Gallery for another £33. I have just won a Peavey Microbass for £28 and will pick that up this week, so I feel like I'm set up with a system adequate for a beginner. When I can walk into a bass shop and play something that won't embarass myself, and (more importantly) be able to clearly identify the differences in sound, feel etc. between different basses, I shall think about getting something better. But I suspect that won't be for a while!
Spent the last week getting my head around scales, trying to figure out the best way to teach myself to read music (figure I may as well go all-in) and also try and make sense of the musical notation system and all its weirdness (like there being no E# or B#). Quite happy with my progress so far - feel reasonable confident with the Major and Minor scales, had a look at triads and printed myself out a song, all in musical notation, to have a proper look at. Any suggestions for beginner funk/jass pieces are welcome!
Will try and avoid posting stupid questions but possibly see you around in the future on here