News About Guitar Playing, Music Career Development and Guitar Teaching
To be informed about the latest free guitar playing, music career and guitar teaching articles, videos,mini courses, live events and other valuable resources, sign up for the Tom Hess Music Corporation Newsletter here.
10 January 2010 - About Tom Hess:
Tom's Guitar Collection
On this new page you can see Tom's guitars.
8 January 2010 - Guitar Teaching Article:
Teaching Guitar: How To Fix Bad Habits And Solve Problems Your Guitar Students Have 
If you sometimes struggle to get your guitar students to correct bad habits or solve problems in their guitar playing, read this article and learn the best ways to improve your guitar teaching by discovering how to solve guitar teaching problems.
7 January 2010 - Guitar Teaching Test:
Test Your Guitar Teaching Skills
Find out how much you really know about teaching guitar and test your guitar teaching skills.
22 December 2009 - Guitar Playing Article:
How To Practice for Maximum Guitar Speed - Part 3
Have you ever noticed that playing something clean and fast is much harder when playing an actual song compared to when you practice that same guitar lick or solo over and over again? Learn more about how to increase your guitar speed and solving this problem in part 3 of this article series.
7 December 2009 - Music Career Article:
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. When your live shows are great, people will like it and talk about you to their friends both online and offline. Besides the obvious point of playing good music that people like, there are 5 main areas of preparing for your gigs. Read the full article about how to prepare for gigs.
2nd December 2009 - Live Music Event:
HESSFEST
Short Movie and Details About HESSFEST Europe 2010 Released
24 November 2009 - Guitar Playing Resource:
FREE Guitar Solo Tips
Transform your guitar soloing by discovering secrets most guitar players will never know about how to create and play great guitar solos.
22 November 2009 - Guitar Phrasing Article:
Improving Your Guitar Phrasing - Part 4
Do you want to be able to express yourself more fully in your lead guitar solos? Are you struggling to apply all of the licks and techniques you’ve been learning? Check out this guitar phrasing article to learn how to improve your guitar phrasing skills.
21 November 2009 - Guitar Teaching Article:
How To Effectively Teach Guitar Chords To Beginning Guitar Students
Beginning guitar students very often struggle with changing guitar chords quickly, fluently and musically. This can become very frustrating for them, and for you, the teacher. Learn how to solve this problem by reading this guitar teaching lesson on how to effectively teach guitar chords.
2nd November 2009 - Rock and Metal Guitar Licks Course released!
This course will show you how to move beyond simply "learning guitar licks" into the league of the great guitar players by instantly adapting cool guitar licks to ANY song or musical context you want! You will be guided step by step through the process of how to creatively adjust any lick to fit any music using sample variations of many exciting licks over inspiring jam tracks in a variety of rock/metal musical contexts. After completing this course, you will no longer struggle with finding and creating cool things to play over any jam track or song.
1st November 2009 - Guitar Solo Lesson:
How To Create Kick Ass Guitar Solos 
There are lots of ways to create guitar solos. Most guitarists focus on ‘what to play’ versus ‘how to play things’. Fact is, the nuances of phrasing (‘how’ the notes are played) often matter MORE than the notes we actually play. How many times have you heard someone play a guitar solo ‘without’ much emotion? Often there was nothing wrong with their choice of notes. The solo lacked emotion and interest because the ‘phrasing’ was weak. Check out this guitar solo lesson.
1st November 2009 - New free Guitar Solo Lesson on video!
31st October 2009 - Rock Band Mini Course:
How To Turn Your Rock Band Into A Success
FREE 12 Day Mini Course by Alex Staropoli, Draven Grey and myself. Discover the secrets most bands will never know about how to make your band more successful than it is now.
29 September 2009 - New Music Career Resources Added
28 September 2009 - Student Spotlight: Daniel Faustmann (USA)
25 September 2009 - Rock Band Success Resource:
FREE Stage Presence Tips by Alex Staropoli, Tom Hess and Draven Grey
Good stage presence is absolutely critical to the success of any live band. Whether you are just starting out with your rock band or already have live experience, these free stage presence tips will begin to transform your live shows once you implement them in your practice sessions and live shows.
5 May 2009 - New Guitar Teacher Resources Added
2 May 2009 - Guitar Playing Article:
Get More From Your Guitar Practice
8 Steps To Develop A Highly Efficient Practice Schedule 
If you are like most guitar players you sometimes feel frustrated with your guitar playing. You know mastering guitar playing takes a LOT of time, energy and effort. It seems like a huge mountain to climb in order to reach the highly advanced levels of guitar playing. You know that few people who attempt to climb that mountain will actually achieve it... but if you are truly determined to reach these goals you certainly can! Read this article to learn how to develop your own guitar practice schedule.
30 April 2009 - Student Spotlight: Jamie Greenwood (USA)
30 April 2009 - Student Spotlight: Bryan Briggs (Canada)
22 April 2009 - Guitar Teaching Article:
5 Big Mistakes You Should Avoid When Teaching Beginning Guitar Students
Do your beginning guitar students usually progress slowly? Do they sometimes 'get stuck' in their guitar playing? Is teaching beginners sometimes very frustrating for you? Are there times when you are unsure about what to teach them, how to teach them, or in what order to teach them things? Do you have a significant number of beginning guitar students who quit lessons with you after less than 1 year? Discover the 5 most common mistakes guitar teachers make when teaching beginning guitar students and how you can avoid them. Read the full guitar teaching article and learn how to teach beginner guitar.
20 April 2009 - Music Career Article:
How To Transition From Your Day Job Into A Successful Music Career
Do you want to be a professional musician, but don't know where and how to start? Do you really want a successful career in music, but your fear of failure is holding you back? Are you unsure about what to do if your plan doesn't work? Learn how to start a music career.
28 March 2009 - Guitar Teaching Article:
Why You Struggle To Get Guitar Students
Do you struggle to attract a lot of new guitar students? Do your guitar teaching ads and website not seem to really work like you want them to? Are you sick of constantly having to put effort into promotion and aren't getting enough students from it? Does it seem impossible to fill up your teaching schedule (and keep it filled)? Read the full guitar teaching article to discover how to increase your ability to get guitar students.
3rd March 2009 - Student Spotlight: Jessa Young (USA)
3rd March 2009 - Student Spotlight: Vito Marchese (USA)
3rd March 2009 - Student Spotlight: Brandon Dickert (USA)
2nd March 2009 - Updates on Music Careers Mentoring Program Student Accomplishments page
25th January 2009 - Student Spotlight: Tarek Malki (France/Syria)
21st January 2009 - New FREE Guitar Playing Resource:
Manifest Your Musical Goals Into Reality
Understand 'what' you need to learn to reach your guitar playing and musical goals and discover 'how' each of these things are critical to reaching these goals.
17th January 2009 - Student Spotlight: Trevor Darmody (Ireland) updated
17th January 2009 - Guitar Teaching Mini Course:
How To Be An Excellent Guitar Teacher
This free 7 day mini course will show you how to establish and grow your reputation as the best guitar teacher in your area. You will learn how to achieve exceptional results with all of your students and help them develop into great musicians. Also, you will discover how to attract more of the kind of serious students you want to work with.
16th January 2009 - Student Spotlight: Lee Carlson (Canada) updated
11th January 2009 - Student Spotlight: George Tamayo (USA)
10th January 2009 - Student Spotlight: Ian Hand (England) updated
9th January 2009 - Student Spotlight: Byron Marks (USA)
9th January 2009 - Student Spotlight: John Tutino (USA)
8th January 2009 - Student Spotlight: Jonathan Vipond (England) updated
8th January 2009 - Student Spotlight: Teemu Kleemola (Finland) updated
8th January 2009 - Student Spotlight: Guy Onraet (South Africa)
3rd January 2009 - Student Spotlight: Draven Grey (USA) updated
2nd January 2009 - Guitar Teaching Article:
How To Instantly Improve Your Guitar Teaching Business By Eliminating These Top 9 Mistakes Guitar Teachers Usually Make
Are you struggling to be a highly successful guitar teacher? Do you want to have more new dedicated guitar students who remain committed for the long term, but your guitar teaching methods are not working as effectively as you would like them to? Are you unhappy because most guitar students don't reach their musical goals and/or an advanced level of guitar playing? Are you unable to support yourself and your family with your guitar teaching job? Are you not earning the money you would like to? Read the complete guitar teaching article to build your own highly successful Guitar Teaching Business.
25nd December 2008 - Student Spotlight: Rusty Cooley (USA)
22nd December 2008 - Guitar Playing Article:
11 Damaging Mistakes Guitar Players Make And How To Avoid Them 
Do you know how many guitar players practice a lot in order to improve their guitar playing, but they still struggle to play guitar exactly the way they desire? They don't improve quickly. They begin to doubt their guitar playing potential, and wonder if they will ever learn to become a better guitar player. Read the full article and learn how to improve your guitar playing.
20th December 2008 - New Guitar Phrasing Course Released!
Killer Rock Lead Guitar Legato Phrasing
Learn how your phrasing can be enhanced by using legato technique to connect scales, modes and arpeggios. Find out how the greats such as Joe Satriani, Shawn Lane and George Lynch used legato to create jaw-dropping and expressive lead guitar parts. Apply your new skills by using examples from actual music and practicing with included backing tracks. Learn more.
19th October 2008 - Student Spotlight: Lonnie Caldwell (USA)
19th October 2008 - Student Spotlight: Dan Keller (Switzerland)
3rd September 2008 - Student Spotlight: Mark Court (Canada)
21rd August 2008 - Music Business Article:
The Pursuit of the Record Deal
Do you want a successful, stable and rewarding music career as a professional musician? Would you like to know exactly what record labels, music producers, and artist management companies are looking for when seeking out new artists? There are many great musicians who are not able to build a successful career in music because they do not know what it is these music companies want from them. Read the full article to discover your first step to getting a record deal.
21rd August 2008 - Guitar Practicing Article:
Practicing Guitar: Self Discipline or Fun?
Do you find it difficult to fully enjoy the process of highly disciplined practicing? Most guitarists either have lots of fun practicing, but are not highly disciplined, or try to be very disciplined, but find it boring or unfulfilling when they do so. So most people make a (conscious or unconscious) choice to sacrifice 'fun' for discipline, or discipline for fun. Making sacrifices with your guitar practice is not only unnecessary, but can be counterproductive to becoming the guitar player you want to be. Read this guitar article and learn the best way to practice guitar.
4rd August 2008 - Guitar Playing Live Event:
Tom Hess Instructional Clinic Tour announced!
6 Pro Guitarists will join Tom Hess on an Instructional Clinic Tour in the US designed to answer your guitar playing questions and show you how to do all the things you have been wanting to do on your guitar!
3rd August 2008 - Student Spotlight: Ian Hand (England)
26 July 2008 - Student Spotlight: June Moris (USA)
14 July 2008 - Student Spotlight: Mike Breen (Japan)
6 July 2008 - Student Spotlight: Tommaso Zillio (Canada)
12 June 2008 - Student Spotlight: Nancy Hutagalung (USA)
31 May 2008 - Guitar Playing Article:
Are You An Unhappy Musician? 10 Ways To Get Musical Pain Relief
Are you happy and fulfilled with your level of musical skills? Can you honestly say that you have reached all of your musical goals? Has your guitar playing consistently gotten better during the time you have been playing? If you answered 'no' to any of these questions, then read the full article to get 10 guitar playing tips to put you on the path to say 'yes' to every question above!
28 May 2008 - Student Spotlight: Jeff Treadwell (USA)
6 May 2008 - Student Spotlight: Antony Reynaert (Belgium)
January 2008 - Guitarist Tom Hess has made a departure from Magic Circle Music recording artist HolyHell. The band's management issued this statement: "Tom has made a departure from HolyHell. He will be continuing work on his own projects. Tom is a great talent and we at Magic Circle Music wish him the very best of luck."
May 2007 - Debut HolyHell CD single quickly climbs European Charts! HolyHell’s debut single “Apocalypse," is quickly clawing its way up the charts throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland, The enhanced CD includes 3 new studio tracks, one live track from the 2005 Masters of Rock Fest, and one 10 minute EPK (Electronic Press Kit) Video. HolyHell - “Apocalypse (Digipack) SPV 85663"
May 2007 - New Tour Date Released. Magic Circle Music has announced the first ever Magic Circle Music Festival concert in Frankfurt, Germany on July 7th, 2007.
April 2007 - A New Major Instructional Course Just Released!
Phrasing Concepts for Rock Lead Guitar Soloing
This guitar phrasing course is a powerful new resource for guitarists who want to learn highly effective soloing concepts to help better express themselves. Click here for more details!
1 March 2007 - HolyHell Video. Magic Circle Music has informally released a short excerpt of HolyHell live on our 2005 European tour. This short video was shoot at the Masters of Rock festival in the Czech Republic in July, 2005. You can see it here.
8 November 2006 - Nick Layton (a correspondence student of Tom Hess) Wins the Shred Academy Award for: "Best Song" that incorporated shredding with a tranquil ambience. Not easy!
Learn more about online guitar lessons, a career in music, how to teach guitar, or how to find guitar students
