Reddit<\/a>.<\/p>\nDan Smith\u2019s flyers have been spotted and recognized across NYC for decades. Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n
Known across the city as the \u201cposter guy,\u201d Smith\u2019s \u201cplain and boring\u201d fliers with just his photo, contact information, and the bold phrase \u201cDan Smith Will Teach You Guitar\u201d plastered around the city in various neighborhoods have made him a local legend.<\/p>\n
Much to Smith\u2019s disappointment, no one called at first. But after two years of consistently following this simple strategy, he built a steady business that allowed him to leave his restaurant job behind.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t start to feel like a recognizable figure until 2000, when he first put his photo on his flyers, which coincided with the rise of the internet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI really appreciate using printed flyers; it\u2019s this analog, hands-on experience that is deeper than digital forms of advertising,\u201d Smith told The Post, adding that talking to store owners behind the counter and building relationships with them before hanging his flyer has been crucial for his marketing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His minimalist approach accidentally built a legendary brand. The phrase \u201cDan Smith Will Teach You Guitar\u201d became a pop culture staple, referenced and parodied on The Daily Show, BoJack Horseman and in John Mayer songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dan Smith\u2019s ad campaign for his guitar lessons resulted in media coverage and satire. Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n
Smith recalled taking an old BuzzFeed quiz titled \u201cAre You a Real New Yorker?\u201d\u2014 and was shocked to see the question \u201cWho is Dan Smith?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel different from everybody else, yet my flyer created a dynamic where it\u2019s in the fabric of the city,\u201d he told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So much so that his iconic flyer has been elevated to the biggest advertising display in Manhattan: a Times Square billboard, as HP printing company pays homage to Smith\u2019s flyers through their Hometown Heroes campaign,\u00a0which will be on display on the Nasdaq billboard in Times Square today through Oct. 12.<\/p>\n
Smith calls this honor a deeply gratifying affirmation of 30 years of hard work.<\/p>\n
Smith attributes his success to his relentlessness in hanging his flyers around Manhattan Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n
Despite some \u201cfame,\u201d Smith\u2019s day-to-day hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n
He still opens his studio around 9 a.m., teaches into the evening and spends his free hours walking through the city, quietly taping up his posters just as he did three decades ago.<\/p>\n
Among his long list of students is former New York Governor David Paterson, who picked up the guitar again in 2020 after his wife mentioned seeing the ubiquitous fliers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI told (Smith) my story, started playing with him and found him to be an excellent teacher,\u201d Paterson told The Post. <\/p>\n
Because Paterson is legally blind, Smith tailored his teaching style to help him feel his way around the instrument without reading notes. \u201cHe\u2019s a quiet hero \u2014 very hometown, right here 20 blocks from me in Manhattan.\u201d <\/p>\n
The duo even performed together at an event with Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2023.<\/p>\n
Smith is getting his own billboard in Times Square, 30 years after he started putting up his poster ads. Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s made a \u201cgrassroots\u201d impact and putting the fliers up was ingenious,\u201d the former Governor told The Post. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t over publicize himself or try to be a famous guitar teacher,\u201d he added, saying his lessons feel like being a part of an \u201cunderground club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other locals, like Ivan Rivera, were drawn in after spotting a flyer taped to a deli window at 17th Street and 9th Avenue. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s therapeutic for me because it\u2019s not just about the music \u2014 he feels like a friend I can sit and talk to,\u201d Rivera told The Post, adding that he was thrilled to see Smith\u2019s work recognized in Times Square.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a great relationship with New York City and I feel comforted by the fact that people see my flyers around,\u201d Smith said. \u201cNYC is fertile for anybody with a dream, and putting my small flyers up helped me find my voice, so it\u2019s the perfect place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s elusive guitar legend can no longer hide in the shadows.\u00a0 After 30 years of discreetly postering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[15639,36872,232,57,15241,9,56,63,65,64,2990,2027],"class_list":["post-346636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-billboard","tag-guitar","tag-lifestyle","tag-metro","tag-musicians","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-small-business","tag-times-square"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}