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
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.
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.
@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.
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.
You can be sure the herd would crucify that hero for that.
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?
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.
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.
Good point! Changed the title. Now, unfortunately the videos have disappeared - so my title is misleading too. Whoever can think of a more fitting title wins… my gratitude
I’d still love to see those videos some day 
I watched all that Hess/Clay stuff when it was happening and I was following fairly closely. I just wanted to chime in a couple of points related to a few recent comments in this thread:
Yes, the Clay vids were taken down. I vaguely remember hearing because of threat of legal action. There were a few videos that went deep into Hess’s program for giving business advice to guitar teachers, as well as Hess’s general business practices. Some of the videos were pretty long and detailed. At the time, there was also a MONSTROUS facebook thread or two on Clay’s page, I mean, must have been thousands of comments, with (if I remember correctly) many people coming forward to talk about negative experiences they had with Hess’s programs. The thread was not 100% negative stuff about Hess, but my memory is the majority of it was negative.
All that being said, I think it’s not quite accurate to talk about is adversarial or one teacher vs another teacher. It’s much, much more like a journalist doing a lengthy expose on an individual’s teaching and business practices. So yeah, Tommo’s thread re-title is apt. Clay is a pro transcriber, author, and youtube personality, but I’d argue is not a ‘competitor’ of Hess in that none of their professional offerings really overlap. Similarly, the discussions had basically nothing to do with quality of playing from either person.
I’ll add this, which I probably said in another thread, but:
adding to previous: good example is, yep, the guy has a video lesson called “guitar sex masterclass.”
“Is that real??? What??? That’s ridiculous!”
Wonder how many times that’s been googled…
Yeah. It’s exactly this type of output that was actually good advice. There were other tips too that I sometimes refer back to. Like for example, seeing what emotion you’d attach to each degree of a scale in a soloing/melodic context. Like what it feels like to land a phrase on b3, or 5, or b2.
I guess what I’m saying is, I wish more teachers took this side of music seriously and thought and talked about it.
Drew : 《 that some world class players simply don’t mute with their picking hand at all - it might give you a couple fresh ideas. 》
I wached the Troy video : No muting ? No problem !
(For the second time) at only 50% video speed, to be sure to miss nothing…
If i understand, almost every kind of picking techniques are good ! The muting secret : It’s the FRETS hand 90% of the time !?!