School    Online Courses   Guitar 

Become a more well-rounded and articulate guitar player in any style including blues, rock, jazz and more.

• Guitar Scales 101

  Larry Baione and Robin Stone

  Organize the guitar fretboard, develop your technique, and learn to confidently navigate the instrument by gaining a firm understanding of the pentatonic, blues, major, melodic minor, and harmonic minor scales and their modes.

• Guitar Chords 101

  Rick Peckham

  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.

• Guitar Chords 201: Chord Melody and Inversions

  Rick Peckham

  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.

• Blues Guitar

  Michael Williams

  Learn the techniques and licks of classic blues stylists, such as T-Bone Walker, Lightning Hopkins, B.B. King, and Magic Sam. Gain a foundation in form, control, feel, and harmony that will help to bring a blues sound to your playing or add more depth to any other style of music.

• Jazz Guitar 101

  Bruce Saunders

  Study the styles of some of the most influential jazz guitarists, and learn the basics behind the jazz language: chord/scale usage, building melodic tension, and improvisation techniques.

• Jazz Guitar 201: Advanced Jazz Guitar Improvisation

  Bruce Saunders

  Develop your jazz guitar performance skills by learning advanced techniques to improvise over chord changes, both in traditional “standards” and complex modern harmony.

• Rock Guitar Soloing

  Robin Stone

  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.

• Classic Rock Guitar

  Joe Musella

  Elevate your playing by learning the styles and techniques of the architects of classic rock guitar: Hendrix, Clapton, Beck, Gilmour, and Page.

• Acoustic Guitar Techniques

  Abigail Aronson Zocher

  Strengthen your rhythmic strumming, use of alternate tunings, and fingerstyle playing, and improve your fluency, tone, dynamics, and control.

• Acoustic Blues Guitar

  Dan Bowden

  Develop a foundational, working repertoire in the acoustic blues style that includes early and contemporary material from the Mississippi Delta, Texas, Georgia/Carolinas, and more. Learn to fingerpick melodies and solos over independent bass patterns, and perform in the acoustic bottleneck slide style in both standard and open tunings.

• Funk/Rock and R&B Guitar Soloing

  Thaddeus Hogarth

  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

  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.

• Getting Your Guitar Sound

  Dan Bowden

  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.

• Steve Vai Guitar Techniques

  Scotty Johnson and Steve Vai

  Gain a deep understanding and command of the playing styles, repertoire, techniques, and musical concepts of guitar legend and Berklee alum Steve Vai. Learn the secrets behind Vai’s best-known compositions and virtuosic techniques, and learn to improve your own solos, chord and rhythm playing, and overall voice on the guitar.

• Basic Improvisation

  Matt Marvuglio and Jim Odgren and Edward Tomassi

  Learn a step-by-step approach to improvisation that applies to all styles and any instrument. Develop your solos by studying the riffs and licks of legendary players, and learn to incorporate the inflexions, feel, and nuances of the masters into your own playing!

• Gary Burton: Jazz Improvisation

  Gary Burton

  Learn the art of Jazz improvisation from Gary Burton, one of the most renowned improvisers in the jazz world. Learn different types and styles of compositions from the perspective of the improviser, and take an in-depth look at how mental, harmonic, and melodic processes contribute to the instinctive skills that an improviser puts to use when taking a solo.

Student Comments

"Being able to work on assignments while playing along to background tracks made the practicing more rewarding. The process of recording and posting assignments pushed me to get it right." -M. Gold, on Berklee Keyboard Method

Faculty Comments

"I'm finding online learning to be exciting and fun for the students as well as a highly efficient way to deliver information. I feel that it's definitely here to stay." -Paul Schmeling, Berklee Chair Emeritus Piano Department, Online Professor of Music Theory 101 and Berklee Keyboard Method