Tom Hess (guitarist)

Tom Hess
Background information
Origin Illinois, United States
Genres Power metal, progressive metal, neoclassical metal, symphonic metal
Occupation(s) Musician, composer, guitar teacher
Instruments Guitar
Years active 1986–present
Labels Nuclear Blast, Magic Circle Music
Associated acts Rhapsody of Fire, HolyHell, Hess
Website http://tomhess.net

Tom Hess is a touring guitarist, recording artist and a former member of the band Rhapsody of Fire from 2010 until 2013.[1] Hess also toured Europe and US with the band HolyHell [2] and recorded the album "Apocalypse" which landed on the charts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.[3][4]

In addition to his professional music career as a recording artist, Tom is also an online guitar teacher and a mentor to musicians, guitar teachers and rock bands around the world.

Biography

Hess began playing guitar on January 31, 1986 inspired by heavy metal bands such as Metallica, Def Leppard and Iron Maiden. His musical style later evolved from hard rock and heavy metal to the neo-classical and progressive rock styles, influenced by artists such as: Yngwie Malmsteen, Dream Theater, Symphony X, Andy Larocque, Jason Becker, Fryderyk Chopin, Gustav Mahler, Johannes Brahms and Claude Debussy.

Hess went on to receive two music degrees: one in music theory and another in music composition. In addition to his music school background, Hess also studied guitar with many guitar teachers, most notably with Lion Music recording artist George Bellas.[4]

Rhapsody Of Fire

On April 15, 2011 it was announced that guitarist Tom Hess has become a new official member of the epic metal band Rhapsody Of Fire.[1] His playing can be heard on the band's album From Chaos to Eternity. Hess recorded all the rhythm guitar parts and contributed several solos for the CD. Hess began touring with the band at the festivals that took place in the summer of 2011.[5]

Alex Staropoli, Rhapsody Of Fire’s keyboard player, released a statement saying: "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."

Rhapsody Of Fire's 2011 Release "From Chaos To Eternity" was listed in the top 100 album charts in many countries around the world, such as Japan, Italy, Switzerland, German, France and many others.[6][7]

Tom Hess and Rhapsody Of Fire 2011 Tour Dates
DateCity/StateCountryVenue
June 11, 2011SölvesborgSwedenSweden Rock Festival
July 15, 2011VizoviceCzech RepublicMasters Of Rock
August 4, 2011WackenGermanyWacken Open Air
August 6, 2011SzékesfehérvárHungaryFezen Festival
August 12, 2011DerbyUKBloodstock
Tom Hess and Rhapsody Of Fire 2012 Tour Dates
DateCity/StateCountryVenue
April 1, 2012PamplonaSpainSala Totem
April 2, 2012MadridSpainSala Cats
April 3, 2012BarcelonaSpainSalamandra
April 4, 2012BordeauxFranceTheatre Barbey
April 6, 2012MonsBelgiumPPM Festival
April 7, 2012PrattelnSwitzerlandZ7
April 8, 2012ParisFranceBataclan
April 9, 2012AschaffenburgGermanyColos-Saal
April 11, 2012MilanoItalyLive Club
April 12, 2012BolognaItalyEstragon
April 13, 2012RomaItalyOrion
April 14, 2012TrevisoItalyNew Age
April 15, 2012ViennaAustriaSzene
April 17, 2012ZlinCzech RepublicMaster of Rock Cafe
April 18, 2012KrakówPolandKwadrat
April 19, 2012WarsawPolandProgresja
May 25, 2012PhiladelphiaUSAThe Trocadero
May 26, 2012BaltimoreUSASoundstage
May 27, 2012WorcesterUSAThe Palladium
May 29, 2012New YorkUSAGramercy Theatre
May 30, 2012MontrealCanadaClub Soda
May 31, 2012QuebecCanadaImperial de Quebec
June 1, 2012TorontoCanadaMod Club
June 3, 2012ClevelandUSAPeabody`s
June 4, 2012PittsburghUSAAltar Bar
June 5, 2012JolietUSAMojoes
June 6, 2012St. PaulUSAStation 4
June 8, 2012EnglewoodUSAGothic Theater
June 10, 2012SeattleUSAEl Corazon
June 11, 2012PortlandUSAHawthorne Theatre
June 12, 2012San FranciscoUSASlim's
June 14, 2012San DiegoUSAHouse of Blues
June 15, 2012AnaheimUSAThe Grove
June 16, 2012Mexico CityMexicoVive Cuervo Salon
June 19, 2012San JoseCosta RicaPeppers Club
Tom Hess and Rhapsody Of Fire 2012 South America Tour Dates
DateCity/StateCountryVenue
June 21, 2012QuitoEcuadorTeatro 24 de Mayo
June 23, 2012ConcepcionChileEx-Sala 2
June 25, 2012AntofagastaChileStatix Rock & Soccer
June 26, 2012SantiagoChileTeatro Caupolican
June 28, 2012Buenos AiresArgentinaTeatro Flores
June 30, 2012Sao PauloBrazilCarioca Club

Discography

  • Rhapsody Of Fire - From Chaos To Eternity (Release Date: June 17, 2011)
  • HolyHell - Apocalypse (2007)
  • HESS - Opus 2 (2004)
  • HESS - Opus 1 (2000)

Gear

Tom Hess's Guitars

MakeModelYearPickupsBridgeFretsColorStrings
CarvinV22019872 Seymour Duncan Metal Live Wire bridge pickupsStop Tail Piece24BlackGHS 10-46
CarvinV22019882 Seymour Duncan Metal Live Wire bridge pickupsStop Tail Piece24WhiteGHS 10-46
CarvinV22019851 Seymour Duncan Metal Live Wire bridge pickup and 1 EMG 81Stop Tail Piece24WhiteGHS 10-46
CarvinV22019842 stock Carvin HumbuckersStop Tail Piece24RedGHS 10-46
CarvinV220*19892 Seymour Duncan Metal Live Wire bridge pickups and 1 Carvin Humbucker in the middleFloyd Rose Bridge24WhiteGHS 10-46
CarvinV220T1985with Seymour Duncan Distortion and Invader bridge pickupsKahler Pro24RedGHS 10-46
CarvinX220C19932 DiMarzio Humbucker pickupsFloyd Rose Bridge24BlackGHS 10-46
CarvinX220C19922 DiMarzio Humbucker pickupsFloyd Rose Bridge24BlackGHS 10-46
CarvinX220C19922 DiMarzio Humbucker pickupsFloyd Rose Bridge24BlackGHS 10-46
CarvinX220C19922 Carvin Humbucker pickupsFloyd Rose Bridge24BlackGHS 10-46
CarvinDC4001990s2 Carvin stock HumbuckersFloyd Rose Bridge24Koa NaturalGHS 10-46
CustomHESS Infinity 120042 Seymour Duncan Metal Live Wire bridge pickupsFloyd Rose Bridge24BlackGHS 10-46
CustomHESS Infinity 120042 Seymour Duncan Metal Live Wire bridge pickupsFloyd Rose Bridge24BlackGHS 10-46
Ibanez7621 7 String2000sDiMarzio Evolution Humbucker pickupsStandard24BlackGHS 10-56
YamahaRGZ 321P1980s?DiMarzio Humbucker pickups and stock Yamaha single coil in middle positionFloyd Rose Bridge24BlackGHS 10-46
YamahaRGZ 321P1980s?stock Yamaha Humbucker pickups and stock Yamaha single coil in middle positionFloyd Rose Bridge24BlueGHS 10-46
GibsonFlying V (Double)1989Seymour Duncan pickupsFloyd Rose Bridge24WhiteGHS 10-46
Gibson1957 Re-Issues Korina1981Gibson Humbucker and Seymour Duncan InvaderStop Tail Piece22CreamGHS 10-46
Samson1/2 size Flying V1990s?1 HumbuckerStop Tail Piece22WhiteGHS 9-42
Music ManSingRay5 (Bass)2010Dual Humbucking with alnico pole pieces, Optional - Humbucking/Single coil with alnico pole piecesStandard22Tabacco BurstGHS 40-130
WashburnXB400 (Bass)1996stock active pickupsStandard24RedGHS 40-105

On stage and in the studio, Hess plays mainly Carvin guitars, including V220 and X220 models with a stoptail bridge. Hess uses Seymour Duncan Metal Live Wire Pick Ups in most of his studio and live performance guitars.

During clinics and instructional master classes, he also sometimes plays the Yamaha RGZ 321P with a Floyd Rose bridge.[8]

Online Guitar Teaching, Music Career Mentoring And Guitar Teacher Training

On top of his career as a recording artist and touring musician, Hess also teaches musicians from all over the world how to improve their guitar playing skills, develop their music careers and build their own guitar teaching businesses. Many of Hess's guitar students have become full-time professional musicians[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] and music teachers who tour the world, release records and run their own music schools.[16][17]

Hess also contributes guitar lessons, columns and articles to guitar websites around the world, including: Ultimate-Guitar.com, Cyberfret.com and MusicCareers.net.[18][19][20]

Tom Hess has also taught guitar at the National Guitar Workshop and started an electric guitar program at Harper College in Illinois, USA.[21]

In 2008, Hess's company Tom Hess Music Corporation has partnered with Luca Turilli from Rhapsody Of Fire to release a course for neoclassical guitar players, based upon Turilli's style of guitar playing.[22]

Bands

HESS Band

In 1994, Tom Hess formed the progressive rock band "HESS" along with his brother Scott Hess. To date, the band has released 2 full-length albums: "Opus 1" (April 20, 2000) and "Opus 2" (January 4, 2004).[23] Both albums have sold in more than 26 countries around the world, and remain among the top sellers in the Neo-Classical and Progressive categories at the instrumental guitar music distributor Guitar9.com.[24][25]

Current lineup of the HESS band:

  • Tom Hess - Guitars and Composition
  • Mike Walsh - Guitars
  • Scott Hess - Drums
  • Mark Carozza - Bass

HolyHell Years (2004-2008)

In 2004, Hess joined a power metal band HolyHell.[26] The band went on tour in 2005, before releasing its first album. Tom Hess and HolyHell played alongside bands such as Black Sabbath (Heaven and Hell), Motorhead, Nightwish, Epica, Testament, Manowar and Rhapsody of Fire performing for crowds of up to 30,000 people.[4] Some of the band's notable performances included the Earthshaker's Festival in Germany and Masters of Rock Festival in the Czech Republic where the band performed the cover of "The Phantom Of The Opera".

In 2007, the band's first album Apocalypse was released [27] and HolyHell went on tour the second time.

In 2008, Hess left HolyHell to focus on other aspects of his music career.

In addition to touring the world, mentoring musicians online and recording music, Hess also performs instructional guitar clinic tours.[28]

Discography

References

  1. 1 2 Tom Hess Joins Rhapsody Of Fire - http://www.nuclearblast.de/en/label/music/news/details/340260.tom-hess-joining-rhapsody-of-fire-aeons.html
  2. ↑ http://baroqueroll.blogspot.com/2006/05/update-1-1752006-tom-hess-interview.html
  3. ↑ http://www.metalrage.com/news/49728/holyhell-putting-finishing-touches-on-debut-album.html
  4. 1 2 3 http://tomhess.net/TomHessBio.aspx
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-05-27. Retrieved 2012-05-12.
  6. ↑ http://acharts.us/album/64102
  7. ↑ http://www.nuclearblast.de/en/label/music/band/news/details/74761.71101.rhapsody-of-fire-in-the-charts.html
  8. ↑ Tom Hess' Guitars - http://tomhess.net/TomHessGuitars.aspx
  9. ↑ http://www.zackuidl.com/press_02.html
  10. ↑ https://chrisbasener.wordpress.com/about/
  11. ↑ https://practiceguitarnow.com/aboutmikephilippov.html
  12. ↑ https://seattleguitarmentor.com/instructors/
  13. ↑ http://www.johnnyryanmusic.com/bio.html
  14. ↑ http://www.antonyreynaert.com/bio/
  15. ↑ http://www.troubadournorth.com/lee-gattenby/
  16. ↑ http://www.goldcoastschoolofguitar.com/about.html
  17. ↑ https://www.edmontonguitar.com
  18. ↑ Ultimate Guitar - http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/tomhess/
  19. ↑ Cyberfret - http://cyberfret.com/practice-motivation/tom-hess/fix-common-guitar-practice-problems/index.php
  20. ↑ Music Careers - http://www.musiccareers.net/career-articles/from-day-job-to-music-career/
  21. ↑ Shred Academy - http://www.shredacademy.com/content/artists/3/tom_hess
  22. ↑ http://seenation.com/view_full_news_details.php?newsid=276707
  23. ↑ http://hess.4t.com/history.htm
  24. ↑ http://racerx.edutom.co.uk/board/viewtopic.php?t=6899
  25. ↑ http://www.progressiveworld.net/html/modules.php?name=Interviews&rop=showcontent
  26. ↑ http://holyhell.com Archived 2012-07-27 at Archive.is
  27. ↑ http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=24908
  28. ↑ http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/press_releases/tom_hess_on_instructional_clinic_tour.html
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