Required Courses

• 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.

• 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.

• Lyric Writing: Tools and Strategies

  Pat Pattison (12 weeks, 3 credits)

  Generate more and better ideas. Express them in compelling and original ways.

• 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.

• Songwriting: Melody

  James A. Kachulis (12 weeks, 3 credits)

  Learn to construct strong, expressive melodies that your audiences will remember.

• Songwriting: Harmony

  James A. 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.

• 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.

• Songwriting: Writing Hit Songs

  James A. Kachulis (12 weeks, 3 credits)

  Move your listeners and express yourself more effectively by crafting your songs the way hit writers do.

• 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.

• 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.

• Classic Rock Guitar

  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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Guitar Chords 201: Chord Melody and Inversions

  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.

• Rock Guitar Soloing

  Robin Stone (12 weeks, 3 credits)

  Learn to play a great rock guitar solo! Rock Guitar Soloing is designed to help guitarists who may have learned the technical aspects of playing, but lack the theoretical application of the musical elements that make up a strong solo that moves the listener.