School    Online Courses   Performance 

Improve your music performance, arranging, and compositional skills.

• Voice Technique 101

  Anne Peckham

  Make your voice sound more powerful, use vocal technique to expand your range and expression, and learn to become more confident in vocal performances.

• Pop and Rock Vocals

  Didi Stewart

  Learn to sing everything from “classic hits” pop and rock to singer-songwriter styles to contemporary indie rock in an authentic manner.

• Jazz Voice

  Jan Shapiro

  Apply the unique vocal characteristics of great jazz singers such as Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughn into your own sound. Understand proper jazz vocal delivery in a number of tempos and gain confidence singing an array of jazz standards in a live or recorded context.

• Jazz Bass

  Jim Stinnett

  Gain the tools and knowledge you need to improvise jazz bass lines like a seasoned professional. Learn to play great jazz bass lines, recognize common chord progressions in jazz standards, and study the work of jazz bass greats like Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, Ron Carter, and Christian McBride.

• Rock Bass

  Anthony Vitti

  Gain the foundation, technique, and vocabulary necessary to construct and improvise bass lines in a variety of rock and blues-based music styles.

• Bass Performance 101

  Richard Appleman and Danny Morris

  Study the music of famous electric and acoustic bass players, and learn to create and perform your own unique bass lines in a variety of different styles.

• Berklee Keyboard Method

  Paul Schmeling

  Learn the Berklee approach to keyboard in this 12-week course. Master the basics of technique and chord voicings, and gain an understanding of more advanced concepts including interpretation of lead sheets and improvisation.

• 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.

• Blues and Rock Keyboard Techniques

  Dave Limina

  Study the theory and harmonic concepts common to blues and rock styles, and learn the licks, techniques, patterns, and improvisation styles associated with shuffles, New Orleans piano, rock and roll and modern rock piano, and solo blues piano.

• 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.

• 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.

• Guitar Scales 101

  Larry Baione

  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.

• 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.

• 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.

• R&B Bass

  Danny Morris

  Learn to play R&B bass in the style of the master players. Expand your bass playing in the context of a professional, live music performance or recording session.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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!

• 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.

• Drum Set Fundamentals

  Yoron Israel

  Improve your overall coordination, touch, and dynamics, and gain a solid foundation in drum set performance and musicianship.

• Rock Drums

  Rod Morgenstein

  Learn to play a variety of rock drumming styles through the study of some of rock music’s most significant drummers.

• Funk/R&B Drums

  Jim Payne

  Learn to play songs and improvise rhythms in the style of funk and R&B.

• Afro-Cuban Drums

  Mark Walker

  Strengthen your overall versatility as a drummer by learning the rich grooves and rhythmic concepts of Afro-Cuban music.

• 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.

• Jazz Piano

  Robert Christopherson and Ross Ramsay

  Strengthen your command of the melodies, harmonies, and rhythms that make up the rich art form of jazz on the piano or keyboard.

• Pop/Rock Keyboard

  Dave Limina

  Learn to play authentic keyboard parts in a wide range of pop/rock styles, including rock 'n roll, R&B, dance pop, classic rock, country, heartland/alt-country, and jam band.

• 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.

• 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.

• Jazz Arranging

  Brian Lewis

  Become a more versatile and sought-after jazz arranger. Jazz Arranging explores techniques that will allow you to write effective jazz arrangements for all types of instrumental combinations, from bop and hard-bop, to big band jazz ensembles.

• R&B Vocals

  Gabrielle Goodman and Jeff Ramsey

  Learn the vocal techniques of the R&B greats, including Steve Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, and Beyonce. In this course, you’ll gain the necessary skills to sing R&B in an authentic way, including proper phrasing, riffing, shouting, scale patterns, rhythmic articulation and much more.

• Fundamentals of Classical Guitar

  David Newsam

  Gain a foundational, working repertoire for the classical guitar. Develop an extensive repertoire of techniques, including tremolo, rasguedo, harmonics, slurs, and percussion effects.

• Performance Ear Training

  Allan Chase

  Learn to play what you hear more quickly, and become more certain of the notes you are singing or playing. Interpret and respond to music with greater conviction and expression.

• Slap Bass

  Lenny Stallworth and Anthony Vitti

  Popularized in the 70s with groups such as Sly and the Family Stone, slap bass has become an essential technique in any electric bassist’s toolkit. In Slap Bass, you will learn the fundamentals of playing slap, from traditional to advanced modern techniques, and learn to construct your own slap lines over original songs.

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

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