Chicago, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/26/2011 -- After already selling more than 1.5 million records worldwide, the Italian epic metal band Rhapsody of Fire (upcoming release "From Chaos To Eternity", June 17, 2011) recruits the world's most successful online guitar teacher and virtuoso guitarist Tom Hess to join the band.

Although joining Rhapsody of Fire is a significant music career move for Hess, he is no stranger to success in the industry. Hess played guitar in the internationally renowned melodic metal band HolyHell from 2004-2007 touring both North America and Europe twice as the opening act for Rhapsody of Fire and Manowar.

"Touring with Rhapsody of Fire was a great experience. Obviously I'm very excited to play guitar in a band that has been among my favorites since I first heard them in 1998," said Hess.

In addition to his career as a recording artist and touring musician, Hess is involved in other areas of the music industry. In virtually any way you measure it, Hess is the leading online guitar teacher on the internet, but does much more than helping guitar players from all over the world improve their guitar playing. His company, Tom Hess Music Corporation also helps music teachers build highly successful music teaching businesses and has a separate mentoring program for musicians to develop, sustain and expand a successful music career.

Rhapsody of Fire put Hess to work in the recording studio immediately after he joined the band. "Luca asked me to join the band and then 3 days later had me beginning to record the new album. I hadn't even heard the songs yet. It was like, 'here are the songs, start recording them all today', so I quickly learned the songs and began recording", Hess said. The band's new album "From Chaos To Eternity" will be released June 17, 2011.

Alex Staropoli, Rhapsody of Fire's keyboard player, says: "I saw Tom Hess playing on stage several times and was always impressed by his great stage presence and his way of playing. When I heard the rhythm and solo guitars he recorded for Rhapsody Of Fire I was blown away, I could feel that strong presence in between every single note."

For extended details on Hess joining Rhapsody of Fire and to get more insights about the recording process of "From Chaos To Eternity", go to: http://tomhess.net/TomHessJoinsRhapsodyOfFire.aspx

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Survey results identify the reasons why most guitar teachers do not succeed at attracting a lot of guitar students.

Chicago, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/25/2010 -- Guitar teacher trainer Tom Hess publishes results of a worldwide study about why guitar teachers find it difficult to consistently attract a lot of students.

"In addition to training hundreds of guitar teachers how to teach more effectively and to build a successful guitar teaching business, I offer several free guitar teacher surveys on my website that allow guitar instructors to test their effectiveness in various areas of their business. One of these areas is getting new guitar students. From analyzing the survey results, I found that most guitar teachers make very similar damaging mistakes in this area of their teaching."

Hess released his survey findings in the article about how to get guitar students.

Among the most common reasons why guitar teachers do not get a lot of students, Hess identified the following:

1. Relying on a single promotional tool to bring many new students. Most guitar teachers invest a lot of time into making a great ad, or perfecting their teaching website, their business cards, or other aspects of marketing. Hess says: "Although doing this is better than doing nothing, refining and using advertising tools in isolation as most teachers do, does little to help bring a lot of guitar students. One of the reasons why this is so is because any single advertising medium is limited in what it can do to bring large numbers of students consistently and reliably. When only one tool is used, it will work with a small percentage of all guitar students, but many more guitarists will never decide to begin lessons."

2. Copying marketing tactics from other teachers. Because most guitar teachers receive no training whatsoever on how to teach guitar, their main tactics for marketing themselves come from copying ideas from other guitar teachers in hopes that this will work for them. Hess says: "Problems with this approach are very similar to the ones that occur from focusing too much on only a single method of finding guitar students. In most cases, a specific advertising tactic (even if it is truly great) will not work all by itself to consistently bring a large number of guitar students. What is needed instead is an understanding of how the tactic fits into the big picture of the marketing strategy that is tailored to one's specific guitar student market, situation and goals."

Since most guitar teachers do not have reliable ways of consistently getting new students on their own, when marketing ideas are copied from one teacher by another, the result, with a few rare exceptions, is "the blind leading the blind".

3. Trying to impress a potential student with irrelevant credentials. Contrary to popular belief, guitar students do not look for guitar teachers with the most advanced music degree or with the most skills as players. Hess states: "Guitar students only decide to take lessons to solve their guitar playing problems and to overcome their musical frustrations. So any successful guitar teacher knows to avoid flaunting their own musical accomplishments and instead is quick to show undeniable proof of being able to create massive results with guitar players. After this is demonstrated, getting more guitar students becomes much easier."

Hess' guitar teacher survey about how to attract more guitar studentscan be found on http://tomhess.net

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An online guitar teaching test identifies the most common reasons why guitar teachers struggle with building a successful guitar teaching business.

Chicago, IL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/01/2010 -- An online survey conducted by a guitar teacher trainer Tom Hess identifies the reasons why most guitar teachers do not become successful and do not create a lot of highly advanced guitar students.

Hess states: "After training hundreds of guitar teachers how to teach guitar effectively and having studied the responses of thousands more music teachers to my free online surveys, I know that most guitar instructors repeatedly make the same kinds of mistakes in their guitar teaching." He adds, "Most guitar teachers are very passionate about helping students. Unfortunately, the mistakes they make in their teaching methods prevent their students from reaching their musical potential and stop the teachers themselves from earning a lot of money. "

After analyzing the responses of guitar teachers who have taken Hess' online survey, the following were identified as the most common reasons why guitar teachers struggle with becoming highly successful.

- Not having a large number of dedicated and loyal guitar students. Word of mouth can be one of the most powerful tools for attracting new guitar students. However, in order for it to be truly effective, the students spreading the word must be extremely loyal and dedicated to their teacher. The stronger the bond of loyalty between the guitar teacher and his students, the more referrals will come through word of mouth. Hess says: "It is not enough for a teacher to simply show new things to a student or to teach them about guitar only. It is critical to tap into the student's emotional needs that made them want to play guitar in the first place. When a teacher learns how to do this, his students will become extremely loyal." He adds, "Many guitar teachers think that their job is only to teach music or guitar. Fact is, their job is to teach people. Because guitar teachers make this mistake, most of their students never develop a deep sense of loyalty to them."

- Teaching only private one-on-one lessons. Most guitar teachers and guitar students believe that one-on-one lessons are the best way to learn guitar. "This myth is one of the main reasons why many guitar teachers do not have a lot of really good students and why most do not earn even $50,000 per year, let alone $100,000 or more", says Hess. The reality is that guitar students can greatly benefit by studying guitar in various group formats in addition to one-on-one lessons. Certain skills such as learning to play with others and learning from other musicians cannot be achieved with private lessons only. "When students learn in a group, one of the many benefits is that they end up pushing themselves harder as they notice the other students getting better. Certainly there is a lot a student can learn in private lessons, but it's a big mistake to intentionally avoid teaching in other formats", says Hess. In addition to helping guitar players in unique ways, teaching more than one student every hour has the potential to dramatically increase a teacher's hourly rate and multiply their annual income several times.

- Not understanding the difference between working on the teaching business and working in it. Most guitar teachers are so caught up in the daily work of teaching music lessons that almost no time is left to market their business to get more guitar students, analyze their teaching methods or do something for their existing students in order to increase the bond of student-teacher loyalty. Hess says: "Because guitar teachers typically struggle with earning a high level of income, they are often stressed out about getting the next student to sign up for lessons and do not have the time or energy to think about all the ways they can potentially enhance the lesson experience for their existing students".

- Trying to teach from fixed guitar method books or courses. "Teaching guitar is much more about teaching people than it is about teaching music", says Hess. Cookie cutter programs or lessons that claim to be suited for everyone are not going to be successful with a large number of students. This is why most guitar teachers who teach guitar based on such a system almost never create truly amazing guitar players.

- Not learning how to become a more effective guitar teacher. Being a good musician, or even having an advanced music degree, does not make one a great guitar teacher. If one's goal is to teach hundreds of students to really play well and to make a huge amount of money doing so, it is necessary to learn the art and science of how to turn guitar students into great musicians and how to build a thriving guitar teaching business.

Tom Hess' free online http://tomhess.net" href="http://tomhess.net/TeachingStrengthsAndWeaknesses.aspx">guitar teaching test is available at http://tomhess.net>

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Guitarists all over the world can now get guidance on how to find the right guitar teacher for them.

Chicago, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/14/2010 -- After teaching over 50,000 music lessons to over 1000 guitar students, and mentoring guitar teachers all over the world on how to teach guitar effectively, Tom Hess releases a free e-guide to help guitar students find the best guitar teacher for them.

Most guitar students looking for a guitar teacher rely on the hit or miss approach of signing up for lessons with the first available teacher they find who is convenient and affordable, on the assumption that all guitar teachers teach in the same way. Given that reality, it is not surprising that many people become disappointed and frustrated with their experience of taking guitar lessons.

"For the most part, guitar students have no idea how to tell if a prospective teacher is going to be a good match for working with them," says Tom Hess. "Guitar teachers aren't licensed like accountants or doctors to work in their field and there is no Better Business Bureau for guitar teachers. Because of this, more often than not, students who try guitar lessons for the first time end up with a mediocre teacher, quit lessons in frustration shortly after, and continue to perpetuate the myth that guitar lessons are ineffective."

A general music degree from an elite music school doesn't necessarily make its recipient a superior guitar teacher to someone without a music degree, unless, as a rare exception, that certification is specific to guitar pedagogy. Because there are no clear academic credentials that set guitar teachers apart from each other, anybody who has been playing for a while and has decent skills as a guitarist can put forth the claim of being a good teacher.

To help guitar students avoid wasting time and money on mediocre guitar teachers, Hess created a free online special report that allows guitar students to make educated choices when it comes to searching for the most appropriate guitar instructor for their needs.

Hess says, "After becoming a guitar teacher myself and also training many other guitar teachers how to teach, I have narrowed down a specific list of criteria and targeted questions that can be used by guitar students to find the right teacher for themselves, much like an employer interviews a potential candidate for a job position."

Knowing what to look for in a guitar teacher will help to make the learning experience much more fulfilling, much like it is important to be sure that one is hiring a qualified doctor, accountant or car mechanic to do a job.

Hess' free special report on how to choose a guitar teacher is available at http://tomhess.net

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