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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Assignments from Thursday April 9th
Hello Everybody!
I hope you all had a great Easter weekend!
Georgia
Because of Georgia’s busy schedule, please encourage her to practice at least 5 minutes everyday. Even briefly reading over the notes on the page should help Georgia’s memory throughout the week and ensure she feels confident with the material for our next lesson. For this week Georgia should warm up by reviewing her C Major and G Major chords both broken and solid and all their inversions. She has a sheet that shows her how to do this. We will add more chords next week. She should practice “The Rainbow” hands together, and both “Good Morning to You” and “Happy Birthday to You”. These two new songs are very similar, but Georgia should make a note of any differences between the two songs. We will look at these more next week.
Noreet
For this week Noreet should practice her scales out of key order. She likes to play each scale one after the other, adding sharps and flats as she goes. This week, to help her memorize each key signature she should play scales randomly from the list to challenge her and to make sure she knows which sharps and flats specifically belong to which key signature. You can help quiz her. Refer to the sheet of scales and randomly choose one for her to practice. If she needs to refer to the Circle of 5ths to double check the key signature of the chosen scale before she plays, she should do so. She can also practice Kitch-iti-Kippi hands together. She should pay close attention to which chords are Major and which chords are minor in the B section of the song.
Andrew
This week keep singing Empty Chairs at Empty tables. Focus specifically on the end, making note of any part in the song you would like to look at together. You can warm up with the 5 tone scales ascending and descending. Also try the faster repeated 5 tone scale (5 tones ascending and descending 3 times) to train some agility in the voice. This scale will work best on forward, narrow vowels like an E or A. This scale will be easier to sing in your lower range. As you ascend, you might find that your throat starts to grip at the notes and might feel more tension the higher the notes get. Your singing straws should help alleviate this tension. Finally, make a list of songs you would like to work on so we can start something new next class!
Thank you Everyone!
Enjoy the fresh spring weather and I will see you all next week!
Efe — Apr 11th
Hi Efe! Wishing you a great week!
Here’s the outlook on this month.
The recital is May 2nd. The priority for you right now is to perform for the recital. Hence we’re putting the music reading and other guitar studies on hold for the time being.
You’re going to be playing the 3 main riffs of Boulevard of Broken Dreams for the recital.
— Practice the first 2 of these in Em (E minor); the way I showed it in class.
- The first one: Em, G, D, A.
- The second one: C5, G5, D5, Em. (The 5’s just mean that they’re powerchords. Remember to use fingers 1 and 4 for these.)
— The 3rd one: Use this Unlisted YouTube video to practice it with. March 18th Video. The key here is F# minor. Slow the video down to 0.75x speed when practicing with it.
- At minute 4:50 is where I start demonstrating this last riff.
- Regarding the vibrato: Just try to do some with your Left Hand fingers going left-right-left-right-left-right. The thumb must be located directly behind where the fingers are doing the vibrato on the guitar neck. Also, whatever number of finger is on the fretboard must have your other Left Hand fingers pressed down on the frets to its left. It is stronger and therefore more comfortable vibrato this way. Examples: Finger 3 vibrato means fingers 1 and 2 must also be on the fretboard. Finger 4 vibrato means fingers 1, 2, and 3 must also be on the fretboard. — These other fingers on the fretboard should each be on a fret, all right next to one another. (Not the most important thing out of this week’s work; I’ll tell you more about this next week. Just give it a try.)
I’m going to make an arrangement of these riffs in one seamless piece of music.
— This arrangement is now here, at this Unlisted YouTube video link: April 15th Link
- Slow the video down to 0.5x speed when practicing with it. For now. I know the video says 0.6x, but that’s a step I’m hoping you’ll be able to achieve in another week.
- Regarding playing speed: We’ll soon choose the final speed as a goal at which you’ll be playing this for the recital.
Enjoy the strumming patterns. Playing strumming patterns is one of the exciting things about playing the guitar.
Remember to do at least a little bit of practice for this everyday.
Good seeing you again today, 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
