The Tom Morello Guitar MasterClass was one of the most exhilarating and valuable MasterClasses in the catalogue. Not to mention one of the best online courses for guitar anywhere available. This is not just my opinion but the opinion of guitarist friends at all levels who have loved the class. So I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that MasterClass had snagged yet another guitar great! The one and only Carlos Santana teaching the heart and soul of guitar!
And thanks to my All Access Pass, I had the class ready and waiting for me in my MasterClass dashboard without having to pay any extra! I love this thing!
Now let’s get into this Carlos Santana Teaches the Art and Soul of Guitar MasterClass Review!
Carlos Santana Teaches the Art and Soul of Guitar MasterClass Review
First things first.
You’ll want your guitar on hand throughout this MasterClass!
And you’ll probably want to print off the work booklet, which is not only crammed with exercises, homework, and lessons, but also has two types of tablature throughout.
One tablature is a transcription of the music Santana improvises in this class (and exclusive to this class). The other tablature are practice pieces for you to practice the pieces Santana discusses.
Right from the intro you know the Carlos Santana MasterClass is gonna have that same awesome MasterClass quality as all the rest.
Opening on Santana’s iconic concert footage, transitioning to Carlos in silhouette everything lit up but him as he riffs on his guitar… your heart is in your mouth and the class hasn’t even begun!
Carlos kicks things off with a discussion of the masterclass as being not only one about technical details but more importantly about how you can communicate and put feeling into a note.
Carlos outlines his three forms of music (tame the beast, entertainment, and music to uplift the planet to a whole other plane of existence). It’s this last one that Carlos wants to concentrate on: how to access the gateway to total illumination and wonderment.
This masterclass class is about, in Carlos Santana’s words, using music to transport you to “a place beyond fear, beyond guilt and shame, beyond good and bad, right and wrong, black, white, or grey”. As a real musician, you’re supposed to play wonderment.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty damn good to me and I was salivating from the first lesson.
The first lesson is all about practice. Practice as musical offering. And, my goodness, what an explosive, inspirational, and completely mindset-changing way to kick off an awesome masterclass!
I’m not the only one that thinks so either. This masterclass has a fantastic student section with many others singing the same praises, with many guitarists who have been playing a lot longer than me saying they have never heard this wisdom before. I’ll take their word for it because I also haven’t, and it was extremely refreshing to hear.
First thing Carlos addresses in the practice module is the negative certain words students need to get rid of. He goes deep into mental warm up, and the art of breathing, how to get out of your own head and into your body.
I really never thought a guitar class could be this spiritual.
And I don’t use spiritual in the woo-woo way – this is a kind of spirituality accessible to everyone, especially guitarists.
Having said that, if you do identify yourself as spiritual or religious in anyway, that’s even more of an added bonus for you and this masterclass will really resonate with you.
I loved hearing the techniques that get you out of your head and the practice exercises that Carlos himself uses are divine. You’ll want to try them out immediately and you’ll probably lose a whole afternoon doing so.
Breathing is mainly part of accessing the invisible. If you know how to breathe correctly, you can do the incredible and the impossible.
The module about getting inside the note was a real feast.
The thing I really like about this masterclass is being able to play along with Santana at the same time and trying to copy his fingers.
The thing I noticed as well after the first two lessons is just how much stuff is going on at the same time.
This masterclass is not a watch-it-once-and-done kind of thing.
I was having an absolute blast, but the real value came when going back and rewatching the lessons again and again and really trying to absorb Carlos’ message and intention.
The module on getting inside the note is broken into mind, body, soul, heart, and vitals. This lesson is all about getting those five components, the same five Santana hears in Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, into one note.
If you do not get inside the note, you’re not gonna get inside people’s hearts.
What’s really cool is when Carlos tries to demonstrate outside the note, then inside the note.
This really gets you into a zone of pure, blissful, musical, spiritual joy.
Just wait until Carlos Santana gives you a lesson in the spiritual art of note bending, replete with record recommendations that demonstrate the most powerful and spiritual one single notes committed to album.
The module on finding your sound is a wonderful interlude-like lesson, still extremely important obviously, where we take a little breath, listen to Carlos chart his influences and hear his advice on how we can do the same in order to access our own unique sound.
I particularly enjoyed his way of consciously borrowing language from other musicians and working it into his practice sessions so that he can discover something new.
Another personal favourite module of mine (hard to choose one to be honest) was the one about creating a global music rolodex. We go deep into Santana’s musical influences, music from places as diverse as Africa, the Caribbean, the American South, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, to the pre-Colombian Americas and classical composers like Stravinsky and Segovia. I particularly loved hearing Santana going deep into African music.
One thing’s for sure, you’re going to leave this lesson with so many new musical avenues to explore and you’ll immediately start building your own global musical rolodex.
This MasterClass is an extremely fun way to pass a lazy weekend afternoon.
There was also an entire module on learning from the blues, which I was incredibly excited about seeing as I’ve been on a massive blues kick the last few months, watching shows about the blues and listening to the blues constantly.
This was a fascinating module because it begins with the premise that structurally most blues songs are the same and then Carlos proceeds to show you how, despite having the same structure, blues songs vary so wildly and how you can replicate that.
Carlos shows us the timeless blues riffs and the elements that are unique to the form.
And, as with all modules, there are plenty of practice pieces here. One of them is in the style of Lightnin’ Hopkins, one in the style of Jimmy Reed, one like John Lee Hooker, and the other like Peter Green.
You get such an immersion in different artists that not only are you learning a bunch in this MasterClass but it’s like a music appreciation class too.
One word: bliss.
This class isn’t just something for you alone either.
Sure this is great alone time, spending time with Carlos, jamming and learning and blissing out.
But halfway through I was playing a little too loudly and my girlfriend came in and watched some of the course with Carlos playing an awesome blues riff and she just said: “Wow.” She’s not a musician but she loved the course too.
Another thing I really love about this course is just how unique it is.
For example, there’s a module all about opening your ears to rhythm.
Obviously a super important topic, especially for beginners, and one you’ve no doubt encountered in some form if you’ve ever taken any other guitar courses or guitar lessons.
But Carlos Santana’s approach to learning how to hear rhythm is so unique, so fun, and so much more rewarding than any other method I’ve encountered because it’s all about how he learnt rhythm from African Conga players and classical music.
Obviously that lesson on rhythm is directed at beginners (although it’s so fascinating that no matter how good you are at guitar right now you’ll love it), but then the very next lesson kicks it up a notch and is directed at more intermediate and advanced guitar players.
That’s what I really love about these Masterclasses and the Carlos Santana MasterClass in particular. Every single level is catered to and in a way where the beginners can still enjoy the advanced stuff and the advanced players still get a kick out of the fundamental stuff.
You can tell a lot of time went into the design of the syllabus and the structure because this sort of layout doesn’t happen accidentally.
The lesson on Carlos’ strategies for writing melodies that move listeners to their core was fantastic.
Each module is worth the price of entry alone, but this one in particular really spoke to me.
Damn cool lesson and one I learnt a lot from.
This is the lesson that is guaranteed to break you out of a guitar practice funk and get back to a state of pure creativity and fun.
So far, I’m only half way through the Carlos Santana MasterClass, so I can’t comment on the rest of it.
All I can say at this point is that if the class ended now, I would definitely feel like I got more than my money’s worth and would be incredibly happy.
My plan now is to slow it down, and take the rest of the class at a leisurely pace, really making sure I hit all the exercises and watch the modules several times.
Peeking ahead at the lesson plan, I can see there’s a lot more great stuff in store.
There’s stuff that will be just a curiosity for me but awesome for more advanced players, stuff like playing live and leading and playing in a band. There’s also stuff to do with equipment, guitars and amps etc, which I think is cool. I’m not super geeky about that stuff but I know most players can be. And, of course, lots more wisdom and techniques and an overflowing of soul.
Wherever you are in your guitar playing, I completely recommend this MasterClass.
You’ll have such a blast and learn so much.
I recommend the All Access Pass, because then you can get all the other courses too (the Tom Morello guitar class is so different from the Santana one but equally amazing).
Let me know what you think of the class. If you’re like me and the other students, you’ll love it.
You can enrol in the Carlos Santana Teaches the Art and Soul of Guitar MasterClass here.
