Overview

Tom Morello is a two-time Grammy winner and one of Rolling Stone’s "greatest guitarists of all time." In his first online guitar class, the co-founder of Rage Against the Machine will teach you the riffs, rhythms, and solos that launched his career and sent his music to the top of the charts. Tom will share his approach to making music that challenges the status quo and teach you how to create your own musical style.

Syllabus

Introduction

Meet your new instructor, Grammy Award-winning guitarist Tom Morello, and get ready to uncover your authentic artistic self.

Developing Your Creative Voice

Tom teaches you how to think beyond your musical influences, challenge the traditional boundaries of the electric guitar, and start developing your own voice as a musician.

Riffs

Powerful, hard-driving riffs are the heart and soul of Tom’s musical legacy. Learn his tips for experimenting with tuning, slides, chukkas, and more, to unleash heavy, rocking riffs of your own.

Gear: Pedals and Effects

Tom walks you through his basic pedal rig from delays to tuner and wah-wah to whammy. Learn how he uses each to create a diverse collection of sounds and effects.

Tones and Sounds

It’s not what pedals you own, it’s how you use them. Learn Tom’s creative process for discovering sounds and how you can create your own.

Tom's Noise Chart

Tom walks you through his own noise chart, including examples from “Guerilla Radio” and “Your Time Has Come,” to show you his system for keeping track of all the elements that come together to create an original sound.

Tom's Influences: Rock, Jazz, Classical, and Folk

A diverse set of musical influences can help you take your playing in exciting new directions. Learn how Tom incorporates the genres that have made an impact on him into his own music, and how you can do the same.

Tom's Influences: EDM, the Blues, and Hip-Hop

You can learn from other artists’ styles, melodies, attitudes, and sounds. Tom teaches you how to fold blues guitar—and more modern, non-guitar sounds from EDM and hip-hop—into your playing.

Practice

Tom teaches you how to structure your practice time, from balancing technique and theory to segmenting your practice day.

Technique: Developing Speed

Tom believes that you have to play slowly to learn to play fast. Learn the finger exercises he used to go from scribbling around on the guitar to confidently shredding.

Beginner Theory: Pentatonic and Blues Scales

Aimed towards beginner players, Tom demystifies the pentatonic scale and the blues scale to help you start improvising solos.

Theory: Unlocking the Fretboard

In the next step on your soloing journey, Tom teaches you his methods for soloing in any key, anywhere on the neck.

Improvisation

Learn how to get lost in the music, experiment, and push yourself outside of your comfort zone with Tom’s techniques for becoming a more nimble improviser.

Solos

Using examples from guitarists Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen, Tom breaks down his strategies for creating innovative, rule-bending solos with melodies and effects.

Solo Case Study: "The Ghost of Tom Joad"

Using his solo in Rage Against the Machine’s cover of Bruce Springsteen's “The Ghost of Tom Joad” as an example, Tom illustrates how a solo can defy convention and transcend genre.

Rock Songwriting Fundamentals

Tom demystifies the songwriting process to teach you how to break down the barrier between yourself and the greats. Learn how to stay open to inspiration and patiently explore your ideas to create original, authentic songs.

Riff Rock Writing: Verses and Multitracking

Get inspired by Tom’s riff-writing process and apply his simple studio recording techniques to begin creating a song of your own.

Riff Rock Writing: Chorus, Solo, and Arrangement

Learn to complete your song by adding a chorus, a solo, and a structural arrangement to the whole piece. Tom also breaks down the arrangement of the Rage Against the Machine classic, “Bulls on Parade.”

Lyrics and Melody

Learn how to unleash your inner poet to write honest lyrics that come from your soul—then find the melody to fit them.

Studio Recording

Tom takes you on a philosophical and practical tour of his strategies for getting the most out of a studio recording session.

Case Study: "Killing in the Name"

Tom deconstructs one of Rage Against the Machine’s biggest hits, from inception to recording and release.

Live Shows: Philosophy and Nerves

Learn how to find your own authentic voice as a performer and combat the nerves that might be keeping you from growing as an artist.

Live Shows: Practicalities and Performance

From warming up your hands to crafting the perfect setlist, Tom teaches you how to create powerful experiences for your audiences.

Bands and Collaboration

Learn how to find the right bandmates to help grow your artistic vision and how to diffuse the inevitable band problems that surface from creative collaboration.

Gear: Tom's Guitars and Amps

Tom walks you through his signature guitars and trusty amps and shares the story behind each.

Conclusion

Tom wraps up his class with a few parting words and an artistic challenge to you: “Envision something that goes beyond what anybody’s imagined before—” and never stop pushing.