Dansm's
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Dansm's Home Page

Acoustic Guitar
The Eagles
Guitar Tabs
Guitar Lessons
Music Theory
Music Notation
Guitar Scales
Fingerpicking
Welcome to Dansm's Home Page! My name is Dan Smith and I am a first-year graduate student in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. I previously attended the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University in New York State, and majored in genetics and cell/molecular biology. My main interests are acoustic guitar, golf, canoeing, skiing, and model railroading. I live in Oriskany, New York, with my parents and brother Greg. For more information about me, check out my personal page. On these web pages you will find lots of pages regarding guitar, guitar tabs, and guitar lessons, information and guitar tabs for the Eagles, and some pages on music theory. My focus is on fingerpicking acoustic guitar, so I also have an acoustic guitar page and a page of fingerpicking lessons. For some information on my solo acoustic career, a list of my upcoming performances, and an opportunity to listen to my original material, check out Daniel E. Smith: Singer/Songwriter. One note on my pages: they are designed for 800x600 resolution, so if you don't have your monitor set up for that, you will be missing out. Enjoy these pages, keep visiting, and have fun!

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James Taylor
James Taylor

Me--Dan Smith
Me--Dan Smith


Acoustic Page
Dansm's Acoustic Guitar Page This site is dedicated to my favorite instrument, the acoustic guitar. The page is designed to show you how much you can do with an acoustic guitar, so a wide variety of musical styles are included. My main interest in guitar is fingerpicking acoustic guitar, so a lot of the pages, like my fingerpicking lessons page, focus on that aspect. I have acoustic songs (both chords and tabs), links, photos, and lots of lessons to improve your playing. These include warm-up exercises, fingerpicking and guitar chord theory lessons, suggested patterns for strumming, a list of common guitar chords, and advice for beginning guitarists. This is the largest acoustic site on the web, and I post more songs and more lessons every day, so keep visiting.

Music Theory
Dansm's Guitar Chord Theory Every guitarist should know chord theory. Chord theory is the basis of all popular music, and knowing it will help you to play songs, figure out songs, and write songs. I took a music theory class at Cornell last semester, and it has really helped me understand music better, and I guarantee it will help you as well. This page is the best place to learn chord theory on the net. The topics covered in this page include: major/minor chord theory, barre chord theory, slash chords (like D/F#), suspended chords (like Dsus4), seventh chords (like D7), chords with added notes (Cadd9), and the circle of fifths. If you have ever wondered why a chord is called G/F#, or Asus2, then you should come here. If you play guitar, you will find this useful!

Scales and
Modes

Dansm's Guitar Scale Lessons Scales are one of the most important parts of learning guitar. If you know scales, it means you know where every note in a certain key is on the fretboard. These pages will show you how to play scales: major, minor, and pentatonic; and also how to have fun practicing them and how to make them make you a better player. I discuss all the modes of these scales, what they mean, and how they fit together. Don't be scared by scales: these pages make them easy. This is the best way to get good, so check out Dansm's Guitar Scale Lessons!

Fingerpicking
Lessons

Dansm's Fingerpicking Lessons Fingerpicking is one of the most useful tools available to an acoustic guitarist. It is my favorite style of playing, so I decided to pass this technique on to the web guitar community. This page contains complete lessons for beginners on how to fingerpick. As long as you can play basic chords, these lessons will make you a fingerpicking master in no time. Step-by-step instructions allow you to move at your own pace through simple, easy-to-follow lessons. At the end, I have included a page of fingerpicking songs, so you can implement what you have just learned through the lessons. If you own an acoustic guitar, you can't pass up this chance to learn fingerpicking.

Guitar
Techniques

Dansm's Guitar Techniques This page covers the basic guitar techniques of slides, hammer-on's and pull-off's, bends, and strumming patterns in a way that you can understand and learn. Clear explanations combined with audio examples help you grasp the concepts behind these techniques in order for you to become a master at guitar. These techniques are useful for both acoustic and electric guitarists. Also covered are the basics of fretting and fingerpicking. This page is perfect for any beginner!

Guide to
Chords

Dansm's Beginner's Guide to Chords The latest addition to my web site! This page is designed to teach all the basic chords that beginning guitarists need to know. Step-by-step instructions show finger positions and give you the opportunity to hear what the chord is supposed to sound like. All important major and minor chords are discussed in this set of pages--perfect for any beginner!

Musical
Notation

Dansm's Musical Notation for Guitar Standard musical notation is not widely regarded as being important for guitar. Most guitarists don't know much about it. I believe that even though guitarists shouldn't need to be able to read music, a knowledge of the basics of standard notation is a must. If you are confused about notation you've seen in tab books, or you just want to learn more about standard notation, check out this page! I cover topics like note names, note lengths and rhythm, repeats and codas, and key signatures. I hope you enjoy this page!

Eagles Page
Dansm's Eagles Page My page about my favorite band--the Eagles! From 1972 till the present, the Eagles have shaped America's music and touched the hearts of millions of fans. On this page I have tons of links to other Eagles pages; plus information about the band members, their albums, and their songs. There is also a rather large collection of Eagles photos. The highlight of this site is my Eagles Tab Page, which has chords or tabs to almost every Eagles song! Dansm's Eagles Page is the #1 Eagles Page on the web, and is the web's only source for complete Eagles tabs.

Guitar Page
Dansm's Guitar Page My first guitar page--lots of links to everything related to guitar. I have links to manufacturers, guitar pages, guitarists, guitar software, etc. I have a page of tab links to many different bands in all styles of music and a page of lesson links. I also have a page devoted to music: artist's home pages, information on bands, and a page of common guitar chords. There is a tremendous amount of guitar-related information here, so check it out.


Thank You!

Musician's Friend Homepage Thank you for visiting my web pages! I hope you have found them helpful and useful. Keep visiting them, because I will update them frequently. Good luck, have fun, and happy playin'!!!


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©1998 Daniel E. Smith. Last updated 10-15-99.