For three decades, Dan Smith has been making a solemn promise to New Yorkers. He has posted his flier — “Dan Smith Will Teach You Guitar” — thousands of times in the city’s bodegas, coffee shops, pizza parlors, delis and laundromats.
But spotting one in the urban wild may soon become rare, because New York’s go-to guitar teacher is doing less of his vintage style of promotion and embracing a more 2022 approach.
He has stipulations about whom he’ll teach and how, pedagogical rules he said he developed after thousands of lessons. For example, students must meet with him for at least one hour a week, as a sign of their commitment. And they should not go to him with the idea that his lessons are all about learning to pick and strum or play solos like a guitar hero.
“I’m trying to help people connect to themselves,” Smith said.
For those who meet the criteria, the experience can be transformative. “It’s not just about learning an instrument, but expanding my feelings about myself, about what I’m about,” said David Paterson, the former governor of New York, who has been studying with Smith since 2020.
Head to the link in our bio to read our profile on @dansmithmusicnyc. Photos by @strange.victory.
