Emily C. Browning

PRESENTS

Singer-Songwriter Foundations

Step up your songwriting skills.

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WHo it's for

All levels

No matter where you are in your musical journey, this class will make you a better musical storyteller.

Time

2 weeks

Emily will guide you through 5 class sections of step-by-step instruction with interactive TAB and assignments.

Outcome

Unlock your inner writer

Learn new grooves and write your best songs yet with Emily's unique approach to songwriting and playing.

Keep going

Take the next step

Once you've mastered this class, keep progressing with more Master Classes and guided daily practice plans.

What you'll learn

Join your mentor Emily as she breaks down her distinctive and honest approach to songwriting and guitar playing.

Use practical theory to fuel your chord progressions
Develop your songwriting with lyric-writing challenges
Hone your fingerstyle skills with infectious grooves

Curriculum

Stay focused with this step-by-step learning program designed by our expert team of music educators.

How it works

Your guided learning pathway

In this four-part Master Class, you'll explore practical songwriting theory, vocal warm-ups, lyric-writing exercises, and John Mayer-inspired fingerstyle guitar grooves as you develop into a full-fledged musical storyteller.

Understanding Chords and Music Theory

When it comes to songwriting, a little theory goes a long way.

In this section, you'll learn the numbers system and spice up simple chords with extensions.

Fingerstyle Grooves

Emily has gained international acclaim from her guitar-driven compositions.

In this section, she pulls back the curtain on how she writes a groove by breaking down two infectious percussive fingerstyle ideas.

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How to Write Better Lyrics

Effective lyrics can leave a lasting imprint in your listener's mind, but far too many guitarists neglect this aspect of songwriting.

In this section of the class, you'll learn Emily's techniques for crafting compelling original verses and choruses.

Part IV. Introduction to Singing

Here's a cold hard fact for you. Everyone is capable of singing beautifully! In this section, Emily breaks down why you should sing (if you aren't already) and guides you through exercises and advice for non-singers looking to develop their voice.

Part V. SongSquad

Cap off the class by learning two original songs composed by Emily.

2-Week Plan

Part I. Understanding Chords and Music Theory

Learn practical theory through the lens of songwriting.

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The numbers system is a quick way to get started with music theory. It allows you to play chords in any key by converting note names to numbers. This is an extremely useful skill as a songwriter, as it'll help you experiment with different keys. In this lesson, you’ll learn basic major scale chords and how to convert notes to numbers.

Part II. Fingerstyle Grooves

Learn Emily's iconic playing style.

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Rhythm is the most important aspect of guitar playing. It's arguably one of the most important aspects of songwriting too. In this lesson, you'll get to explore Emily's unique approach to ‘band feel’ guitar with two infectious fingerstyle grooves.

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First, you'll learn how to play a double-thumb groove. Then, we'll wrap up with a more complex three-part fingerstyle groove. If you've seen Emily's videos on Instagram, you'll have a good idea of what's in store.

Part III. How to Write Better Lyrics

No more staring at blank pages.

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Writing compelling and original lyrics is a key skill for any singer-songwriter. In this section, Emily introduces you to the tools she uses to write songs. These techniques will help you tell engaging musical stories and hone in on your unique style of writing.

Parts IV. & V.

Get started with singing and learn two of Emily's tunes.

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Part IV. Introduction to Singing

Everyone, yes everyone, is capable of singing beautifully. Singing involves muscles, and just like any other muscle, you have to go to the gym regularly to develop them.

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In this lesson, Emily gives you an overview on how to get started with singing, simple warm-up exercise for every day, and tips on how to develop the skill of singing and playing guitar at the same time.

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Part V. SongSquad

In our final section, Emily performs two instrumental versions of her songs. We’ve included interactive TAB and breakdown videos for you to follow along and adapt the concepts behind each song to your own playing.

REAL students

Don’t take our word for it, take theirs

What guitarists love about this course

Improve your playing or get your money back

We’re so confident that we can improve your playing that we’re underwriting your membership with a 60-day satisfaction guarantee.

Your Instructor

Emily C. Browning

Join Emily for a songwriting intensive and write your best tunes yet.

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Frequently asked questions

Are you a guitar, bass or piano player who feels like you haven’t made progress in a few months… years… or even decades?
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You’re probably stuck in what’s called the ‘intermediate plateau’. This is very common and can be very frustrating.

What’s the cause? Well, it’s pretty easy to learn the basics on any instrument. Learn a few chords and you can play hundreds of other songs. Learn a couple of scales and you can play some lead.

But what then? Triads? Modes? Arpeggios? The phrygian scale?!

Without a clear plan and learning system you fall back to playing the same things over and over again. Or you bounce around free lessons online but nothing seems to stick. It’s a recipe for a lot of practice without much progress.

That’s where Pickup Music can help. We specialize in taking players stuck in a rut and turning them into advanced musicians.

We do this through Learning Pathways that take you on a step-by-step journey towards mastery. We give you a highly structured system that shows you exactly what to work on each week to make serious progress.

These Learning Pathways take the guesswork out of your practice routine. You are guided through a proven grade-by-grade system with daily lessons, play-along practice exercises and interactive workouts.

But it’s not all about theory. We apply everything you learn to real music. That’s why every grade of our Learning Pathways build up to performing a song with a live backing band. This simulates what it’s like to play a real gig, with real musicians. It’s the absolute best way to learn.

You can also get 1-on-1 video feedback on your playing from our expert coaches and can attend weekly live lessons. This personal feedback makes Pickup Music the closest thing to taking in-person lessons, but at a fraction of the cost.

So does this method actually work? Will you see results in your playing?

The most common thing we hear from new members is that they’ve made more progress with Pickup Music in a few months than in years of teaching themselves. As one member recently told us, “I'm finally seeing progress for the first time in many years”.

Want to hear about other members’ experiences with us? Read our independent Trustpilot reviews.