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!
Coming soon!
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Efe — Apr 25th
Hi Efe,
It was a productive class today.
Having talked about exploring the realms of guitar music out there, here are the bands and musical styles I recommend that you check out. These are the ones we looked at today that you liked more.
Led Zeppelin
- Classic Hard Rock.
- Guitarist Jimmy Page. A rock icon. Influenced numerous guitarists.
- Endless soloing. Countless riffs made.
- Emotive playing.
- A vast discography of rock music to listen to.
AC/DC
- Hard Rock.
- Angus Young. Famous player with iconic riffs and solos.
- Countless songs. A forebear of undying rock ’n’ roll spirit; to this day, they carry the torch of rock ’n’ roll.
Zakk Wylde
- Warning: the material covered in his music is often grim and/or quite dark.
- Groove Metal.
- You liked his style of riffing.
Deep Purple
- Progressive Rock.
- Some on the Water.
- Cool scales and some emotive playing.
Ben Higgins’s channel
- Here’s the guy whose material we were looking at today. His YouTube channel: Link.
- He specializes in getting faster on the instrument and in improving technique. — I don’t recommend you buying the subscription on his website.
- A video put together and played by him that inspired me: Link.
Remember my warning regarding rock ‘n’ roll music out there: a lot of it can be quite dark and/or inappropriate. But I know you’re a 13 year old guy, and I trust you to discern and make good judgements on what you come across online.
There won’t be a lesson next week. Because of the recital. The recital starts at 1pm and it’s at the school’s Oakwood location. I recommend you guys get there a bit early so as to ensure you’ll all get seats in the audience. I’ll see you there next week!
Homework for April 23-30
Great work today everybody! I enjoyed teaching you. Here is this week’s homework:
Georgia
Recommended mins to practice: 15-20 min per day
What to practice: Minuet/Trio
How to practice: Slow, hands separate until you’re very comfortable, then try hands together. Pay attention to the 3/4 timing. Continue to count out loud like you did in the lesson, it will help. You improved drastically from the beginning of the lesson to the end.
How parents can support practice: Listen and guide her with rhythm. Give positive encouragement.
Noreet
Recommended mins to practice: 15-20 min per day
What to practice: The Daydream, kitchki
How to practice:
The Daydream- use piano dynamics as written when playing the major version. Practice the minor version more so that you are prepared to play it without stumbling, since you don’t have music to look at for that part.
Kitchki- play the chromatic scale the same speed as you play the chords, even if that means you have to slow down the chromatic scale to accommodate the chords.
How parents can support practice: Listen and guide as needed.
Clara
Recommended mins to practice: 15-20 minutes per day
What to practice: Pink Panther, Ukrainian Folk Song
How to practice:
Pink Panther- play more with dynamics. Start quiet and then play loud at the climax.
Ukrainian song- review the two spots we discussed in line 2. Practice lines 3 and 4 hands separate, then once very comfortable try hands together.
How parents can support practice: Listen and guide as needed.
Andrew
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-30 minutes a day
What to practice: On My Own, breathing exercises
How to practice:
To warm up, inhale for 4 and exhale for 4, then inhale for 4, hold for 4, and exhale for 4, and finally inhale for 4, hold for 4, and exhale for 8. Place your hand on your diaphragm to feel it rising and falling.
On My Own (this can also be applied to any song or technique), practice opening your throat, lifting the soft palate, and relaxing facial muscles. This will help ease the tension when hitting high notes and overall healthier singing. With any song, it takes practice to get used to the amount of energy you need to get through the whole piece. Pace yourself; follow the emotional arc of the song and save singing at full volume for the moments you really need to.
Efe – October 25th
Hi Efe and family! Wishing you guys a great week!
Ode to Joy was looking quite good today. I’m very happy with where we are for this piece.
Below are the following items of homework for Efe this week: an exercise and a piece aimed at the improvement of the techniques we’ve been working on lately. There’s also a game I’ve given Efe to play.
Outside picking on the circled areas of Ode to Joy.
- 20 minutes a day.
- 68bpm.
- Work on these most of all. They’re the hardest things to work on this week.
- Spend time working on these circled areas alone in one day, if that’s all you have time for.
- It’s important that we isolate these hard parts of a piece first. Without doing so, the following problem will take place: when playing an entire piece from beginning to end, the same mistakes are made over and over. Whether the mistakes are technical or in the sound of the music. Hence, we must work on the hard parts first so that they are sounding clean. Then after this, we can connect all the parts into a seamless piece of music.
Ode to Joy — the whole piece.
- 15 minutes a day.
- 68bpm.
- Like I said: only do this part once the hard parts are not so hard anymore.
Strumming game.
- 10 minutes a day.
Play any chord you know well with the strumming pattern in the following picture. Do each tempo I have given. Then play it at whatever tempo you want. It should feel fun. This is a game to play and to try out different tempos in. It’s also a great chance to experiment with how to strum chords. (Since your guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic, Efe, you can strike the strings fairly hard. Not too hard, of course, because you don’t want to damage your guitar.)
- 75bpm.
- 68bpm.
- A tempo of your choosing.
- I’ve changed the strumming pattern slightly.
— This is the amount of strumming that happens in 2 separate bars. That black line in the middle represents the separation of the bars. The dots at the top represent the 4 quarter notes that fit within each bar.
— I’ve circled the Downward arrows so as to emphasize that these are the strums that are supposed to sound louder. They should feel “stronger” than the upward arrows.
Lastly:
- Every 5 minutes during practice, check to see how the left hand is looking. Make sure it is as straight as possible while playing. Feel free to manipulate the guitar’s position relative to your body in order to achieve a straighter wrist.
- Use a metronome for all the parts that I’ve added a specific tempo.
- These times are just what I would ask to be done within a day ideally. I know it’s not always possible, so just do what you can everyday. For example, the 30 minutes on 3 or more days this past week was effective. Good work on that.
Keep up the good work, Efe. I’ll see you in a week!
Efe – October 18th
Hi Efe and family! Below is the homework for this week. The lower section covers the piece we went over in class today. The higher section describes some important practicing principles that go for all of the work we’ll be doing going forward, as well as a great amount of the music practice you will do later in your life.
Principles to be mindful of
- 30 minutes a day is a great amount. I’m very pleased to hear that this is what you often do, Efe. If it isn’t possible for one week here or there, it’s okay. It happens. But in those cases, I would like you to still try and practice for at least 5 minutes everyday. As we discussed, it is better to do 5 minutes of practice everyday leading up to our lesson than to do only one day for a much longer time.
- For the harder parts of any piece I give you, make sure you practice those separately. Spend time only on those bars, if that’s all you have time for in one day. Then once they’re comfortable (that is, without any mistakes and you know exactly what you’re doing), you may attempt to play them as part of the whole song played from start to finish. So: this week, start by working on those hard parts that I circled in Ode to Joy.
Ode to Joy – Page 10, song number 17
- Be mindful of the picking directions. I’m strict with this, because it is an important technique that I want you to start learning. It’s called alternate picking. I circled the hard parts in the Guitar Method 1 book. Like I said, practice these separately.
- Economy picking is also an important technique on the guitar. This is the technique wherein we don’t just pick up and down, but rather we also include two consecutive down picks or two consecutive up picks as we play. We will look at this more in later lessons, but for now, it is important that you start to get into the habit of alternate picking. Hence, I’m giving you pieces that require only this picking technique for now.
- Go no faster than 57bpm. For everything in this piece. One quarter note per beat.
I can see that you’re absorbing the concepts I’ve been teaching in class. I’m pleased to see it and I’m proud of you, Efe. I know you’ll be busy, but like I said: if the 30 minute practice goal is not realistic, then please just do a minimum of 5 minutes a day.
Thank you! 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
