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2/18/05 - NOTE: THESE PAGES ARE DEAD We've finally heard from the original author, Mr. Daniel Smith, who has reposted his original pages at http://scenicnewengland.net/guitar. Eventually, the mirror here will go down and possibly be replaced by some original lessons and my fun little calculators. It was fun, and I'm glad I helped some of you (over 3,000 hits in 3 months is ok by me), but now it's time to send the honor and the glory back to where it belongs, DanSm Welcome to what used to be Dansm's Home Page! My name is Mike McCracker (ok not really), and I rescued these fantastic guitar pages from the Google cache shortly after Harvard pulled the plug on them. Sadly, the graphics were not cached, so except for the very few I was able to save from my own local cache, many of the images on the site will be new, created by me to fill in the holes. It is my goal to have the chords and scales pages operational again by Thanksgiving '04. If you happen to have a local cache of the old dansm pages and would like to help out, please contact me at mike_mccracker@yahoo.com. On these web pages you will find lots of pages regarding guitar, guitar tabs, and guitar lessons, and some pages on music theory. Dansm's focus is on fingerpicking acoustic guitar, so he also has an acoustic guitar page and a page of fingerpicking lessons. One note on these 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! 
Site Index Recent Updates Frequently Asked Questions |
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Acoustic Page
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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.
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Music Theory
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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!
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Scales and Modes 
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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!
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Fingerpicking Lessons 
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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.
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Guitar Techniques 
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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!
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Guide to Chords 
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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!
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Musical Notation 
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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!
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Guitar Page
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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.
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| Thank You! |
You should at least be using  at 800x600 resolution.Created using 
with Netscape 4.0 in Win98 on my Dell P75. |
