Learn Guitar & Music Performance in Boston

Honest level: Intermediate -> Professional — ask the school exactly how far that goes in the time you have.

Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive

A five-week residential intensive at Berklee in Boston drawing musicians from more than 70 countries. Days run roughly 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and combine private lessons, theory and musicianship classes with ensemble rehearsals in styles from jazz and pop/rock to funk/fusion, salsa and world music; guitarists study their principal instrument and play in over 200 ensemble showcases during the final week. Open to players 15 and up with at least six months' experience; a credit track awards three college credits.

Next sessions: 2026-07-05

A residential, full-time immersion at the leading contemporary-music school, learning by playing in small ensembles with peers from around the world.

~$5,430 tuition (+ ~$4,200 housing)

Why Berklee College of Music

• ★ 4.2/5 · 42 reviews on TripAdvisor ↗

— don't take my word, check it yourself

Berklee is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world, and its alumni roster — including Quincy Jones, John Mayer, and dozens of Grammy winners — makes its performance training among the most recognized in popular and jazz music.

Schools in Boston

Checked by hand against each school's own course pages. No school paid to be listed.

• Berklee College of Music
  Aspire: Five-Week Music Performance Intensive
  A five-week residential intensive at Berklee in Boston drawing musicians from more than 70 countries.
  https://summer.berklee.edu/programs/aspire-five-week-music-performance-intensive
• New England Conservatory
  Summer at NEC (immersive summer programs)
  New England Conservatory is a Boston music conservatory with a degree-granting Guitar Studies department whose Expanded Education arm runs multi-day, faculty-led summer intensives in chamber, orchestral, and contemporary performance on its Boston campus.
  https://necmusic.edu/the-college/departments/strings/guitar-studies/
• Berklee Online
  Guitar Advanced Professional Certificate
  Berklee Online is the online extension of Berklee College of Music in Boston, offering a multi-course Guitar Advanced Professional Certificate that builds from chords and scales to command of multiple styles, taught by the same faculty as the Boston campus.
  https://online.berklee.edu/guitar

The credential

Trinity or RSL Grade 8 / Diploma, or a Berklee / Musicians Institute performance degree · Certifying body: Trinity College London / RSL Awards (Rockschool) graded exams; Berklee / conservatory diplomas

A recognised qualification an outside body stands behind is not the same as a certificate a school prints itself. We name which it is — you should ask the school the same.

Also for Guitar & Music Performance

What I check before I send you anywhere

I'm Arnaud. I cook for a living, and I've spent fifteen years on the water — so I know the difference between a real school and a good-looking website. I built the Atlas because I got tired of the second kind. Here is what a place has to clear before it goes on here, and what I'll tell you straight when it doesn't.

• The craft is actually alive there. A working scene, with people who do this every day — not a demo put on for visitors.
• There's a real teacher behind it. Named, still practising, and certified where the craft has certificates.
• The credential is what it claims to be. A state diploma and a certificate a school prints itself are not the same thing. I check which, and I say which.
• I tell you how sure I am. Most pages here are verified by hand. A few say "still checking" — I'd rather admit that than pretend.
• Nobody pays to be here. No commission, no selling the trip. The order on this map is the strength of the community, never the size of the wallet.
• If I wouldn't send a friend, it isn't on the map.