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 May 27-June 3
Nova
Excellent work today! Here’s this week’s homework:
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 per day
What to practice: A minor and E minor scales, If I Were A Rich Man, Mixed up Song
How to Practice:
Scales- Be aware of which accidentals to use when. Remember that natural minors have the same accidentals as the relative major, and harmonic minors are the same except they add a raised 7th. Review the circle of 5ths.
If I Were A Rich Man- fix staccato sections. Practice the straight eighth section with abnormal rhythms and round fingers. The section at the bottom is called a sequence- a pattern repeated on different starting notes. Add dynamics.
How parents can support practice: Listen and guide. Remind them to work on staccato.
See you next week :)
Saturday, May 23rd
Jack
We continued working on Imperial March on the xylophone, but this time with a note reading component added to it. We start learning about the staff in treble clef, and drawing a connection between the keyboard and the staff. Together we notated the first phrase of the march on the staff, and will try learn more melodies, building that connection and rudimentary note reading skill.
Adam
I have assigned two new two bar phrases pattern for Adam to work on in the Drumset Musician book, as well as worked through the first page of Under the Bridge with him. Despite having no access to the drum set at home, Adam has a strong memory of the pattern, and was able to play through big chunks. The only pattern that needs slight reminding, is a pre-chorus drum solo, that has the rhythm “blue berry” starting it. We will work on to second page next week.
Jonah
We continue our journey through orchestral excerpts, working on the main excerpt of American in Paris. I emphasise the importance of getting it right the first time with Jonah for audition purposes, and how to mentally prepare for such occasions. We also slightly dipped into Shostakovich Symphony no 10 looking at the snare drum excerpt, with a brief introduction on four-stroke ruffs.
Finn
Finn’s Otherside is coming together super well, now playing the rhythm and the pattern fairly accurate. We spent most of the class connecting the main chorus pattern with the fill that ends the section. Next I introduced him to the Bridge pattern on page 2. I assigned the right hand to play all the floor tom notes with left hand doing everything else. By remembering that, it minimises any unnecessary movements.
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 — April 18th
Hi Efe!
I know this week will be super busy for you, so I’m making this practice plan super specific. So that you don’t waste time practicing anything you don’t need for now. Remember, our priority is for you to play at the recital. It’s only 2 weeks away, so that’s all we’re gonna be working on for now.
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Google Drive Apr 18th. The newest video is in this Google Drive link. This is the only video you need for this week.
— For all the parts you would be playing alongside the video to practice, slow the video down to 0.5x speed. — Remember, 168BPM might not be what you’ll actually play it at on the day of. I just want you playing it comfortably.
- 84BPM is what I want you practicing this piece at, if you don’t have access to this video.
— At about 15 minutes in, the sound quality of this video is awful. It only gets worse from there. I didn’t have time to fix the issue. So I have run down what is covered when in the video. Seeing it with the information below should help you navigate the video and practice with it.
— The rundown:
- Specific exercises are detailed in the first 15 minutes. There are no major sound quality issues in this excerpt of the video. — Most of these involve playing pairs of bars individually; so two bars at a time, and with a bar of rest right after. Keep repeating this. Each exercise consists of repetitions of the given bars with a bar of rest right after. — Do this for all the pairs of bars that are highlighted in this video.
- 15:15 — The “another ending” part of Riff 2 described. All down-strummed. This part’s about remembering to count for yourself where you are in the music. — In this case: count 16 quarter notes of the B5 chord.
- 16:05 — The updated Riff 3. Powerchords, now. Instead of the single notes I was gonna get you to play. All down-strummed. — For where you see the powerchord with frets 2 & 4: As described, do fret 0 on the low E string and fret 2 on the A string. Fret 2 being held with finger 1.
- 16:45 — Powerchord with frets 3 & 5 instead of frets 5 & 7. The C5 chord on the A & D strings.
- 16:55 — More powerchords with the same idea; practice it two frets down from what the video shows.
- 17:10 — A fairly hard transition. It’s a pretty big jump with fingers 1 and 4.
- 17:35 — 17:10’s pair of bars to practice.
- 18:20 — The frets 3 & 3 unusual powerchord. (Frets 1 & 1 for this week.) Use finger 1 on the A string and finger 2 on the D string. Just these 2 strings. Remember: A challenge with the powerchords will be to hit only the 2 (or 3) strings that are in them.
- 19:55 — Riff 3 w different ending — All down-strummed.
- 20:15 — The very ending. — This is played twice as fast as its preceding powerchords. — Same practice plan: do that bar, do a bar of rest. Repeatedly.
- 21:48 — Me giving some closing remarks that you won’t be able to hear, haha.
— The PDF of this song is also in that G Drive. I recommend that you print it out and work with it, too.
— I am pushing you to do a little bit each day. These goals are made so that they’re all realistic for you to be able to achieve in a maximum of 2 weeks’ time.
You’ve got this, Efe. I’ve seen that you know what to do. Now you must push on to be better for next week! I’ll see you then!
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
