Guitarist Gergely Szabo has an Advanced Diploma in Music Performance from Cambrian College where he majored in the classical guitar. Over his time there, he completed 2 years of comprehensive pedagogy courses. He also gained well grounded vocal skills, as well as basic knowledge on the piano. Outside of classical music, he exhibits a repertoire of skills and knowledge in playing the genres of rock, blues, and heavy metal music. He has experience in teaching the guitar and the ukulele to a range of people aged 6 to 54.
Gergely’s teaching methods include both the use of books and digital methods. The three main books he uses to teach guitar are as follows: “Guitar Method Book 1 by Will Schmid and Greg Koch,” “Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests RCM Level 1,” and “Classical Guitar Repertoire and Etudes RCM Level 1.” For teaching ukulele, he uses the book “Ukulele Songs for 1, 2, or 3 players by Elizabeth Ragsdale.” Aside from these, he frequently uses the Muse Score application as a play-along practicing tool.
Gergely’s passion for music and his dedication to growing the love of music in others are the biggest reasons why he teaches guitar and ukulele. His approach to teaching involves learning through play. The material he covers with his students is always delivered in a way that is highly interactive. Most of the assigned exercises he gives involve the elements of play that students can enjoy both in class and as homework.
Get to know Gergely…Beyond the Bio!
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Latest Homework from Gergely
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Thursday, April 30th
Josh
Josh clearly practised this past week and made this week’s lesson way more efficient. We were able to get into the pre chorus section, and especially looked at bar 33 and 34 together. I explained to him that it is quite similar to the second bar of the main pattern, but with a different fourth beat pickup. I explained the concept of three stroke ruff/drag and I would like him to follow the sticking notated for him. Our next focus is bar 36 where it matches the lyric “like to say to you but I dont know how”. Continue practising with the score, and also listen to song when needing clarification.
Aleksander
We worked on Bring Me to Life for another week playing with the song. Aleksander showed clear improvement with following the guitar riff, and was able to stay steady throughout. Now I would like him to pay attention to the details, for example the crash cymbal every other bar. Bar 65 seems to be a tricky bar to play, and I would like him to ghost the last 16th on the third beat and start on right hand for beat four. We will choose a new sing next week.
Noah
We worked on an exercise using Stick Control where bass drum is played on beat 1 and 3, hihat on 2 and 4, and the challenge is to stay steady while switching to different stickings. Practising this exercise will make working through Smooth Criminal a lot easier, as it will build the limb independence required. Then we revisited Smooth Criminal. Let’s look to get to Pre chorus for next week.
Finn
Finn is making good progress with Otherside, but I find that at times the playing sounds slightly choppy and stiff, so I tried to use the metaphor of a baseball run all the way to home base to get the idea across. On beat four is the hit, and while you make your “run”, try to stay steady, and connect the runs from base to base as smooth to possible. With that in mind, each beat should connect towards the next, and by beat four, connect back to 1. We will look to apply that concept to different bars of Ofherside next class.
Mateo
This last class we tried to do a run through of Labios Compartidos, and it seems like because Mateo wants to play the whole thing through, he didn’t place enough of an emphasis on the troubling bars while practising. Just like to remind Mateo again to always practise in the small chunks and focus down troubling spots, that way when we do runs of bigger section, we are not tripped up and under prepared for those hard spots.
Koel
We worked on Superstition, familoarising Koel to the swung 16 feel, and worked on the two tricky 32nd note fill. I would like Koel to jam out with some swung 16 material and drop in the fill every few bars.
Assignments from May 2nd
Hello Everybody!
Student progress reports have gone out! Please review these and let me know if you have any questions. Also, just a reminder that the recital has been postponed to June! The official date is TBD, but all students should be reviewing their chosen recital piece in the next coming weeks.
Berke
Today we finished the Andante in g minor! Berke should continue to practice this song if it is the piece he would be willing to play at the recital! When practicing this week, Berke should try different tempos. Start very slow to help connect each bar and each phrase smoothly. When practicing at such a slow tempo the focus should be transitioning the hands from one note to the next, the melody is not the priority. Start at 60BPM, then slowly increase the tempo to see how fast Berke can play the song without falling behind. If he starts to drag, he should review the phrase slowly again before returning to the faster tempo. Berke also has a sheet of all the technical requirements for level 1! This week for warm up Berke should continue to use the contrary motion scale and the chromatic scale before practicing the C Major and G Major triads both solid and broken. Use a metronome when you do this. Broken triads are to be played like triplets at 50BPM and solid triads are to be played at 100BPM with rests between chords.
Thank you!
See you next week!
Efe Homework Jan 3rd
Hi Efe! It’s too bad you weren’t at today’s lesson! But it does happen.
Over this week, I’d like you to do the following things.
Listen to these 3 songs:
- Rumble, by Link Wray
- Smells Like Teen Spirit, by Nirvana
- Boulevard of Broken Dream, by Green Day
See which one you like best. Then we’ll use that one as your song for this spring’s recital.
Do what you can from last time’s homework. If you didn’t do much guitar over the holidays then this should help get your hands back into the swing of things again. Otherwise, I hope what you can do from last time’s homework will continue to sharpen your skills in that material.
See you in a week!
Efe Homework Dec 6th
Hi Efe!
Wishing you and your family a great two weeks! On Saturday December 13th I won’t be teaching, so you have two weeks to work on the following material.
General notes
- Warm up before practice sessions. It doesn’t matter what strings or frets you play. Just start picking the strings on the guitar at a fairly brisk speed so that the blood starts flowing in the right hand. Then do some simple but physically straining fingerings on the frets while strumming the guitar so that the blood starts flowing in the left hand. — 5 minutes altogether is enough for one session.
- Make sure to give your hands rest during all practice sessions. Then at the very end, do some stretching on your hands and arms.
String Crossing melody
- 65BPM fastest. Practicing without a metronome is fine. But you must also learn to be able to play with a metronome much more comfortably. It should feel like a helpful tool to get you on the correct, steady speed of the melody or piece at hand. It can help to tap your foot on the ground as you play, or nod your head to its beats.
- Be mindful of the picking pattern. It is always down-up-down-up.
- It might look like a simple melody. And it is. But the reason this should be a challenge is because of all the things you have to pay attention to while playing it. Right Hand: picking directions. Left Hand: use only fingers 4, 1, and 2.
- Do 2 repetitions of this whole melody in a row and then rest for at least 2 bars. — Those huge colon looking things and the double lines at the start and end of this melody mean repeat what’s between them.
- See my picture of the added guitar tablature for this melody in this Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1cURXZdyFoL_6FZX5V4COTxCljwXKq8wO
- That Blues piece from the Guitar Method 1 book is going to be left out for these 2 weeks. This melody is covering things that the Blues piece was aimed at getting you to improve on.
D & G chords’ transitioning exercise
Well done on getting the D major chord fingering right today.
- Stick to this correct D major chord fingering.
- One bar per chord. 4 beats per bar. Transition to the next chord at the next bar. Don’t feel rushed to get to the next chord. Music should almost never feel too fast to play. Only transition on beat 3. — This being said: Just do this exercise slowly. 55BPM at the very fastest.
More chords
Play the E major chord, as you normally would. (The picture is in the above Google Drive. The fingering is indicated with the numbers there.) Then play the B major chord the way we covered it in class. Repeat these 2 chords over and over. Just like the G & D chords’ exercise.
- No strict timing for this. I just want you to learn how it physically feels to play these chords, and how these two in particular complement each other. — We were discussing musical keys today. If you were to play something in the key of E (in this case, major), then these two chords are beautiful together. B should feel like you want to play it loudly, and E can be the quieter chord. (Although: it can feel extra energizing to play E major at least as loudly as you did B major, haha.)
- I know you’ve played the E minor chord in a previous song. Here is where we cover the E major chord.
B major chord
- This B major chord is played up the guitar neck, with the thumb.
- Fingerings from the E string up to the G string: 5, 3, 4, 2. — by “finger 5,” I just mean the thumb.
- Frets from the E string up to the G string: 7, 9, 9, 8.
- Really feel like you’re clamping down on the low E string from behind in order to get a proper sound out of it. — I know this was tough to do. I’d like to see how much you improve on this over these two weeks. It should only be somewhat sore after doing it properly. If it hurts a lot, definitely take a rest. But when done enough times, and properly, this should end up feeling like a comfortable way of playing this chord. It is physically straining, but still comfortable. Remember: strong, straight, comfortable. Keep trying it.
Little Drummer Boy
- Keep trying this with its respective videos. (They’re in the same Google Drive folder.)
- Don’t worry about being fast. Go as slow as you need in order to play it accurately.
- Do it both sitting and standing.
Today was a good lesson. There is plenty of work for you to do here, haha. But I know you can do it. Remember: if it wasn’t hard then you wouldn’t be improving as a guitarist. I look forward to seeing your progress in 2 weeks, Efe. Good luck in school and I’ll see you on December 20th!
Preferred Books for Gergely’s Students
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Hal Leonard Guitar Method
The second edition of this world-famous method by Will Schmid and Greg Koch is preferred by teachers because it makes them more effective while making their job easier. Students enjoy its easy-to-follow format that gives them a solid music education while letting them play songs right away. Book 1 provides beginning instruction including tuning, 1st position melody playing, C, G, G7, D7, and Em chords, rhythms through eighth notes, solos and ensembles and strumming.
Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests
