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Gary Barlow
Songwriting
Everyone has a song inside. Let's discover yours together.
The Course
Whether you're a beginner, in a rock band, or a producer, there's a lot to be learned from Gary's course. Be inspired as he crafts a new song from scratch.
Your Maestro
Gary Barlow, OBE, is one of Britain’s greatest songwriters. He’s written songs for Delta Goodram, T-Pain, N-Dubz, Lily Allen, Shirley Bassey, Take That and more. He’s sold over 50 million records, had 14 No.1 singles and learnt a lot in 30 years. He's going to share it all with you on this course.
Lessons
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3 mins
Meet your Maestro. He’s going to give you all the inspiration you need to start your songwriting career.
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3 mins
Gary passionately imparts what music and songwriting mean to him personally.
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5 mins
Gary says songwriting is a process that involves many layers of exploration and demands a curious nature.
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9 mins
Gary talks about the importance of training your ears by listening to other people’s songs.
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5 mins
Gary sits at the piano and deconstructs his global number one hit A Million Love Songs, a track he wrote aged 15.
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4 mins
Gary reveals the remarkable songwriting regime that he started as a schoolboy and set him on the path to success.
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13 mins
One Christmas, Gary was given a choice of presents by his parents. His choice changed the course of his life.
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5 mins
Gary explains why singing your own songs in front of an audience will take your writing to a whole different place.
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4 mins
Gary pulls apart the song Pray and shows us its component parts.
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11 mins
There are no shortcuts to finding your own voice. Gary shows you the ways in which you can get started.
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4 mins
It’s critical that you keep all your ideas safe so that you can come back to them. Gary illustrates this with the story of a song that stuck with him until he was ready to complete it.
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3 mins
Find out why Gary likes to get a song started with a chorus.
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3 mins
Chords are great building blocks for songwriters. They have dictated the emotions and sentiments of many of Gary’s most famous songs.
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7 mins
Gary shows us how he brought two ideas to the studio and fused them together to create a song big enough to open a sell out show at Wembley Stadium.
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9 mins
Arguably the greatest comeback in pop history was launched off the back of a collaboration. Gary explains how a partnership with producer John Shanks, helped create the song, Patience.
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3 mins
Gary shares the single biggest moment that influenced his songwriting.
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7 mins
Starting with a clean slate, Gary shows you how to construct a brand new song and explains many of the decisions you need to make right from the start.
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13 mins
Tempo, sentiment and choice of key come into focus as a new song takes shape.
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12 mins
Gary points out the pitfalls one encounters when writing choruses.
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10 mins
Gary talks about the importance of staying in the moment to maintain the flow and puts the melody of our new song under the spotlight.
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10 mins
Gary drives the hook home and fine-tunes the lyrics.
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10 mins
Gary believes the song now has that one piece of magic in the melody of the chorus.
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6 mins
In the creative world, confidence is king. Without it everything falls apart. Gary speaks from the heart about how he once lost his confidence and what he did to build it back up.
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7 mins
In songwriting, everything you do will prepare you for a moment that will take you by surprise.
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13 mins
Gary talks about the joys of living a creative life and reflects on how Back For Good came about through experimentation.
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10 mins
Different skillsets are required for musical theatre and for scoring film soundtracks. Gary touches on what you need to know to work in these areas.
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6 mins
After four decades in the business, Gary has some good advice on how to stay fresh and relevant.
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3 mins
In an age in which music has never been more accessible, Gary gives his take on how to find your audience.
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7 mins
Gary talks passionately about his love and respect for music.
Course notes
71 pages
A downloadable PDF full of further insight and techniques to get you making your own music.
What People are Saying
Easy, intuitive, and great info from an expert.
- Claire MacKelvie
Gary has an honest and encouraging approach.
- Craig McEvoy
Sharing Gary's expertise and passion for song writing was really inspiring.
- Anon
I learnt a lot about songwriting. It was what I needed. The quality of the video was amazing. And it really helped me to improve my songwriting and respect other musicians.
- Anon
I liked that Gary really connected with the people and I liked when he was explaining how to write a hit song.
- Olivia Grace Dunning
Gary Barlow was a wonderful mentor.
- Derek Atkinson
Today I bought and watched the @GaryBarlow course. Have to say, I thought £80 was a bit steep for 3.5 hours of video but I'm so impressed. Inspirational content, proper help on how to construct songs, and his enthusiasm for the subject is through the roof. So worth it.
- SpiritedLinds
I had to watch all of it today and can't wait to rewatch it. Thank you Gary.
- Nick
Brilliant series, well worth the investment. Lots of content covered, a 'must' for all budding song-writers.
- Myson
Common Questions
BBC Maestro is a platform to learn and be inspired through courses taught by experts in their craft. We've curated top talents in a number of different fields, who deliver video courses to teach you everything you need to know to follow in their aspirational footsteps.
For now BBC Maestro is only available in the United Kingdom, but will be made available in more territories in the near future.
Watch, learn and be inspired with the BBC Maestro on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or any screen where you can access the internet through a web browser.
BBC Maestro does currently not offer a subscription service. Each course purchase is a one off payment.