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.
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Latest Homework from Gergely
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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!
Assignments from April 30th
Hello Everybody!
This semester’s progress reports have gone out! Please review these and let me know if you have any questions. Also, just a reminder that our recital has been postponed to June! Official date TBD, but all students should be reviewing their chosen piece over the next few weeks so they’re ready to play in June!
Georgia
Georgia has chosen the Minuet and Trio for the recital in June! She should continue to practice playing this song in the next coming weeks. We reviewed the C Major and G Major triads this week as well. Georgia should use these as a warm up, playing the root/first inversion/second inversion/root pattern both broken and solid. Georgia’s dedication to practicing this week was evident! Keep it up!
Noreet
Noreet has chosen Ode to Joy for the recital in June! When practicing this song, please encourage Noreet to watch the notes on the page and not her hands. She can glance to double check her hand positioning, but her eyeline should be on the page, not the keys. For warm up this week Noreet can continue to use the chromatic scale, starting on C. She should also start practicing her scales hands together! Start with C Major and G Major hands together, we will add more next week.
Clara
This week we reviewed Ukrainian Folk song, which is a contender for the recital in June! When practicing this song this week, Clara should review each hand separately. She should focus specifically on the left hand and the contour of the line to make sure Clara can confidently navigate the bass notes while playing hands together. Ask her to identify the interval of any large jumps and to circle the passing or neighboring tones she sees in the bass line to help deepen Clara’s understanding of the components of the phrase. When practicing the whole song hands together, Clara should focus on bringing the song up to tempo. She can start under, at 80BPM, and slowly increase from there. Should she start to drag as the tempo increases, remind her to go back and review individual bars slowly, hands together, before trying the whole phrase again up to tempo.
Thank you everyone!
See you all next 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!
Efe November 29th
Hi Efe! Here’s a list of today’s homework in detail.
E Major string crossing
- 65BPM fastest. Strictly. — Do this alongside my video.
- Practice it as we did in class. 8 reps, 2 bars of rest. Then do that again. Until 5 whole minutes have passed.
- Pay close attention to one hand at a time. Take time to correct what mistakes might be done on one of the hands. Then do the same with the other hand. The mistakes I saw today: the picking pattern was not being followed; ingrain the habit of picking this down-up-down-up. The left hand fingerings were not being followed; it is always supposed to be 4, 1, 2, 0. Never use finger 3.
Goals:
- String crossing. I want to ensure that this is not such an issue later on. Many guitarists have this as a weakness even in their later years. It’s best to iron it out now.
- Picking patterns. Learning and sticking to the (picking) directions in a tab.
- Physical prep of the whole body when playing these techniques. Playing with worse posture will inevitably make your music sound worse or your body feel worse.
D & G chords’ transitioning
- Keep trying with this.
- Get the chords’ fingerings right. The main issue was with the D chord today.
Goals:
- Get used to the different postures of the wrist we’ve been talking about.
- Get accustomed to the wrist posture that is farthest out from the body. Remember: the guitar body should hang a little lower than your right knee. This will allow space for your left hand wrist to work properly.
Posture
- Play any chord or single note with proper posture.
- Remember: Straight, Strong, Comfortable. These things will ensure that your body is in good posture. This is important because I don’t want you to build bad habits or get any injuries.
- Standing
- Sitting
Goals:
- This is a very basic exercise told in order for you build the habit of having proper and reliable in all of your body. From your legs up to your head. — Keep ensuring that you’re following all the directions that result in maintaining good posture. See my pictures in this Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1cURXZdyFoL_6FZX5V4COTxCljwXKq8wO
Little Drummer Boy
- Its faster tempo — Do this both with the video of the melody and without it.
- Its slower tempo — Do this with both the video of me strumming and without it.
Goals:
- Learning to fluidly play alongside a melody.
- Get the feeling of strumming a song.
- Get the feeling of this song’s strumming pattern.
I know that these exercises can be frustrating. But you can do it, Efe. Remember: This process is not an overnight change. Keep on going strong!
See you in a week!
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
