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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Homework for April 15-22
Maya
Great work today Maya!! Here is this week’s homework:
Recommended min to practice: 10-15 per day
What to practice: C-D-E, Rainbow, Baby Bear (spend more time on C-D-E because you are playing that for the the recital)
How to practice:
C-D-E- focus on rhythm. Know when you are playing quarter notes and when you are playing half notes. Practice with the metronome, and follow the clicks exactly, do not rush or lag behind.
Baby Bear- line 3 remember the pattern -C-D-E going up, then C, then E-D-C going down.
How parents can support practice- listen and guide. Help with preparation of the recital. Supervise her progress in the rhythm of C-D-E, making sure she practices correctly and uses the metronome.
See you next week :)
Saturday, April 11th
Jack
We have been warming up with Visual Drumset Method, and continue working on Seven Nation Army. By the end of class, Jack was able to play the Interlude phrase. Next step for him, is to play the verse pattern at a certain amount of repeats, and transition into Interlude and eventually play that whole section with the music.
Adam
We worked on several things today. We worked through some stick control page 5, and I have assigned page 10 to him for this coming week. Moving on from just eighth notes, this is to train dexterity and rhythmic sense around 16th notes. Practise in repetition with metronome, and pay attention to which hand you land on after the 16th notes. Then we chose our next song, which is RHCP’s Under the Bridge. I would first like him to work on the rimshot. Keep the back end of the stick always on the drum, and aim for always one sound, slightly muffled. Let’s aim to get the first two lines down. Attaching the link to the drive again in case you have trouble finding the music.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XSqHcZP_SxYA0G4XB7aF2ZJOf4uSYwAn?usp=drive_link
Nicolas and Santino
The brothers worked on Uptown Funk together. Santino on drums, Nicolas on mallet. I taught them how to play the intro and the pre chorus and had them play it together. This is to train ensemble playing while building knowledge of basic rock patterns for Santino. We will try to link more sections together next class.
Efe October 4th
Hi Efe and family! Here is the material to work on for this week.
Aim to do this practice routine once a day leading up to our next lesson. I’ve written out ideally how long Efe should practice these items in a day. If practicing in these time-lengths is not possible, then do as much as is possible in a day.
- Play everything here with a metronome. Tempos are listed for each item.
- Practice both standing and sitting. Maintain proper posture as we discussed in class. For classical positioning, have the guitar head high up. For casual positioning, have the guitar head far forward. Remember, we’re always aiming to make both wrists fairly straight.
- Please get the Guitar Method 1 book this week. The Amazon link is attached. The videos of the scales we covered today are accessible in the homework post from 2 weeks ago.
- Practice the following pieces from the Guitar Method 1 book:
Alternate pick the following pieces (picking Down-Up-Down-Up):
- Page 8 #11. 55BPM. One quarter note per beat. — 5 minutes.
- Page 9 #12, #13, and #14. 55BPM. One quarter note per beat. — Make sure to read the paragraph at piece 14. — 10 minutes altogether.
- I want Efe to start getting into the habit of alternate picking things. This will be done in countless other guitar playing he will come across.
Down pick the following piece (only pick down):
- Page 9 #15. 55BPM. One quarter note per beat. 5 minutes.
- C major scale. 45BPM. One quarter note per beat. — 10 minutes.
- A minor pentatonic scale. 45BPM. One quarter note per beat. — 10 minutes.
- Chords. Keep playing all the chords we have covered so far. Just play them freely, to a tempo no faster than 60BPM. — 5 minutes.
You can do this, Efe. It will only get easier with time. See you in a week!
Efe homework – Sep 27th
Hello Efe and family! Wishing you guys a great weekend!
Below is the rundown of material to work on from today’s lesson. Aim to do this practice routine once a day leading up to our next lesson.
- Practice everything with a metronome.
Tempos are listed for each item.
- Please get the Guitar Method 1 book this week. The Amazon link is attached. There is homework from it. Aside from this, the videos of the scales we covered today are accessible in the homework of last week.
- Play the guitar both standing and sitting. Try playing all the chords we’ve covered so far, both while seated and while standing. – 10 minutes.
Make sure you’re always wearing a guitar strap. This will ensure that your posture on the instrument is good regardless of whether you’re standing or sitting.
- C Major scale – 10 minutes. 45 BPM.
This is a classical scale. Its fingerings were found out by Andrés Segovia. He found that these were the most efficient possible fingerings for the major and minor scales on the classical guitar. Playing this scale and anything else from classical music calls on the most efficient and strict posture on the whole body of the guitarist. This means that the guitar head must be held so high that the instrument looks almost like a cello. As well, your thumb must be behind the guitar neck so that no one from in front of you can see it. So whether standing or sitting, make sure that the guitar is positioned in such a way that the wrists are straight. Remember, the adjusting the strap properly will help. Playing this scale in any other way will result in injury of the guitarist’s hands or body.
- A minor pentatonic scale – 10 minutes. 45 BPM.
This scale is used in the genres rock, pop, folk, country, heavy metal, and more. For these genres, it is not quite as strict how the guitar must be held. However, the rule I will enforce is that you play with the guitar head pushed forward, away from your body. Remember, twisting the wrist slightly will help you get the right position. Also: having the thumb on top of the guitar neck (as opposed to the classical hand position) is a good thing to help you maintain a suitable posture for this scale.
- Practice pieces 2 and 3 from page 6 of the Guitar Method 1 book. Then try playing as much as you want of anything from page 7. – 15 minutes. 60 BPM.
While they might be good beginner pieces, the challenge here will be to make sure you’re playing right on the beat of the metronome. I noticed that playing things exactly on the beat was more of a struggle today.
Thank you for your work this past week, Efe. Keep it up! You’ve got this! 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
