Music Theory Students

Gottfrid Norberg Waxin

Courses: Master of the Modes, Complete Chord Mastery

"The Master Of The Modes course is one of the best investments I've made into my own guitar playing. It's such a fun course that explores the theory and practice of modes in a way that I haven't seen before. I have been able to progress with Tommaso's course very quickly, and a big part of that comes from how the concepts are being taught."

Zoltan Precsenyi

Courses: Master of the Modes, Complete Chord Mastery

"The only thing I regret now is the 20 years I wasted noodling around the fretboard without knowing what music was actually happening on it, or why everything always sounded the same. Tommaso’s courses are pure musical gold. I lost count of the a-ha moments I’ve had going from one amazing eye- (and ear-) opening concept to the next. Many of the things I’ve discovered seem so simple and obvious in retrospect, and yet, hadn’t Tommaso made them so for me, I probably would never have realized any of it."

Josh Beetler

Courses: Master of the Modes, Complete Chord Mastery

"Before taking Master of the Modes, I already had extensive knowledge of my fretboard, knew my scales, chords etc. But what amazed me is that going through the course not only helped me completely rearrange the way I visually saw the the scales and chords I already knew, but it made learning other exotic scales and odd chords WAY easier and faster. I can't believe this was staring me in the face the whole time and I didn't see it. This course is the first and only course I've ever found that simplified the entire process of learning scales into comprehensive, well though out lessons that build upon one another. I can't wait for the next lesson!"

Massimo Di Croce

Courses: Master of the Modes, Complete Chord Mastery

"Everything happened so smoothly I almost didn’t notice it…. But now I realize that writing music is no longer that endless, painful trial-and-error process, and much to my surprise, all of a sudden, I can tell what’s going on in a piece of music as I play it, right on the spot. My knowledge of chords, scales, and their relationship is right under my fingers, not only in my head, turning day by day into second nature."

Mark Turko

Courses: Master of the Modes,

"Master of the Modes course took me through a process that led me to a complete understanding of the modes and their functions. Don't waste your time like me trying to figure it out on your own. Tommaso take you through an easy process to fully understand the modes once and for all."

Sam Russell

Courses: Master of the Modes

"I’ve been “studying” the modes for years. I had what I thought was a good grasp of them, but I knew there was something that I was missing. Master the Modes has been filling in all the blanks I had about what modes really are, how they function, and how we can actually use them musically. It was eye opening! Absolutely love it! It feels so good to have this stuff finally start making sense."

Brad Huett

Courses: Complete Chord Mastery, Master of the Modes

After watching a number of Tommaso’s shameless plug Monday videos, I decided to see if he was promoting training Hype or real training Substance. After being impressed with his organization skills and delivery methods, I signed up for the “Master of the Modes” one lesson a month program. I chose this course as I had been teaching Modes for the guitar since 1977.

Modes have been a passion and the cornerstone for my hybrid Rock and contemporary Jazz style ever since studying with Tommy Bolin, Deep Purple’s lead guitarist in the mid-seventies and Jazz greats Johnny Smith and Howard Roberts. Shortly after completing lesson one, with its “Spotlight” lesson and exercises, I quickly committed to checking out “Complete Chord Mastery”. After completing the first lesson I went “All-In”.

Darryl Powis

Courses: Master of the Modes, Complete Chord Mastery

"One of the big things I know people avoid guitar theory for is that they have to go learn things on piano first. With this course you're straight onto your guitar. It gets you to play stuff straight away so you can start writing songs with it very very quickly."

Derek Steep

Courses: Master of the Modes, Complete Chord Mastery

"I highly recommend Master of the Modes if you want to learn and understand the modes with the least pain and frustration. When I recommend this to a friend I simply tell them: 'Look, you can think about taking this course forever and continue by fishing for the next free Youtube video, trying to piece it all together, get frustrated and give up after a while OR you can get rid of the modes problem once and for all by taking this course. Your choice.'"

Rudolf Dinges

Courses: Master of the Modes, Complete Chord Mastery

"During the Master of the modes course by Tommaso Zillio I have learned how the whole details presented in the lessons are linked with each other, and I received a complete summary of the structure of music theory. It was very impressive to learn about the developing of the modes and to get a vast overview to an overall context, something that I never heard of in other courses or by other teachers. I would always recommend this course to friends and colleagues because I can see how they are partially wasting time in learning the wrong way. This quick and effective course has a perfect didactic composition, which is a vital advantage in comparison with other courses"

Paul Kleff

Courses: Master of the Modes

"One of the major differences about the Master of the Modes course is how it helps you learn to connect your ears to your hands. I'm a rock/metal guitar player and long-time guitar instructor and in my experience most rock guitar players never get beyond memorizing scale patterns on the neck. This course helps you develop your knowledge of the chord/scale relationship so that you can solo over chord changes and learn to hear the notes you want to play before you play them--a "must have" skill both for improvising and composing."

James Maxwell

Courses: Master of the Modes

"I have been playing guitar for 30 years and have a Bachelor's of Arts in music, but I was still missing a huge piece of the puzzle. After buying several recommend books and countless Youtube tutorials I was left very frustrated. The information was there but it was still boring and lifeless. When I found the Master of the Modes course I knew I was on the right track just by how it was described so I enrolled immediately."

Matt DeLeon

Courses: Complete Chord Mastery

"Hi Tommaso. I thought I’d show you my progress so far in Chord Mastery Session 1. I took what I’ve learned about voice leading and applied them to an old song we used to sing in church."

Bram Butsraen

Courses: Master of the Modes, Complete Chord Mastery

"The remarkable thing about Tommaso and his Master of the Modes course is that it is broken down into manageable chunks of theory. It starts from the most basic level and goes all the way up. But it doesn’t leave you with just theory as you get all the guidance on how to make use of it in practice too. The courses that Tommaso provides are just brilliant and I’m utterly amazed by his expertise. I went over the sessions multiple times and every time I discover more value. I would recommend this course to anyone!”

Bart Willockx

Courses: Master of the Modes; Complete Chord Mastery

"Tommaso grabs the idea of pentatonic scales, modes and arpeggio's and gives you with this course a perspective from the big picture as well as he gives you a picture on the small side (micro level) when it comes down to covering the topic of scales and modes on guitar. It's that overview I like very much. - that big picture thinking. It's not a cheap course but it's the most in depth course I've ever seen for so far. I don't need any further explanation because everything is explained very clearly."

Rene' Kerkdyk

Courses: Complete Chord Mastery

"I love that from the beginning until the end of Complete Chord Mastery I knew exactly what to do to get better. Right in the first session I received a Spotlight session that showed me what to do with the information in the course. That way I was able to make music from the get go. I absolutely recommend it!"

Paolo Taras

Courses: Complete Chord Mastery

"Now I understand what I’m doing at last! I hum a melody and go along harmonizing, hear my mistakes, look for new solutions, change fret, key, sequence, introduce a dissonant chord, put a Sus chord or an Add one to get the proper effect. Now I know what chord inversions are, how to use them and why. I still can’t believe that’s me who’s playing."

Lobo Nebher

Courses: Complete Chord Mastery, Master of the Modes

I studied years in a music conservatory and for me nothing was making much sense at all, I was memorising things without understanding. I left the school because it was very boring and continued on my own until I saw you explaining Music Theory on a live session with other teachers, I thought, "This is the teacher I need" and I was not wrong.

Daniel Jacobson

Courses: Master of the Modes

"I wish I had access to this course as a teenager, I would have really made faster progress with understanding the modes! As it was, my teachers never explained them very clearly, and it wasn't until I went to study music full time that I understood them completely. But even in my college course, the way the modes were explained was not as good as how Tommaso explains them. Now I'm doing Tommaso's course to be able to explain things better to my own students!"

Jesse West

Courses: Master of the Modes

"I can't say enough about Master of the Modes. It's a great course, and is worth worth the money. It has improved my playing and composition ten fold. I particularly like the 'empty your cup' approach. "

Igor Bilykh

Courses: Master of the Modes; Complete Chord Mastery; Scales For Blues Guitar

"Purely by accident, three years later when I hardly played any guitar, I discovered the modal course [Master of the Modes] by Tommaso. I was sceptical initially as there is a lot of hit and miss out there online. Thankfully, this course worked for me. I am not what you call a "talented player" and I have an average ear, I can't sing at all, I don't have perfect pitch and I don't even know what degree of relative pitch I have if any. I only know what sounds good to my ear and what sounds interesting. I hated minor pentatonic for a long time, but wait, what if you combine it with melodic minor and the Dorian scale and some other interesting "tools" I learned from Tommaso. Now we are talking."

Alberto Milone

Courses: Master of the Modes

"Master of the Modes gives you the key to understanding music. It gives you the tools to understand how songs work, and it helps you understand why they sound the way they do. The course gives you something to play with from the beginning. And, even when it comes down to learning scales patterns, the course recommends ways to memorize them which are extremely effective. This course changed my life. Moving across the fretboard is a breeze, and I finally feel that I know what I am doing when I play. Now I have the tools to express my emotions in songs. This is priceless to me."

Dan Mayhew

Courses: Master of the Modes, Complete Chord Mastery

"In the past I’ve had teachers show me bits and pieces about the modes, but nothing has ever been explained as clearly as what it is in this course [Master of the Modes]. The course is also laid out in a great way to understand the modes from the most basic level all the way up, while always being practical too. I loved how from the very first session I knew much better how to make music with the modes and how to use them in my playing."