The present paper proposes a modal analysis procedure to obtain exact modal parameters (natural frequencies, damping ratios, eigenvectors) for general, non-uniform beam-like structures. The proposed method includes a derivation of the system dynamic matrix for a Timoshenko beam element. The proposed method provides not only exact modal parameters but also exact frequency response functions (FRFs) for general beam structures. A time domain analysis method is also proposed. Two examples are provided for validating and illustrating the proposed method. The first numerical example compares the proposed method with FEM. The second example deals with a non-uniform beam structure supported in joints with damping property. The numerical study proves that the proposed method is useful for the dynamic analysis of continuous systems consisting of beam-like structures.