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Online Winter Term Starts January 11th



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Master Certificate

Songwriting and Guitar

9 Courses (27 credits)

$10,755
Complete certificate tuition
(Plus Registration Fee $150)

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Berkleemusic’s Songwriting and Guitar Master certificate program is the perfect match of time-tested tools, theories, techniques, and applications that you can use immediately to hone your craft and become a more successful and well-versed songwriter, guitarist, and performing musician. Developed by the award-winning faculty of Berklee College of Music and based on the school’s curriculum, this extensive certificate program will provide you with an arsenal of ideas and concepts that are designed to develop a more complete songwriter – not only the most effective ways to write engaging and memorable lyrics, melodies, and harmonies, but the best ways to translate these compositions to the guitar.

You’ll start by getting your guitar skills up to speed, and taking a detailed look at different forms of guitar amplification through the use of the AmpliTube 1 amp modeling software. You’ll learn to identify and incorporate various sounds produced through selecting, programming and arranging effects, and study the characteristics of hollow body versus semi-hollow body and solid guitars. The program moves on to cover Berklee's approach to the construction of chords and chord voicings, where you’ll gain more freedom and a greater feel for the instrument by learning how to visualize chord structures anywhere on the neck of the guitar. You’ll then delve into the intricacies of lyric writing and songwriting, and learn the ways that the professional songwriters put these elements together to create memorable hit songs.

The Songwriting and Guitar Master certificate also allows students the flexibility to direct their own studies by allowing the choice of three electives in a variety of different disciplines including theory, harmony, production and arranging.

Substitutions may be requested for electives. Please contact our Continuing Education Registrar at registrar@berkleemusic.com or call (617) 747-2146 to see if your request suits the overall academic requirements for your chosen program.

Required Courses

BMP-123a Getting Your Guitar Sound
Dan Bowden (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Learn to use your ears, hands, and the tools of the trade to play jazz, rock, blues, country and other genres, with a hi-quality, authentic and persuasive guitar tone.

BMP-120 Guitar Chords 101
Rick Peckham (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Add more dynamics and expression to your playing and gain a greater feel for your instrument by learning Berklee's approach to the construction of chords and chord voicings.

BMW-120 Lyric Writing: Tools and Strategies
Pat Pattison (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Generate more and better ideas. Express them in compelling and original ways.

BMW-122 Lyric Writing: Writing Lyrics to Music
Pat Pattison (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Get the most out of your lyrics by learning how to combine them accurately and effectively with melody.

BMW-131 Songwriting Workshop: Melody
Jimmy Kachulis (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Learn to construct strong, expressive melodies that your audiences will remember.

BMW-133 Songwriting Workshop: Harmony
Jimmy Kachulis (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Learn how harmony can help you to articulate the essential meaning of a song, and the best ways to adapt chords and progressions to suit your unique songwriting style and ideas.

3 Elective Courses

Recommended Electives

Please contact our Continuing Education Registrar to request elective substitutions.

BMW-121 Lyric Writing: Writing From the Title
Pat Pattison (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Make your writing process more efficient and your lyrics more effective. Learn how to find a powerful and effective song title, and discover how to build lyrics, develop the rhythms of your song sections, create contrasting sections and ideas to re-color your chorus based on that title.

BMW-130a Songwriting Workshop: Writing Hit Songs
Jimmy Kachulis (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Move your listeners and express yourself more effectively by crafting your songs the way hit writers do.

BME-110 Getting Inside Harmony 1
Michael Rendish (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Use harmony creatively in your playing and writing. Learn to hear and modify chord progressions, improvise effectively from chord to chord and deepen your understanding of music's inner workings.

BMW-125 Commercial Songwriting Techniques
Andrea Stolpe (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Learn to write for commercial success by reproducing the time-tested characteristics of hit songs while maintaining your own unique voice.

BMP-125a Classic Rock Guitar Workshop
Joe Musella (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Elevate your playing by learning the styles and techniques of the architects of classic rock guitar: Hendrix, Clapton, Beck, Gilmour, and Page.

BMP-128 Funk/Rock and R&B Guitar Soloing
Thaddeus Hogarth (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Learn the appropriate scales, the best use of effects, and the rhythmic and melodic timing to create an authentic funk-based solo and sound.

BMP-126 Rhythm and Groove Guitar
Bruce Bartlett (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Learn the rhythmic techniques and chord tools that are the foundation of groove-based music. Expand your chord knowledge and learn to construct original rhythm guitar grooves that you can apply to a wide variety of music styles.

BMP-220 Guitar Chords 201
Rick Peckham (12 weeks, 3 credits)
Master Berklee’s approach to playing guitar chords. Improve your style, intonation, technique, time feel, and tone in this in-depth course. Explore open triads, seventh chord structures, open triadic shapes, and inversions in a variety of musical styles.