hehe
The other guitar player on those is Mike Walsh. Beastly guitar player, one of the best teachers I’ve ever encountered, and a nice guy.
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Mike Walsh is a great guy and a fantastic player and teacher. He was one of the instructors I was with one-on-one for 3 days straight. He had an account on the forum, but was not active and although Hess paid him to instruct at the events, Mike was not a minion for Hess. I have a high respect for Mike Walsh.
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When I first started teaching (I took over Tom’s teaching slots at a guitar shop), Mike was the teacher in the next room over and I learned a ton just listening to him interact with his students. They always seemed to show up prepared and excited and advanced faster than other students.
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I discovered Tom Hess because:
I can’t play clean… at the moment i plug my guitare: the mess… the sloppy party… and i feel to stop everyting.
Impossible to play clean also if i mute all the strings under the string i’m playing with my index finger, and if i mute at same time all the strings above with my palm (picking hand). Still MEGA sloppy …
So, after MANY reserches, and no other trick later,
i found Ton Hess video with a new trick !!!
《 The thumbs muting 》
I’m so desesperated, i’m trying to getting good with this technique actualy.
Any comment about this technique ?
Someone use it ?
…help…
Oh god, there’s actually been some talk about that recently around here, and let’s just say it’s an extemely limited solution that simply doesn’t allow for certain things to be done:
Palm muting, or pretty much any non-economy pick technique that relies on a pronounced escape stroke.
Also poke around a bit for some discussion here about muting technique, and that some world class players simply don’t mute with their picking hand at all - it might give you a couple fresh ideas.
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Not really ! Like i said …
I’ll stop anyway… i can’t be sure of nothing. My guitare and amply are good for garbage… i just tried by myself since 8 month, because the covid scrap my job …
and the primer is too expensive when you dont work… a new guitare too…
It was a 8 month easier to support at least.
When i try to plug my guitare i realise it was 8 month wasted
My english is not perfect buddy, i’m not sure what that mean ? …
Anyway, one day maybe i’ll be a real member, with a real guitare.
End of story
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I think it would be more useful if you could post some clips of the stuff you are struggling with, also about your fastest tremolo picking motion.
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You should share with us some clips of thecnical difficulties you’re going through, so we can help you!
Don’t worry about the primer - spend some time exploring this forum, there’s a TON of good insight here, shared freely by other members. The primer is pretty awesome, but honestly I’ve learned as much from this discussion board as I have from any of the “official” content.
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@Ben_Scott, like others have said: Make a new thread and post some clips. It may be counterproductive to try to give advice without seeing and hearing what’s going on. Read all the free material too. There’s so much good stuff there.
I know playing on a bad guitar can be uninspiring, hope you can get to a decent instrument soon. But I doubt your guitar or amp are really causing the trouble. I maybe wouldn’t even worry about string noise before your basic tremolo picking motion itself is smooth and fast. But like said, do post some videos.
Edit: I accidentally replied to @Pjbirchenough on the Hess discussion with this post, but just wanna say thanks for shedding light on that stuff. It’s disturbing and I’m glad it gets called out publicly.
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Thank you all for these good advice.
i read and applied a lot for 8 months.
when I plug in my guitar that’s the problem. for 1 month, I focus on all that is muting! (with both hands): Nothing changes …
I will try to make a video (cheap).
The Hondo formula guitar (1985) is in plywood, the frets are completely flat everywhere, big electrical problems, ground mess, the strings are 2mm high at the 22 fret, and more…
Yes ! the guitar is a problem.
Amp = Peavy studio pro 112 (1985) at low revs (no choice) horrible, disgusting even if I only play a string …
Yes, Amp is a problem too …
Plus ME , who is necessarily part of the problem, it becomes too difficult to know if I am progressing or not.
Even slowly, only one simple note, you dont wont to ear the sound.
Bad timming, i discovered everyting today…
2 years ago would have been wonderful.
We are waiting for your videos then 
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve played a Peavey Studio series, and the one I’m thinking of here was probably a mid-90s, but I actually recall rather liking it at the time. Of course the amp I was playing back then wasn’t great either, but I remember Neil Zaza used to do clinics with one of those, and his tone was always great no matter what he plugged into.
I used to be subscribed for those free emails from Tom.
I did that sometime around my beginnings with the instrument, when I was an absolute noob and wanted to shred like mad.
Watched a few of vids from his events, but as time went on I begun to suspect something was off - he never showed his own playing, and his advice was generic at best.
I never learned anything useful from his videos or emails.
I don’t know who Levi is, but I’d like to watch the now deleted videos just for entertainment.
Also, it would be fun as hell if someone really good attended his event and stood up to him, resulting in video game-like standoff with a boss.
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You can be sure the herd would crucify that hero for that.
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Also not a fan and find these stories very disturbing.
But since it is difficult to be a 100% bad teacher 
here is one useful thing I learned from him (from a youtube video):
When trying to improvise a solo, don’t think about one phrase at a time, think about the phrase you are about to play, as well as the one you will play next.
EDIT: by the way, I can’t find those Levy Clay vids anymore. Have they been taken down for legal reasons?
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I think Levi took them down himself to stop the mud fight. Too bad I was late for the party and haven’t seen those.
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I mean, honestly, I’m no fan of Hess’s, but the adversarial nature of this thread title does make me a little uncomfortable. It’s not like we have to pick a favorite football team here or something. And, I guess, it’s also not like one guy being wrong means the other has to be right.