Yo, Tino, thanks for this one. I've been covering The Dutchman since the mid 1970s.
In 2000 I saw Michael Smith in a pub in Aurora, CO. As it turned out, we had shared our table with a woman who was good friend of his, so he came to talk to her. After they visited, I introduced myself, mentioned my love for the song, and asked him a about the fingering he did on the first two bars of the chorus, something on frets 5 and 7 that I couldn't see from my seat. He dragged me up on stage to show me. He was doing basically a minor 2 and minor 3, fretting 3 notes and leaving the others open, with an alternating bass line. I said, "Thanks!" but he wouldn't let me go until I took the guitar and showed him that I could play it. What a guy!
