The Signals Music Theory & Songwriting Course

Completely Master Songwriting And Music Theory

45 detailed video lessons & 100 PDFs that guide you through every topic a modern songwriter needs to know.

4.9 · 148 reviews

Lifetime Access · No Subscriptions · 15-day money-back guarantee

Writing great music isn't magic, it's a skill you can learn.

If you can already play other people's songs, you're only a few steps away from writing your own. All it takes is the right knowledge, in the right order.

This course puts them in order. 45 lessons guide you through every concept, step by step, until you're a confident songwriter. No previous knowledge required, it's all here.

"I've taken two college courses in music theory, read several books, watched countless YouTube videos, and yet I've never learned with such ease until now."
James Winans II

Want to hear about every topic taught in this course? Watch this virtual tour.

The Skills You'll Learn

Over 10 hours of video lessons will guide you through the following phases.

  1. 1
    Phase 1

    The Foundations

    Learn the basic concepts of music theory required to navigate composition. We skip the unnecessary studies, like clef training and sight reading, that don't help you make music.

  2. 2
    Phase 2

    Chords and Progressions

    Learn your four fundamental triads and start using them to craft chord progressions while you get to know the major and minor keys. At this point, you'll already be making actual music.

  3. 3
    Phase 3

    Adding Layers

    Modern music is much more than one layer. It needs chords, melodies, and solos. Start using scales like pentatonic major, pentatonic minor, and harmonic minor to add unique flavor to your songs.

  4. 4
    Phase 4

    Understanding Modes

    Relativity, parallel scales, and tonal center are the keys to deeper musical complexity. It all leads to modal harmony, which my free lessons explore in depth, and the core levels are taught right here.

  5. 5
    Phase 5

    Enhancing Your Music

    Bring in diminished, augmented, and 7th chord varieties to upgrade your earlier compositions. Start leaving the key behind with chromatics and secondary dominants, composing beyond just a single scale.

  6. 6
    Phase 6

    Putting It Together

    A good songwriter thinks about the bigger picture: drums, bass, structure, lyrics, and more. Tie it all together with dedicated lessons on each, and you will be writing entire full-band compositions.

Try It Out For Free

Preview a lesson for totally free. Pick a basic lesson to get you learning the fundamentals, or an advanced one to show where the course will take you.

You'll get a free account and one full lesson. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

The honest math

Cheaper than three months of lessons. Worth more than a year of them.

A private music instructor costs about $120 a month. This course costs less than three months of that, yet contains the content of over a year of lessons. And unlike private lessons, my course lets you learn at your own pace, and revisit lessons whenever you like.

I know this from being a teacher: students get more value out of one-on-one lessons if they've already learned basic theory. I'm always relieved to get a student who already knows the basics. It means they've done some studying, and we can hit the ground running.

So learn the theory from my course, then lean on a teacher for what they're genuinely great at: technique, feedback, and accountability. You will save years and thousands of dollars, and every lesson you take afterward gets better.

"I thought the $270 price tag was a little steep before. I would gladly pay $1k in hindsight."
Joseph S. · 20+ years playing guitar

The Complete Course

Everything below. One payment. Forever.

  • 45 comprehensive video lessons over 10 hours, fundamentals to advanced
  • 100+ PDFs, worksheets & reference guides Recap important lesson info at a glance
  • Practice MP3s and backing tracks Strengthen your improvising skills in real-time
  • Lifetime access, all future updates no subscription, no expiry, ever
$270.00 one time

No subscription. No recurring fee. Yours for life!

Or split it into 4 interest-free payments of $67.50 at checkout with PayPal, Affirm, Klarna or Afterpay.
15-day money-back guarantee. Zero risk to begin learning.
Jake Lizzio

Your teacher

Taught by Jake Lizzio

I've spent decades helping regular people become productive composers. I was profiled in Forbes alongside Marty Schwartz and Andrew Huang, called "a phenomenon" by GearNews, and voted one of the best online resources for musicians by Reddit.

This course is everything that matters with no filler, in the order I wish I'd learned it. After just a few lessons, you'll see the puzzle pieces come together, and by the half-way point you'll be writing actual music like the songs you love. By the end, you'll be prepared for the job of band leader: a person who can envision an entire song and all its elements, then turn it into a reality.

The reviews from this course make it easy for me to say this: it's the best course you'll find online if you want to start making modern-sounding music. I stand by that with a 15-day money-back guarantee.

700K+ Subscribers 40M+ Views 200+ Free Lessons

All 45 lessons, start to finish

Fundamentals to advanced songwriting. Here is the entire path.

1 Introduction
2 The Musical Alphabet and Chromatic Scale
3 Understanding The Music Staff
4 Knowing the Fretboard
5 The Major Scale
6 Rhythm Basics
7 Triplets, Swing, and Advanced Tuplets
8 Meter and Time Signature
9 Audiation and Melody
10 Key Signatures and Enharmonics
11 Scale Degrees
12 Triads
13 Movable Chords
14 Diatonic Major Chords + Roman Numerals
15 Writing Progressions in Major
16 Soloing with the Pentatonic Major Scale
17 Suspended Chords
18 The Minor Scale + Diatonic Chords
19 Writing Progressions in Minor
20 Soloing with the Pentatonic Minor Scale
21 Ear Training Intervals and Chords
22 PowerChords
23 Relative Scales and Tonal Center
24 Combining Pentatonic Shapes
25 Arpeggios and Chord Tone Soloing
26 Chord Inversions and Slash Chords
27 Popular 7th Chords
28 Diatonic Seventh Chords
29 12-Bar Blues Variations + Minor Blues
30 Secondary Dominant Chords
31 Diminished Chords
32 Augmented Chords
33 Harmonic Minor
34 Writing Melodies
35 Passing Tones and Chromaticism
36 Introducing Modes
37 Transpositions and Modulations
38 Borrowing Chords from Minor
39 Parts of a Song
40 Song Structure
41 Writing Bass Lines
42 Writing Drum Parts
43 Creating a Full Song
44 Advanced Theory Concepts
45 Outro

A peek at the 100+ PDFs and worksheets included with every lesson:

1 of 8

Questions, answered honestly

Nope. I cover the fundamentals of the staff because it's genuinely useful, but the course never relies on it. You'll learn the way most working musicians actually do: by ear, by feel, and by understanding the why behind the music.

Got a question? Email me directly

Drop me a line about this course through my site, and I'll answer any questions you have personally.

Ask me a question

Check Out The Reviews

(5.0)
(148 reviews)
Showing 6 of 148
odvarko
May 19, 2025

Well worth the time and effort

For me, this was a great journey through the basics of music theory. Just what I needed to become more confident when composing music. I bought my first guitar for this course, and it was exciting to all the sudden find myself be able to improvise on blues tracks, for example.I enjoyed all the lessons very much. Thank you!

Dennylee1103
May 9, 2025

The major scales and their diatonic chords

I expect a more thorough explanation of the modes, and demonstrate how to apply them.

richard richmond
April 4, 2025

Kai Perßon
March 17, 2025

simply great and all worth it !

I´ve done music for years without any theory knowledge - with Jake I learned connecting the dots - all other teachers failed with this

Chip Mason
January 4, 2025

Brilliant!

I had so many lightbulb moments, thanks for helping me connect the dots on my music theory journey!

satchmanje
December 11, 2024

Unlocking mystery

I learned so much and it helped me understand and appreciate music so much deeper.

Ready to finally understand music?

Join thousands of players who stopped guessing and started writing.

"I thought the $270 price tag was a little steep before. I would gladly pay $1k in hindsight." — Joseph S.

45 lessons · 100+ PDFs · Lifetime access · 15-day money-back guarantee