# Tom Hess Music Corporation



## JeremyRodriguez5544998 (Mar 16, 2015)

Hello.

I just wanted to get some people's opinions on Tom Hess and his correspondence lessons, MCMP, and EGTIC. Feel free to post whatever you want.


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## Malkav (Mar 17, 2015)

Guitar Sex Master Class | Tom Hess Online Guitar Classes

He's a total ....ing joke.


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## Discoqueen (Mar 17, 2015)

"How to make a woman feel what you want to do with them without having to say a word."  That sounds so creepy.


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## JeremyRodriguez5544998 (Mar 18, 2015)

Do you think he is trying to be creepy/douche/etc? OR, do you think that his intention was to try to be funny with that? I don't think he is LITERALLY selling something that's gona make women want you. It seems to just be a title to grab your attention.


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## TemjinStrife (Mar 18, 2015)

Random first post promoting Tom Hess. We've had a number of those on other boards. Please state your affiliation with him (site rules).


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## JeremyRodriguez5544998 (Mar 18, 2015)

TemjinStrife said:


> Random first post promoting Tom Hess. We've had a number of those on other boards. Please state your affiliation with him (site rules).



This isn't my first post. I've posted a few times before.

I'm a student of his and am simply wanting to know others' opinions of him for my own sake. 

I've heard of those stories where other people would use these sites to promote Tom Hess intentionally. That's not what this post is about. I'm just simply a student seeking outsiders' opinions.


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## Fred the Shred (Mar 19, 2015)

Well, he has a reputation for bullying people who are launching potentially competitive sites, throwing out generic lessons for the online subscribers, having a generally arrogant attitude that is not really in line with a desirable trait in a teacher, and while supreme execution skills aren't necessarily needed for one to be a competent tutor (there are numerous examples of successful teachers with superb students while not being technically amazing themselves) he will often sell himself as having execution skills far above the ones he's displayed so far.

I get the purpose of aggressive marketing and the whole confidence in one's product ethos, but in my own opinion, he takes that too far. Add to this the antagonizing role he's assumed towards unsuspecting people and I wouldn't even have considered him once during my formative years or now, should I wish to add some depth to areas I haven't invested so much thus far.


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## Estilo (Mar 20, 2015)

FWIW, Hess wrote a post in 2006 on a Singaporean gear forum on how one could potentially make it in the music industry. Thought it was pretty insightful.


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## canuck brian (Mar 20, 2015)

JeremyRodriguez5544998 said:


> I'm a student of his and am simply wanting to know others' opinions of him for my own sake.



He sucks and he's a liar. He claims to be endorsed by a bunch of companies and none of them actually have endorsed him whatsoever.

He's also an egomaniac. What kind of douche makes his own Wiki entry and pads it with so much false information attempting to make himself look cool?

He spams multiple websites with his "tailored" lessons which are just generic pre-made lessons. You're better off flushing your money down the toilet.


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## Sumsar (Mar 20, 2015)

JeremyRodriguez5544998 said:


> I'm a student of his and am simply wanting to know others' opinions of him for my own sake.



Show me yours, I'll show you mine: What do you think of him as a teacher? Since you may be the only one here doing business with the guy.
Is he as big a douche as he tries to come across as? 

In the younger eras of 'learning guitar by watching people give video lessons online' I spent a bit of time looking into what he did, but I never felt I learned anything from watching his stuff, so I fairly quickly moved on to more enlightened people. He tries to sell himself as if he is somewhere between Steve Vai and Yngwie, both in importance and skill, yet he is just another below average guitar teacher trying to take peoples money in my opinion.


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## JeremyRodriguez5544998 (Mar 20, 2015)

I am in his MCMP program. In my opinion he does very well with guiding you through the music industry and teaching how to navigate certain situations. He has plenty of great examples, though at times he can be repetitive. For somebody like me who grew up in an environment where nobody believed it was possible to make it in music, I think the MCMP is completely worth it!

I've never taken his guitar lessons, though I have to admit his 14 day mini course boosted my alt picking by 30 bpm within 3 days, LITERALLY! As far as the free videos he posts, those are more beginner, intermediate things he teaches. I can't speak for his advanced lessons because I've never seen him teach any. I'm sure if you are an advanced player he'd give much better lessons than the free samples that you see online.

Bottom line, he has changed my life and my mindset for the better. This isn't biased. It's actual truth. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be as good as I am today. I'd really suck at life lol.


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## JeremyRodriguez5544998 (Mar 20, 2015)

Sumsar said:


> Is he as big a douche as he tries to come across as?
> .



It depends on who you are to be honest. He can come off as one, but really it's his tone of voice and the way he says things. Typical northern dialect. I was raised by parents from the north so I'm used to it, so it doesn't really bother me. People with that southern hospitality lifestyle may not appreciate how Tom speaks.

I'M NOT SAYING SOUTHERN PEOPLE ARE SENSITIVE. I'm just saying the difference between deliverance of speech clashing is very probable.


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## Discoqueen (Mar 21, 2015)

Don't you just use a metronome when practicing alt picking and just go faster and faster? Am I missing something?? (This is actually a serious question.)


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## Sumsar (Mar 21, 2015)

Discoqueen said:


> Don't you just use a metronome when practicing alt picking and just go faster and faster? Am I missing something?? (This is actually a serious question.)



Well it worked pretty well for everyone that plays fast, so I would say yes. I can't see how having some fancy pancy teacher should help you with that  ?

Of cause he can show you how to do and correct you if your technique is wrong / bad, but the hours upon hours spend with a metronome he can't do much about.


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## TheKindred (Mar 21, 2015)

JeremyRodriguez5544998 said:


> Bottom line, he has changed my life and my mindset for the better. *This isn't biased*. It's actual truth. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be as good as I am today. I'd really suck at life lol.



Yes, it is.


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## infernalservice (Mar 21, 2015)

He is like the oxy clean guy of the guitar instructional world, but with way less friendly appeal. I watched a video where he .... talks John Frusciante for not being technical when a student mentions him as a "guitar hero". I am not a huge RHCP fan, but I am willing to bet 99% can recall a Frusciante melody from a song with ease. That cannot be said for a Hess Fest jam. I have messed around with his thumb side muting technique for picking, and while it does get the job done, it also makes notes sound more sterile and less lively to my ears. He also forgets to mention a lot that he switches to muting when not playing lead, making his technique weird and disjointed between two different pick hand approaches. Sometimes simpler is better and more efficient.


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## Webmaestro (Mar 21, 2015)

As someone who works in the (internet marketing) industry, I can say that Tom has built an effing amazing internet marketing machine. For that, I applaud him... and feel that THAT is what he should/could teach.

I signed up for his guitar lessons a couple years ago, but cancelled after just a couple months. I got a lot of cool materials, but it was all just too basic and methodical for my taste (not a bad thing, just not what I want at this point in my life). I quickly realized that I don't have the time and regularity in my schedule to practice as much as it was calling for.

I'm not looking for a comprehensive, "start from square one" type of course that I have to practice EVERY day and stick with for the next 3-4 years. I prefer to just find things (licks, riffs, etc) on the web that seem cool and inspire me (Tom rants against this type of thing).

So, my honest opinion is that he wasn't a scammer or anything, and did deliver a lot of learning materials (plus a forum, videos, etc), but the overall learning style just wasn't for me, considering all the other stuff that's available out there (including pros now giving one-on-one Skype lessons).

As far as the douchy-ness people often cite, I can deal with that; it doesn't phase me. I deal with much bigger douches every day at work, so Tom is pretty low on the douch spectrum for me, heh.


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## JeremyRodriguez5544998 (Mar 22, 2015)

Discoqueen said:


> Don't you just use a metronome when practicing alt picking and just go faster and faster? Am I missing something?? (This is actually a serious question.)



The metronome exercises he showed on the mini course were much better than just increasing your speed little by little. And there was more focus than just speed itself. He explains in that course how to control the motions in both of your hands to make it easier to play faster. 

Truth is, doing the typical "increase your speed by two clicks every day or week" is a really slow process. This mini course got me about 3 weeks worth of results in three days. I'm not exaggerating about this either man. I was way too freakin amazed!


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## meteor685 (Apr 13, 2015)

Guys a ....in douche, and creepy as hell....

there are plenty of great players who offer skype lessons for affordable prices.


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## coreysMonster (Apr 13, 2015)

Webmaestro said:


> As someone who works in the (internet marketing) industry, I can say that Tom has built an effing amazing internet marketing machine. For that, I applaud him... and feel that THAT is what he should/could teach.


Ain't that the truth. I'd love to hear him talk about his aggressive internet marketing tactics and which ones worked in the long run and which didn't.

He's ruined his reputation in a lot of guitar communities by trying to push his crap too far, but loads of people have at the very least heard _of_ him.


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## Promit (Apr 14, 2015)

I know very little about Tom Hess. I stumbled upon his YouTube videos a few months ago when looking up some technique tips, and had never heard of the guy. I still don't know exactly who he is or what his interaction with the wider world has been.

Given that, I did poke around his channel and website. It triggered my "This man is trying to scam me" spidey sense. I don't know how describe it concretely, but I got distinct vibes to stay the hell away from anything he was pushing.


JeremyRodriguez5544998 said:


> I've never taken his guitar lessons, though I have to admit his 14 day mini course boosted my alt picking by 30 bpm within 3 days, LITERALLY! As far as the free videos he posts, those are more beginner, intermediate things he teaches. I can't speak for his advanced lessons because I've never seen him teach any. I'm sure if you are an advanced player he'd give much better lessons than the free samples that you see online.
> 
> Bottom line, he has changed my life and my mindset for the better. This isn't biased. It's actual truth. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be as good as I am today. I'd really suck at life lol.


And that reads like the kind of bulls!!t testimonial that any good scam has in spades. Now maybe you're a real person and maybe he's a great teacher, but every time I look into anything related to the dude it's just a parade of red flags.


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## JeremyRodriguez5544998 (Apr 14, 2015)

Promit said:


> And that reads like the kind of bulls!!t testimonial that any good scam has in spades. Now maybe you're a real person and maybe he's a great teacher, but every time I look into anything related to the dude it's just a parade of red flags.



I can understand where you're coming from. This post really wasn't to promote him. For the 10000000th time I'm simply trying to see what everybody thinks of him. It's important as a student to get feedback about the teacher you currently have to know if you made a mistake or not by choosing him.

But seriously, his articles and mini course really did help me. Maybe it didn't help you because you're a super advanced player already??? IDK


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## Alex Kenivel (Apr 14, 2015)

I've read through some of his stuff and some of it was useful and insightful.


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## Promit (Apr 14, 2015)

JeremyRodriguez5544998 said:


> But seriously, his articles and mini course really did help me. Maybe it didn't help you because you're a super advanced player already??? IDK


Nothing I saw from him led me to believe that I should send him money. It _feels_ like he's trying to rip me off when I read the website. What I saw on YT suggested to me that he's a perfectly good guitarist and very possibly a perfectly good teacher. But when I dug in, I just saw a pushy salesman employing aggressive sales tactics _at best_.

Part of it is simply that I respond _extremely_ poorly to pushy sales people.


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## SqWark (Apr 20, 2015)

His lessons are great if you think spending $55+ for a few scale sequences and a couple of arpeggios is worth it. You don't even get video instruction, just a PDF. Every month you do get a nice video of some of his students going on about how awesome his lessons are. Watching those is time I'd love to get back. Tom also emphasized how important it is to be a part of his Forum and how forum members progress 77% (or whatever random number) faster than non-forum members. You are supposed to ask any questions you have regarding the lessons on the forum so that his other trainees can respond . 
The only personal instruction you get from Tom is every six weeks when you submit your video updates. You then get a short feedback thread with whatever tips Tom has for you. So basically you're paying $110-$330 in lessons (based upon lesson frequency) to get 5-10 minutes worth of Tom Hess personal instruction. Decide for yourselves if that's worth it for you or not.


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## watson503 (Apr 21, 2015)

Anyone who would put some garbage like this out is nothing but a pos huckster and a complete joke in my book:


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## SqWark (Apr 21, 2015)

I played this video for my wife earlier. She didn't jump all over me. WTF? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUp3wGLK8cE


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## AxeHappy (Apr 22, 2015)

My Girlfriend, upon seeing that said, "That seems sloppy." 

Enough said.


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## Promit (Apr 22, 2015)

SqWark said:


> I played this video for my wife earlier. She didn't jump all over me. WTF?
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUp3wGLK8cE



I understand that any given live show is not necessarily a good demo of a player's skills. A lot can be happening from one night to the next. Still, man was that a rough one.


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## Santuzzo (Apr 26, 2015)

I once saw this clip:

https://youtu.be/jukCT44uMNM?t=3m13s

where he asks as student: 'who's your favorite guitar player?'

student: 'John Frusciante from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 

Hess: 'do you know, do you like any guitar payers who are better....technically better?'

that told me all I need to know about Hess.
He is a technically very good player, but that's where it ends, IMO.

Like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or not, Frusciante does have his own sound and style, much more so IMO than Hess. Technique and virtuosity is not everything. But I doubt Hess is getting that point.
All of his playing that I have seen on YouTube was technically VERY impressive, but nothing that moved me emotionally in any way at all .... 
just my two cents.


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## FRETPICK (Apr 26, 2015)

Guitar Lessons Bradford.


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## SqWark (Apr 26, 2015)

The whole Tom Hess world has a really douchey Multi-Level Marketing feel about it. Generic, cheesy motivation, oddball, cultish philosophical nonsense, Lemming-like brainwashed students, bull.... emails full of false promises and hyperbole. What he actually delivers is woefully minimal. There are just too many great guitar instruction options nowadays to ever get taken in by this sort of junk. What you'll pay for one "lesson" ($55+) you could buy 3+ months of access ($15/month) to Troy Grady's Masters in Mechanics course and the difference in quality of information is night and day.


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## djyngwie (Apr 27, 2015)

I think this may be one of the dumbest things I've ever read:


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