Tom Hess

Guest Columnists

• Four Keys To Making An Effective Guitar Practice Schedule

  Anyone (including yourself) can learn to develop creativity by using the proven methods and strategies for reaching this goal.
  February-March 2018
• How To Quickly Become A Highly Creative Guitarist

  Anyone (including yourself) can learn to develop creativity by using the proven methods and strategies for reaching this goal.
  December-January 2017
• Learn From Steve Vai To Greatly Improve Your Guitar Playing: Part 2

  Here are more true reasons for Vai's world-class guitar playing and the lessons each one holds for you.
  October-November 2017
• Learn From Steve Vai To Greatly Improve Your Guitar Playing: Part 1

  Here are the true reasons for Vai's world-class guitar playing and the lessons each one holds for you.
  August-September 2017
• The CAGED System Literally Cages Your Guitar Playing

  Don't waste another second of your time learning the guitar scales by using the CAGED system.
  June-July 2017
• Do You Want It Bad Enough?

  The biggest obstacle standing in the way of your guitar playing greatness is not learning complicated techniques.
  April-May 2017
• Regaining Your Guitar Skills After A Long Break

  You will get your skills back again by using these five approaches.
  February-March 2017
• Tremolo Picking Guitar Method For Unbelievable Speed

  How to develop a lightning fast tremolo picking guitar technique.
  December-January 2016
• How To Make It Easy To Play Guitar Fast

  All of your favorite guitar players play in a way that looks amazingly easy.
  October-November 2016
• Effective Picking Techniques To Play Lightning Fast

  To easily play with greater speed, you'll need to use the most effective picking technique possible.
  August-September 2016
• Creating Awesome Sweep Picking Licks

  Improve your guitar technique while learning the proper way to sweep those licks.
  June-July 2016
• Practicing Guitar Effectively With Results: A Three Step Process

  Tired of spending so much time practicing without ever seeing big results? Check out this article from Tom Hess.
  April-May 2016
• Soloing: Creating Strong Emotions Over Chords

  Tom Hess will help you make your guitar solos overflow with emotion,
  April-May 2016
• The Most Important Factors For Building A Music Career

  No one succeeds in the music business who doesn't already utilize the five key elements used by massively successful pro musicians.
  February-March 2016
• How To Play Awesome Lead Guitar Solos: Playing Emotional Solos

  Mastering emotional playing will take your playing to the next level
  February-March 2016
• Why You Can't Attract Guitar Students During The Summer

  Start learning this winter how to mitigate the usual summer slowdown in your guitar teaching business.
  December-January 2015
• The Only Way To Succeed As A Guitar Teacher

  Any guitar teacher who achieves great success fully understands how they share a lot in common with anyone who has ever climbed to the top of Mt. Everest.
  December-January 2015
• How To Increase Guitar Speed

  Why general advice fails and what you should do instead.
  December-January 2015
• How To Practice Guitar More Effectively And Eliminate Mistakes

  When you use an effective guitar practice approach, you gain a lot of confidence and excitement for your improvement. However, if you are like most guitarists, this excitement fades over time.
  October-November 2015
• The Worst Questions To Ask About Building A Music Career

  To grow your music career fast, you need to understand which questions you are asking that are leading you down the wrong path.
  October-November 2015
• The Four Worst Fears Of Guitar Players

  You must figure out why these fears exist in you and what you can do to prevent them from controlling your musical future.
  October-November 2015
• Why You Aren't Beating The Guitar Teaching Competition In Your City

  Sad but true: almost 100% of guitar instructors choose 'mediocrity' as their standard of achievement.
  October-November 2015
• Why Some Guitar Teachers Are More Successful Than Everyone Else

  Don't be clueless about what you must do to become a successful guitar teacher.
  October-November 2015
• How To Clean Up Your Blues Guitar Licks

  Here you'll learn several creative blues guitar techniques that will make your blues phrases sound much more expressive.
  August-September 2015
• The Secret To Becoming A Successful Professional Musician

  Get your music career going on the right track by following the same approach used by Olympic competitors who succeed on the highest platform in the world.
  August-September 2015
• Six Ways To Attract Tons Of New Guitar Students

  Six points that will help you understand what you must do to clearly demonstrate your overwhelming value as a guitar teacher so you can attract more students.
  August-September 2015
• How To Quickly Correct Your Guitar Playing Problems

  Most likely, your lack of progress is the result of years of bad playing habits. Let's correct those habits.
  August-September 2015
• Pentatonic Aggression: The Secret To Playing Badass Blues Guitar Licks

  Tom Hess takes you through the exact steps needed for cleaning up unwanted string noise in your blues guitar licks.
  June-July 2015
• Enhance Your Playing Using John Petrucci's Style

  Look deeper, and find the overlooked value that makes John Petrucci a much greater guitarist than other players.
  June-July 2015
• Making Fast Progress May Keep You From Becoming A Great Guitarist

  The majority of guitar players unconsciously ruin their potential for improvement by learning 'too fast' in some areas of their playing and 'too slow' in other areas.
  June-July 2015
• Seven Questions That Sabotage Your Guitar Teaching Success

  Learn the differences between guitar teaching business 'myths' and 'reality'.
  June-July 2015
• Building A Successful Career In The Music Industry

  Comparing the opposing mindsets of successful and unsuccessful musicians.
  April-May 2015
• How To Create Awesome Shred Guitar Ideas Without Playing Faster

  You must master the ability to play with both speed and creativity in order to make your licks stand out.
  April-May 2015
• How To Play Creative Sweep Picking Arpeggios

  Build incredible amounts of musical tension by combining sweep picking technique with creative guitar phrasing ideas.
  April-May 2015
• Five Methods For Getting Into The Music Business That Lead To Failure

  Before you will become a highly successful professional musician, you need to get rid of several false beliefs that will cause you to fail in your music career.
  April-May 2015
• Maximizing Emotion In Guitar Playing

  Two Reasons Why You Have A Hard Time Expressing Maximum Emotion In Your Guitar Playing
  February-March 2015
• Making It In The Music Business

  Musicians who build and sustain successful music careers utilize an entirely different set of skills, thought processes and values.
  February-March 2015
• The Five Keys To Greatness

  Tom Hess identifies the five keys required for becoming a truly great guitar player.
  February-March 2015
• What You Need To Know To Teach Guitar Lessons

  Here are 11 common guitar teaching mistakes that less experienced teachers make.
  February-March 2015
• How To Turn Average Lead Guitar Licks Into Awesome Guitar Licks

  To make your lead guitar playing sound great, you must understand how to play every single note in your licks with as much expression as possible.
  December-January 2014
• How To Play Kick Ass Guitar Licks Quickly And Easily, Part 1

  The key to playing killer guitar phrases is focusing on how you play - not necessarily which notes you use.
  December-January 2014
• Why You Should Forget About Most Common Guitar Teacher Advice

  Reach your full potential and become part of the small percentage of highly successful guitar teachers.
  December-January 2014
• Secrets To Achieving Great Success As A Guitar Teacher

  Helping guitar teachers understand the psychology behind achieving success in their guitar teaching businesses.
  December-January 2014
• Seven Unfortunate Truths About Your Guitar Teacher

  Before you take another lesson, here are the seven things that your guitar teacher has never told you (that you need to know).
  October-November 2014
• Use Your Favorite Singer's Voice To Write Guitar Solos

  You're going to like having the ability to write guitar solos that are highly melodic, expressive, and passionate.
  October-November 2014
• How To Promote Your Career And Build Your Fan Base

  There is no doubt that having a major following of fans for your music is crucial to big and long lasting success in the music industry.
  October-November 2014
• 7 String Guitar Playing: 5 Transforming Creative Tactics

  Tom Hess' explores creative possibilities with the low B string.
  October-November 2014
• Creating Rock Guitar Solo Improvisations

  Tom Hess' ideas for creating massive positive change in your ability to improvise rock guitar solos.
  August-September 2014
• Ten Costly Guitar Teaching Business Mistakes

  Tom Hess takes on your teaching business, helping you avoid mistakes that may be costing you big money.
  August-September 2014
• The Four Worst Fears Of Guitar Players

  The most frequent fears possessed by most guitarists and what you must do to overcome them and reach your musical goals.
  June-July 2014
• How To Make It In Music By Eliminating Your Risk

  Tom Hess discusses what it takes to achieve success as a pro musician.
  June-July 2014
• 7 Rule Guide For Finding Committed Band Members

  Tom Hess helps you to find band members with the same drive and ambition that you have.
  April-May 2014
• How To Turn Your Thoughts Into Musical Emotions

  In order to enhance your musical expression and clearly communicate your ideas, you must understand how to think creatively when you play guitar.
  April-May 2014
• How To Play Awesome Rhythm Guitar Riffs

  Tom Hess talks about how you can by use creative rhythm guitar practice methods to write your own rock and metal guitar riffs.
  February-March 2014
• How To Write Great Guitar Solos

  Using the same guitar soloing approach as everyone else can only lead to one result: a guitar solo that has a very similar sound to nearly every other guitar solo out there.
  February-March 2014
• How To Get Big Results From Taking Guitar Lessons

  Perhaps you have considered taking lessons but because someone you know had a disappointing experience with a teacher, you began to doubt if lessons are worth investing your time and money.
  December-January 2013
• How To Practice For Maximum Guitar Speed

  Perhaps you have considered taking lessons but because someone you know had a disappointing experience with a teacher, you began to doubt if lessons are worth investing your time and money.
  December-January 2013
• A Powerful And Unique Approach To Writing Guitar Solo Phrases

  Many guitarists play truly inspiring guitar phrases without playing in a very technical manner, and you can do this to when you follow the steps in this article.
  October-November 2013
• 10 Costly Guitar Teaching Business Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

  The reality is, you don't have to settle for limited financial gains in your guitar teaching business.
  August-September 2013
• How To Teach Guitar Students To Practice

  Have you ever had a hard time getting your guitar students to make significant progress from one lesson to the next? There is a simple adjustment you can make.
  June-July 2013
• How To Gain A Lot Of Motivation For Guitar Practice

  It takes most guitar players many years before they learn how to practice guitar in a way that is both productive and enjoyable.
  April-May 2013
• How To Become A Better Guitarist By Listening To Yngwie

  Improve your own guitar playing abilities by simply understanding the entire story behind what makes Yngwie so underrated.
  February-March 2013
• How To Turn 7 String Guitar Into A Powerful Tool For Musical Creativity

  To become an excellent 7 string guitar player, you will need to fully understand how to overcome any challenges that arise with your new instrument.
  December-January 2012
• How To Take Your Music Career To The Next Level With A Mentor

  By learning about the music industry from a professional who has already done big things, you will be much more likely to succeed in your own music career.
  October-November 2012
• How To Make Your Music Career Highly Profitable And Stable

  If you hold the belief that it is wrong to try to make money with your musical talents, do not read any further - please don't read this.
  August-September 2012
• How To Record Your Guitar Playing

  Having the ability to record your guitar parts very quickly and efficiently in the studio will maximize your music career opportunities.
  June-July 2012
• Improve Your Guitar Teaching, Part 1

  A great article from Tom Hess focuses on helping students solve their musical problems.
  April-May 2012
• How To Get Started Teaching Guitar

  Many people who have been teaching guitar for a long time don't know all 5 of the important things you are now going to learn about how to teach guitar.
  February-March 2012
• How To Fix Common Guitar Practice Problems With And Without A Metronome

  It's essential to practice everything to a metronome to develop tight rhythm guitar playing skills, increase guitar speed and track musical progress.
  December-January 2011
• How To Choose The Most Effective Guitar Playing Exercises

  Where many guitarists struggle is in knowing how to make sense out of general guitar practice materials and organize them into an effective practice schedule.
  October-November 2011
• How To Play Guitar Fast

  Avoiding critical mistakes in learning to increase your guitar speed.
  August-September 2011
• Top 10 Mistakes People Make When Trying To Become Professional Musicians

  There are many pitfalls on the path to success, and that is particularly true in the music industry.
  June-July 2011
• How To Get More People To Come To Your Live Shows

  Are you frustrated because you are not getting as many people to come to your live shows as you want?
  April-May 2011
• How To Improve Your Guitar Technique, Part 2

  Do you want to improve your guitar technique, play guitar cleaner, eliminate sloppy playing and unwanted string noise?
  February-March 2011
• How To Prepare For Gigs And Make Your Live Shows Better

  The very best way to get more people to repeatedly come out and see your band play live is word of mouth.
  December-January 2010
• Need Help Starting A Successful Career In Music?

  Do you need immediate help starting a successful career in music? Here are four things that will put you on the right track.
  October-November 2010
• How To Improve Your Guitar Technique, Part 1

  Do you want to improve your guitar technique, play guitar cleaner, eliminate sloppy playing and unwanted string noise?
  August-September 2010
• 5 Big Mistakes You Should Avoid When Teaching Beginning Guitar Students

  If have a sincere interest in helping your beginning guitar students, read Tom Hess now.
  June-July 2010
• Getting Big Results From Guitar Lessons

  Tom Hess offers three reasons why you may not be getting big results from taking guitar lessons.
  April-May 2010
• 8 Steps To Developing A Highly Efficient Practice Schedule

  All of the things you need to do, or practice, in order to reach you playing goals.
  February-March 2010
• How To Make A Great Guitar Solo

  It's not what you play, it's how you play it. Read this column for more as it applies to your solos.
  December-January 2009
• How To Transition From Your Day Job Into A Successful Music Career

  Do you really want a successful career in music, but you're unsure about what to do if your plan doesn't work? Read Tom Hess now.
  October-November 2009
• Why You Struggle To Get Guitar Students

  There are two main problems that apply to almost all guitar teachers who struggle attracting new students.
  August-September 2009
• How To Instantly Improve Your Guitar Teaching Business

  Here's how to kick it up a notch by avoiding the top 9 mistakes guitar teachers usually make.
  June-July 2009
• How To Practice Guitar With A Limited Amount Of Time

  Do you struggle with not having enough time to practice guitar? How to practice effectively when time is at a premium.
  April-May 2009
• 11 Damaging Mistakes Guitar Players Make And How To Avoid Them

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess cuts to the chase to help you get to the next level.
  February-March 2009
• How To Make The Right Contacts In The Music Industry

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess is here to help you turn contacts into meaningful connections.
  December-January 2008
• The Pursuit Of A Record Deal

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess knows you want a successful, stable and rewarding career as a professional musician.
  October-November 2008
• Practicing Guitar: Self Discipline or Fun?

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess talkes about two components that you must balance in order to enjoy the process of practicing and see consistent progress.
  August-September 2008
• Want To Become A Professional Musician?

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess with seven things you should do now to begin your music career.
  June-July 2008
• Songwriting, Part 4

  Tom Hess with his fourth installment on songwriting, with more advanced, yet simple and overlooked concepts.
  October-November 2007
• Songwriting, Part 3

  Tom Hess with his third installment on ideas on selecting and using a compositional process that works best for you.
  August-September 2007
• Songwriting, Part 2

  Tom Hess with even more ideas on selecting and using a compositional process that works best for you.
  June-July 2007
• Songwriting, Part 1

  Tom Hess with ideas on selecting and using a compositional process that works best for you.
  April-May 2007
• Effective Practice Strategies

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess lays out an effective, step-by-step plan for developing speed.
  February-March 2007
• Are You a Bad Student?

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess was a bad student too, but he got his act together, and you can as well.
  December-January 2006
• Top Secrets Of Common Sense, Part 2

  Do you know the difference between an amateur and a professional? Learn the difference between 'just playing well' and mastery.
  October-November 2006
• The 80/20 Law: Maximum Results With Minimum Time

  How long you practice is not always as important as what you choose to focus your practice time on.
  August-September 2006
• Express Yourself!

  Tom Hess urges you to get beyond 'guitarist' and 'musician' to uncover the 'artist' within.
  June-July 2006
• Fire And Inspiration

  Here's how to spark the inspirational flame, and reignite your inner fire.
  April-May 2006
• Top Secrets Of Common Sense, Part 1

  Getting it done? Or wishing you had? Maybe it's not too late to make your future.
  February-March 2006
• Plans Are Not Goals

  How will you achieve what you really want (goals) without knowing why you want them, and how you will get there (plans)? Let's discuss.
  December-January 2005
• Most Of You Are Totally Out Of Balance?

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess helps you to identify those inevitable weak areas in your playing.
  October-November 2005
• Can You Really Become a Great Guitar Player?

  What separates those who do from those who don't? Here's how you can succeed where others have failed.
  June-July 2005
• Do You Really Need A Teacher?

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess weighs in on the debate over DIY or professional instruction.
  December-January 2004
• For Love Or Money

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess discusses the motivations of a true artist.
  June-July 2004
• Creativity And Expression - Part 2

  Tom Hess is back with a second installment on how creativity can be enhanced to improve songwriting and improvisation.
  April-May 2004
• Creativity And Expression - Part 1

  Tom Hess discusses how creativity can be enhanced and stimulated to improve songwriting and improvisation.
  February-March 2004
• Why Aren't You A Better Guitarist?

  Tom Hess is back with the twenty concepts you need... and the five things to forget.
  December-January 2003
• Originality (When And How)

  Tom Hess takes an original approach to the subject of originality in music.
  October-November 2003
• Musical Frustration

  Stop pulling out your hair, read the latest gem from Mr. Hess.
  June-July 2003
• The Most Important Skill That Most Players Don't Have

  Are you aurally challanged? Learn how to improve this vital skill.
  December-January 2002
• Picking Hand Discipline

  How to control a potentially rebellious picking hand.
  October-November 2002
• Choosing A Teacher

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess shows you how to select a good guitar instructor (and how to avoid a bad one).
  June-July 2002
• Vibrato Control

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess teaches you the important aspects of a good string shake.
  April-May 2002
• Perseverance - It Will Make You Or Break You!

  Neo-classical guitarist Tom Hess will break you of your tendency to quit.
  February-March 2002