Songwriting is an art form that transcends boundaries, allowing artists to express their deepest emotions, tell captivating stories, and connect with audiences on a profound level. Whether you’re a seasoned musician or a budding songwriter, honing your skills and exploring new techniques can take your creative expression to new heights.
In this article, we’ve curated a list of the 11 best songwriting courses available online, designed to cater to various skill levels, genres, and learning styles.
1. Lyrics Writing Course by Jacob Carter
The Lyrics Writing Course by Jacob Carter is a comprehensive online program aimed at helping aspiring lyricists and songwriters enhance their skills and creativity in lyric writing. Led by lyricist Jacob Carter, the course consists of six modules covering various aspects of lyric writing.
Some key topics covered include:
- Finding inspiration and generating ideas for lyrics
- Understanding lyrical structure, style, and songwriting techniques
- Crafting impactful and meaningful lyrics
- Analyzing hit songs and learning from successful examples
- Collaborating with others in the songwriting process
The course is delivered through HD video lessons, printable resources, and hands-on exercises designed to provide practical insights and real-world experience. Students will have the opportunity to receive feedback on their work and learn how to refine their unique songwriting voice.
With a focus on developing original lyrics and mastering the art of storytelling through words, this course aims to equip students with the necessary tools and methods to create compelling and captivating lyrics for their songs.
The Lyrics Writing Course is suitable for singers looking to write their own music, as well as anyone interested in learning the craft of lyric writing.
You can check out his free guide on lyrics writing before joining his course.
2. The Art of Songwriting – The Open University (FutureLearn)
This free 6-week course on FutureLearn introduces the fundamentals of songwriting. You’ll explore setting words to rhythm, crafting melodies, working with chord progressions, song forms and structures, and arranging songs. The course features insights from established musicians like Martin Simpson and uses specially commissioned lyrics to guide you through writing your first song.
3. Songwriting Simplified: Music Theory, Melody & Creativity – Udemy
This comprehensive Udemy course covers the full songwriting process from music theory and chord progressions to melody writing and lyrics. By the end, you’ll have written a complete song. The course is designed for pianists and guitarists at any level, even beginners, making it very accessible. It includes easy-to-use chord and scale charts, songwriting tips and over 20 downloadable PDFs.
4. How to Write Lyrics – The Song Foundry
This course from The Song Foundry focuses exclusively on lyric writing skills. Through 30 daily 10-minute challenges, you’ll practice techniques like finding rhymes, writing conversational phrases, connecting with your audience and more. It aims to help you write smarter, faster and more confidently by mastering the real skills required for bold, meaningful lyrics.
5. Commercial Songwriting Techniques – Berklee Online
Taught by hit songwriter Andrea Stolpe, this Berklee course teaches a 10-step process for writing commercial songs that connect with audiences. You’ll learn to streamline your writing process, apply time-tested techniques from successful songs, and combine lyrics and music effectively. By the end, you’ll have three completed songs ready for the mainstream market.
6. Songwriting: Lyric Writing – Elevate with ICMP
Over 6 modules, this online course from ICMP covers all aspects of lyric writing from song structure and rhyme schemes to storytelling and genre conventions. Created by industry experts, it includes writing exercises, analysis of influential lyrics, and tips for finding your unique voice. You’ll have lifetime access to video lessons, guides, and an option for 1-on-1 mentoring.
7. Lyric Writing: Tools and Strategies – Berklee Online
This 12-week online course from Berklee teaches you how to generate better lyric ideas and express them compellingly in your songs. Taught by renowned lyricist Pat Pattison, it covers techniques like object writing, rhyme schemes, creating forward motion, and defining sections. You’ll learn to control the flow, use basic rhyme paradigms, find your unique voice, and put all the pieces together into a cohesive lyric.
8. The Singer Songwriter – Berklee Online (Coursera)
Part of the 4-course Singer Songwriter Specialization on Coursera, this beginner-friendly course teaches the basics of songwriting. You’ll learn songwriting tools and techniques to augment your creative process, like playing guitar chords/scales, singing healthfully, and constructing lyrics and melodies. By the end, you’ll have the skills to write and perform original songs that express your unique ideas.
9. Songwriting: Writing the Lyrics – Berklee Online (Coursera)
This course focuses exclusively on lyric writing for songs. Taught by Pat Pattison, it examines the core concept of prosody and how to use tools like rhymes, line lengths, and phrasing to enhance your message. You’ll learn to develop ideas, understand point of view, create stable/unstable sections, and combine lyrics seamlessly with melodies. Assignments get you writing and receiving peer feedback.
10. Writing Song Lyrics: Create and Combine with Melody – City Lit
In this 6-week online course from City Lit college in London, you’ll generate original lyrics from everyday experiences and learn to combine them with melodies. It covers the basics of structure, rhyme schemes, meter, themes, and genres. You’ll analyze song examples, get feedback on your work, collaborate with classmates, and aim to complete an original song by the end.
11. The Lyric Writer’s Workroom – Songcraft
The Lyric Writer’s Workroom is a feature within the online Songcraft songwriting platform. It provides built-in dictionaries for rhymes, synonyms and related words to inspire your lyric writing. As you write, it automatically counts syllables per line and suggests chord progressions that could work with your lyrics. The goal is an integrated workspace for crafting lyrics, melodies and harmonies together.
