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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Latest Homework from Gergely
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Efe — May 30th
Hi Efe! Great seeing you today!
Here’s what to look at for this week.
— Gm (G minor) “jazzy” scale
- See the picture in this Google Drive. — The closest scale to this one is the Gm natural scale.
- As discussed in class, play around in this scale for fun. The only rule is don’t stray away from these notes or frets. — The red squares are the frets you’d play. Aside from this, the open strings G, B, and the high E string are part of this scale, too.
- The section highlighted in blue is of the area on the fretboard where you would be playing this scale.
- The section highlighted in purple is of the part of the scale that’s chromatic. That’s the rather funny part. This is where you can make a particularly jazzy sound with this scale.
- Here are 2 backing tracks that you can play along with. Jazz backing track 1. Jazz backing track 2. There are jazzy sounding chords in these; you’ll see some 7th chords, like we were discussing.
— Enter Sandman
- Its first “lick,” as us guitarists call it.
- See my Unlisted YouTube video of how to play it. Enter Sandman 1st lick.
- You’ll find the PDF of this in the Google Drive.
- How to practice this: 60% of your practice should be you playing it slowly (0.75x speed). 30% of it should be done at a somewhat higher speed (0.85x speed). 10% of it at full speed (1x speed). Going in this order— slowest to fastest. Adjust the speed with the YouTube widget to the appropriate speeds.
— Make sure you show your parents these Homework Posts every time you receive them anew.
- And please talk to your Dad to see if he can access the Client Comments. If it’s linked to his email, then he should have access to them.
- I’ll iron out yours and my scheduling questions at the school as soon as possible.
- You’ll hear from me on the Client Comments page very soon. So once you have access to it, please check that page everyday.
I may or may not see you in a week. Good luck in your exams! Talk again soon!
Assignments from Thursday May 28th
Hello Everybody!
I hope you’re all enjoying the warm weather we’ve been having!
Noreet:
This week please have Noreet listen to different recordings of the Ode to Joy so that she can compare the style of each. Practice more energized playing through the finger tip to enhance the celebratory feel of the song. Use softer articulation in the fingers by pressing lightly on the keys to help the line feel lighter and flow more freely. Lean into the build up towards the end during the ottava section (8va), then pull back to build the anticipation for that final chord! Pay close attention to the dynamics of the piece to help build the excitement of the song – specifically phrases that crescendo/decrescendo!
Review the notes in the first two phrases of Our Detective Agency! The unfamiliar notes are written in for you and I’ve divided the phrase where the left hand takes over for the right in the eighth note group. We will add onto this next week.
Clara:
Warm up with B flat Major hands separately.
For the Andante, practice with lighter articulation when playing at faster tempos to allow for quick, precise eighth notes – specifically in the left hand. Review both the right hand and left hand of the song at a slow tempo while counting out loud to ensure your rhythms are precise.
When practicing Ukrainian Folk Song, use lighter articulation during the first phrase to help you play faster eighth notes. Lighter pressure, not more, will help the notes sound faster. Use the first note of your thumb to help your hand launch into the upper eighth notes. Play the B section under tempo and count out loud while playing the dotted eighth note/sixteenth note groups. These should be counted as one – e- and – a with the sixteenth note sounding on the “a”. Just like the tied triplets in Pink Panther, the sixteenth note comes in at the very last second of the bar.
Andrew:
The recordings for your vocal warm up have been uploaded to the google drive here. You can use the recording with the reference voice as a starting point for specific exercises we tried in class. Feel free to use the solo piano recordings to warm up with other words and vowels. Play with this, choose a vowel you like and apply it to the scale. You can also add voiced consonances (M, N, V) to help you pitch the note on the scale creating sounds like “M-Uh” “V-Aw” or “N-ee”. Apply these to both the 5-tone scale and the Triad scale.
To practice a more speech-like placement for the beginning of the song, sing the melody of the first verse on “May”. Emphasize the “M” to help bring out a more speech-like tone. For the first chorus part, to play with the lighter, breathy placement, try this on a “wee”. Use the “w” to help find that light head voice placement. Finally, when practicing the bigger belter parts of the song, use words like “N’yeah” “No” and “Nee”. The N sound should help provide a more whiny, nasal placement that will allow for a resonant belt sound.
Thank you everyone!
Happy practicing!
Efe — May 2nd
Hi Efe!
Proceed to check out the bands I described in last week’s Homework Post.
— An artist I’m adding: Megadeth.
- The same way: be warned about the content in their music. It’s controversial and dark.
Acoustic Open
Here’s the link to its Unlisted YouTube video. Link.
— Work on the first 16 bars.
- Practice it at 0.75x speed.
- Remember: finger 3 is never used in these bars. There are a lot of stretchy Left Hand positions and fingerings here. Be mindful of posture and push the guitar forward from your left side. — Anytime there’s a question relating to posture and the comfort & strength of your Left Hand, it’s usually helpful to push the guitar forward from your left side.
- Alternate picked. Pay close attention to this. Down-Up Down-Up Down-Up. (It can help to know that Down is usually played a bit louder than Up.) Where there are rests, just down-pick.
— The goals:
- LH (Left Hand) technique, in those stretchy positions.
- Getting used to alternate picking.
- Learning to locate the where what notes are played on the fretboard from the musical notation.
See you in a week!
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!
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
