December’s BLP Legend, Duncan Smith!

J: Brilliant! How was the journey to joining the BLP? How did you discover us? What made you go “ I think I want to be a part of this “

D: So when I left the RAF, I did play the bass guitar a little bit. I played in a big band in Aylesbury and Buckinghamshire which is near London. I played with this big band for a little while, but I really never got much further than the first five frets. I struggled with it; everything was painful and my forearms hurt.

I couldn’t get on with it really. I’d go for week to week, doing a bit of practice, and I try to fill in a few places.

I was talking to somebody recently about this and I think I gave myself the nickname of I became last call dunk. I’ve moved a lot and now I’m in Salisbury; that move really took me away from the bass guitar completely and I went back to the tuba playing with brass bands and doing a really good job there. I had this really nice guitar stuffed under the bed case getting covered in dust.

I got it out one day because one of my daughters wanted to go to the guitar shop. I brought my bass guitar down with me because I thought it was broken. So while we were there I also bought an amp and I’ve got it sitting behind me a little Amp Peg combo.

So we got home and everything and the kids were playing their guitars. I thought yeah I can remember how to do this, yet I couldn’t even play the G Major scale. I knew where to pu the fingers, But physically I didn’t know what was going on here.

I was having a go, while the kids were looking for instruction on YouTube. I had a look at options as well and one of those was your page and your lessons. That’s when I really thought “ I’m going to have a look at this Bass Lab “



I registered and I was getting some emails from you, and there was this 14 day free trial that you were offering. I didn’t have the heart to take this free, so I just took the plunge.

For the cost of a couple of pro lessons. I think I got a lot of value for money. The videos were professionally presented and the content of them is superb and I can’t praise it high enough.

So that was really what brought me to the Bass Guitar.

J: Brilliant! Thank you! I don’t take that compliment lightly because I know you know what you’r talking about when it comes to music that’s for certain.

So what results have you seen with your bass guitar playing since you joined the BLP?

D: Massive, massive! So I think when I first started I headed straight to walking bass. I took the fundamental bit first as I wanted to recap, but then I headed straight to walking bass.

That was great! I’ve got the theory background, but very quickly I reached the part where you say play this chord sequence, pick out the root notes on one string. That was difficult. I realized “ Where are the notes? “

J: You got comfortable in one area of the neck!

D: Exactly that! I went a bit further on to turnarounds. Some of those were on the high part of the neck. I couldn’t do it. I had to take a step back and do a different module.

I went to Riff Masters and that was really helpful as it helped me learn how to play the riffs in time and showed me the different shapes. I used those shapes to show me where the notes are.

J: I guess when you take the RIff Masters course this is where you conceptually take a divergence from the world of tuba where you are strictly playing notation.

D: Well there are similarities with the Tuba 

It also does repetitive sort of bass lines or long notes. Playing the repetitive phrases and patterns do ingrain where the notes are. It is not easy as many of us know who are in the eBassGuitar community. Where I went from there was join the Blues Accelerators cours. We had some great tuition from the coaches. What happened was it taught me a little bit more about how to use the modules. What we did with the accelerator was to get your head down for a couple of weeks to present something. There was pressure there and it’s easy to get it all together perfectly, but what it  does is it helps you achieve a lot more in a shorter spam of time. That was really beneficial because the professional feedback was really useful.

J: Who was your coach in that?

D: It was Greg!

J: That’s great! To be taught by a bass player of that caliber is brilliant isn’t it.

D: Absolutely! He got me tuned in to practice playing in time; that was the biggest focus. Trying to get my right hand working, getting away from just trying to play walking bass and instead focus on rhythmic playing as well. 

J: So it sounds like you had quite a journey in a relatively short span of time. What is next for your bass playing?

D: We’ve got the Slap Bass 101 course which is brand new. I’m looking at that and making my fun out of it; trying to get a bit of slap going. I’d like to be able to be a solo type; be nice to play some jazz breaks but for the time being I’m satisfied with trying to learn fills ‘cos I think that that’s a step in the right direction.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next year with eBassGuitar. It’s the best thing I’ve done to learn the instrument. 

J: Have there been any other highlights?

D: There are highlights like being given a mug for one of the song competitions. Another highlight for me are the people within the community. We’re all over the world but it’s great to be in the same room; the people are brilliant. Also, there was a competition and this lovely bass guitar came to my hands. It’s so much appreciated