Songwriting is a creative process, but there are still key guidelines and formulas that ALL of the great songs and songwriters follow. Songwriting on Guitar covers all of these essential musical rules in layman's language, but Songwriting on Guitar is so much more than a 'textbook' approach to songwriting; it's an immersive, contextual and highly creative process that you play and compose your way through. No tedious theory or boring exercises to work through here. In fact, you will likely create hundreds of your own motifs and song ideas as you journey through Songwriting on Guitar.

“This is the first course that I purchased when I joined TrueFire. It's also the one that got me hooked on their method. If you ever wanted to know why songs work the way that they do, gain an understanding of chord progressions, changing keys, writing melodies... then this is the course for you. I recommend this course to anyone who wants to write a better song!” - Dwane Woodard, TrueFire Student

There are dozens and dozens of musical and physical characteristics that make the guitar THE ideal instrument to compose songs with. Songwriting on Guitar reveals a truckload of 'guitaristic' tricks-of-the-trade that every guitar-playing songwriter should know.

There are few instructors walking the planet today that can assimilate, document, organize and then present a curriculum as robust and insightful as this one. Dutch recording artist and top European guitar educator, Matthieu Brandt, invested several years researching and compiling the curriculum for Songwriting on Guitar and its companion, Chord Cookbook. Brandt, who also authored TrueFire's highly popular Jump Blues and Slap, Frail and Thump courses, is considered one of the most thorough, creative and insightful educators in the biz and he's clearly delivered his Sistine Chapel with this course of study.

Brandt has constructed the curriculum in an interactive manner so that you can 'play' and compose your way through the course as you cover key topics like:

• How to use harmonic devices to craft the atmosphere of your song

• How to shape your melodies with melodic contours using closed and open phrases

• How to create strong and memorable hooks

• How to organize your song sections and hooks with AB and ABAC formulas

• How to use repetition and contrast in your songs

• How, when and why to use symmetric and asymmetric shapes

• The conscious placement of important chords in your composition

• How to support your lyrics with solid melodies using regular speech patterns

• How to use the capo as a creative tool in your writing process