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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Thursday, April 23rd
Josh
After briefly taking a break from Wonderwall, we went back to it this week. However it seems like Josh didn’t practise it at all and has completely forgotten the pattern. By the end of the class he was able to pick it back up. I talked to him about the importance of even just practising a short 5 minutes everyday, as that goes a long way, even just for remembering what we worked on in lesson.
Aleksander
We worked on playing Bring Me to Life with the track. Overall he did very well observing the guitar riff and playing with it, and the half time section at bar 46 is the part that he found challenging. We will try to play page 2 with the track next week.
Francisco
We worked on The Trooper and talked about the kind of exercise he should do to get himself up to speed. The tip here is to use the pinky finger to tap the stick back when playing fast 16th notes as well as triplets. Try to work till bar 24 for this week.
Finn
We worked through Clocks today in preparation for the recital. We did several play through, and talked about performance etiquette and the mental preparation before starting and not to try to rush to the end when close to it. The song is in a ABA structure, meaning it returns to the beginning theme at the end. I told him when the beginning theme returns, he should treat it like the beginning, and mentally prepare himself the same way. Try doing some performance simulation at home this week in preparation for the performance.
Mateo
Mateo has been making great progress with Labios Compartidos and this week we ended the class with a play through of first two pages. He made great progress this past week tackling those tricky bars and getting in and out of it. My goal for him this week is to finish the last page and we will move on to a new song next week.
Koel
We briefly tried out Superstition this week because Koel told me he won’t have too much time to practise these coming weeks due to exams. I gave the song to him hoping to challenge him to read some rather unconventional rhythm pattern, while also adapting the swung 16th feel. I would like for him to try reading those patterns whenever he has time these coming weeks.
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!
Efe – November 1st
Hi Efe and family! Wishing you a great weekend!
Below are the items I’d like Efe to work on this week.
Ode to Joy
- The circled areas on the sheet music only. I’d like these played more fluidly.
- 68bpm.
Blues
- I haven’t revealed the note names or the frets for this piece. The exercise is to locate the notes on the guitar. We did this in class and Efe did well on it. Doing this at home is a fair challenge for him.
Little Drummer Boy in D Major
— Listen to this. (This line should provide you with a link. If it doesn’t, then search up Little Drummer Boy by Pentatonix.) This is a modern version of the song. The key they perform it in is different from ours. Ours is in D Major. (I’ll talk about keys in more detail next time.) I just want you to get to know how the song is supposed to sound when sung with at least one voice.
— Play this song at both 70bpm and 115bpm.
- The video within this Google Drive link is of me demonstrating the strumming pattern and some transitions of the song at both tempos. https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1cURXZdyFoL_6FZX5V4COTxCljwXKq8wO
- It may be helpful to practice alongside the video; in that you do what I’m doing in the video.
— The 2 pictures in the above Google Drive link have the strumming pattern and the sequence of the chords.
- I’ve shortened it; this way, you’ll be learning the main parts of it.
— The strumming pattern is the exact same all throughout. Every chord has the same strumming pattern. The only difference is the last bar, which is just an open D chord; I’ve highlighted this in green.
— The first strum is circled. It should be the loudest one for each bar; so, strum it the hardest :)
— The only tab I’ve written is the frets for each chord. We looked at each of these 3 chords in class today so holding them down properly should not feel new.
— Try this song both standing and sitting.
- In both ways of playing, remember to push the guitar head outward from your body. (Or as I usually say, forward.) Remember the triangle analogy from today. Point your guitar and your left hand out from roughly the centre of your body. Doing so will help you maintain proper posture in both of your wrists.
Good work this past week, Efe. Keep it up! See you in a week!
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!
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
