# Anybody taking lessons from Tom Hess?



## thatguyupthere (Nov 16, 2013)

im looking at Tom Hess to be my guitar teacher but im not sure. he seems very legit and is a great virtuoso guitarist from the band "Rhapsody of fire". is anybody on here taking lessons from him currently to tell me whether its worth it? im sure it is but I want to know what other people think first


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## TeeWX (Nov 16, 2013)

I believe Tom Hess is no longer with Rhapsody of Fire. He seems like he really understands the guitar, but his lessons are correspondence which is kind of lame for the really high price.


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## thatguyupthere (Nov 16, 2013)

TeeWX said:


> I believe Tom Hess is no longer with Rhapsody of Fire. He seems like he really understands the guitar, but his lessons are correspondence which is kind of lame for the really high price.


 
so i'd be better off with a good local guitar teacher?


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## TeeWX (Nov 16, 2013)

thatguyupthere said:


> so i'd be better off with a good local guitar teacher?



I think the best option, if you have it available, is a good local teacher who plays the style of music you're interested in. It'd likely be a lot cheaper too.


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## GlxyDs (Nov 16, 2013)

I took lessons from Tom Hess for a while. I enjoyed some things like the practice generator (which you can get without lessons) because it helped me get into the habit of dedicated and focused practice.

He tries to bring up all areas of your playing at a slow pace so everything comes up together all at once. Personally, it got me to a level that I was comfortable with before going off on my own. I ended up wanting direction from someone who was more like the style of playing I wanted to model myself after.


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## djyngwie (Nov 16, 2013)

I haven't, but ever since I heard about that (appearantly entirely unironic) "How to get girls by playing the guitar" lesson thing, I've had the guy categorized under "douche".


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## GlxyDs (Nov 17, 2013)

^ This came after I decided it wasn't working out for me anymore.


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## thatguyupthere (Nov 17, 2013)

haha I guess ill just get a better teacher. the reason I was looking at tom is because he atleast plays some form of metal. and my current teacher play country pop ( blech ) so I kind of ( lol ) overpass my teachers playing ability. he just helps me with theory knowledge


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## Maniacal (Nov 17, 2013)

I have had a few students who paid for lessons with Tom Hess. Not recommended. There are plenty of better teachers out there that won't charge you ridiculous sums of money. 

In my opinion, he is an Internet Entrepreneur not a great guitar teacher. 

Hello Mr Hess


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## starslight (Nov 17, 2013)

Some of the stuff he gives out for free is useful, if a bit esoteric. Would never want to take lessons from him, though. I don't trust anyone who markets themselves so aggressively.

There are some dudes in the modern metal scene that do lessons over Skype, so that might be worth looking into.


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## thatguyupthere (Nov 17, 2013)

ive heard that sithu aye does Skype lessons


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## Winspear (Nov 18, 2013)

Get yourself over to Bandhappy


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## thatguyupthere (Nov 18, 2013)

EtherealEntity said:


> Get yourself over to Bandhappy



will do! whats over there?


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## JustMac (Nov 18, 2013)

thatguyupthere said:


> ive heard that sithu aye does Skype lessons



If his teaching ability is even a fractions-worth of his playing ability then that would be money well spent. I only found him recently but he is insane!


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## thatguyupthere (Nov 18, 2013)

wow this site is great!! are all the video lessons free? even from the well know artists?


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## Winspear (Nov 19, 2013)

I haven't used it myself. I have no idea about videos on there, I just know it's a medium that many artists of professional touring bands use to give lessons for money over webcam. It was created by the drummer of Periphery. I plan on going there when I have some cash for lessons, I expect I'd be able to find a number of guitarists I like on there.


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## Drew (Nov 20, 2013)

Maniacal said:


> In my opinion, he is an Internet Entrepreneur not a great guitar teacher.



This, so much. His primary focus is monetizing a business, rather than teaching for the love of guitar. Now, I can't really fault him for that, but for what he charges I'd rather work with a talented local guy who teaches because he loves what he does. 

He's also spammy as hell - I should try to hunt down one of the "affiliate program" emails he set over to the site I run with a few buddies - internet marketing 101, and bragging about how he's the first instructor with a 7-figure income, etc. 

The kicker, of course, was when he had an employee with an @tomhess.net or .com email address sign up to our site asking if we'd ever heard about Tom Hess, because he looked like a pretty awesome instructor, and if we thought he would be a good guy for this person (who was on Tom's payroll, evidently) to take lessons from.  In fact, one of the mods should check the email that this guy created this account with.


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## Maniacal (Nov 20, 2013)

This is my favourite page from his website:

Teach Guitar - Training For Guitar Teachers

"_Here is what typically happens with guitar teachers who don't pursue training:

They copy from all the other untrained guitar teachers out there everywhere, giving their students mediocre results as they limp along earning barely $20,000 per year ($30,000 if they are 'lucky') when they could easily earn $100,000 if they knew what to do, how to do it and then 'actually' did it._"

I know plenty of guitar teachers, most are mediocre players at best. However, even the top teachers earn no where near that. To even make such a statement is just beyond ridiculous. 

WOW and just $197 a month!? Sign me up!


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## guitarfreak1387 (Nov 21, 2013)

Maniacal said:


> This is my favourite page from his website:
> 
> Teach Guitar - Training For Guitar Teachers
> 
> ...



well yeah, how else is he going to make that $100,000 a year income?


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## niffnoff (Nov 23, 2013)

I find his advice mediocre, from his e-mails and from videos online. if anything they are just the same regurgitation you'd get anywhere. For speed? Metronome. For theory? Scales, metronome, some shapes and runs. For improv? He did one cool thing where he made a guy play two notes and try and do something different. But nothing special, and wouldn't go amiss from another standard teacher.

His e-mail spam is great >.> 

now gimme 1,000 for the above statement


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## Malkav (Nov 23, 2013)

Guy seems like a complete douche nozzle to me, I know one dude locally in S.A who's had lessons with him and in my opinion the results were not particularly compelling...

A friend of mine almost made the mistake of doing the same thing before I bitch slapped some sense into him.


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## ghost_of_karelia (Nov 23, 2013)

Teemu Mäntysaari of Wintersun gives lessons over Skype. He's fantastic, 'nuff said.


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## ADevilsDaydream817 (Nov 23, 2013)

thatguyupthere said:


> so i'd be better off with a good local guitar teacher?



This is all you need and much more feasible on the checkbook.


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## Carlm83 (Dec 1, 2013)

How much do his lessons cost?


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## scottro202 (Dec 5, 2013)

I stumbled upon the dude for his music career teaching section. I dig the stuff he gives out for free, but I would never pay for a dude to help me with my music career, if I wanted to do that I'd hire an agent  

But yeah. Find a local teacher. The best way (Well, this is how I found the guy I'm gonna start taking from tomorrow, who's probably the best blues/rock guitarist in Atlanta, GA) is just going to local shows and stuff, most musicians who live and gig in-town most likely teach on the side as well. Or they know a friend who does. (And for what it's worth, I DO play a lot of blues so he fits my style, which may be important).


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