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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Efe – Jan 24th
Hi Efe and family! Wishing you guys a great week! Here is what to look at this week.
Em (E minor) pentatonic scale
Memorize the new frets added to this scale. — This Google Drive shows the frets.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1faNAHa6PfakFLpwZRjcAnOtmbvmd74Os?usp=drive_link
Play with this scale over this backing track. The same as before. Slow Em Blues backing track
Experiment with:
- Different speeds. There is no such thing as “too slow” for this.
- Pull-offs
- Palm-muting
- Bending
- Vibrato
- Different rhythms
- The limiting yourself rule. Take any set of rules to limit yourself with. For example, play only two notes. Yes, its boring; but 2 things will come out of that: 1, you will get creative with what cool things you can do with only two notes. You would be amazed at how much you can actually make with just two possibilities of notes. You’ll make things up that you never thought of, and that you never thought you could do. But you can. Don’t underestimate the possibilities of using only two notes. 2, if you really can’t resist the temptation to play other notes, then this is okay, too. Playing this limiting game will inevitably make your mind think of other cool possibilities of notes to play. Feel free to get creative with this :) This, too, is a fascinating thing to see. Let yourself do it and don’t be afraid!
- And also the powerchords. Any of the notes of this scale on the lowest 3 strings (remember, we speak upside down in guitar :) can help you make a powerchord. The only one I want you to refrain from playing is the D5 chord; I haven’t explained that one yet.
— For the 0-fret root note powerchords A5 and E5. They’re named with fives because this chord only has the fifth of that letter. In these two cases: a’s fifth is e, and e’s fifth is b. the 0, the 2, and the 2. Ideally use fingers 2 and 3 for each of those chords.
— 3pm to 6pm type strumming. Remember: this is mostly because of follow through. — IF it’s not too uncomfortable, have your finger 3 touch the string below it. It will mute the string below. So, hitting four strings at once is now something you can do, since the fourth string won’t ring.
You don’t have to do all of the techniques listed here. But what I do want you to do is spend 15 minutes on the 2-notes-only game. Then 15 minutes on the game wherein you start with 2 notes, but allow yourself to play other ones if you feel the urge to do so.
Have fun with it!
A different guitar
As I explained, I strongly encourage you to go and get a guitar that is both smaller and has nylon strings. The current guitar has too many drawbacks that are preventing Efe from being able to progress efficiently. It is good for him to practice bending and vibrato, which a nylon string guitar would indeed not be a helpful guitar for. But besides that, its strings are just too heavy to be able to play most things we’ll be covering in class. Including Smells Like Teen Spirit.
The options you could look for:
Acoustic nylon string guitar
- Nylon strings — these are light compared to the steel strings
- Usable for multiple genres of music
- Good for long term pedagogical use — that is, it’s technically a better choice in terms of being able to play in (some) more genres. Things like classical and flamenco music are playable on this instrument. The electric guitar won’t be as good for this.
Electric guitar
- Varying gauges of steel strings — start with “nines.” (The music stores will know what you mean if you say this.) This is one of the most common gauges of strings and they’re quite light to play on.
- Bends and vibrato are much more doable.
- Great for additional effects to play with; like pedals and harmonics.
- Good for long term use in the following genre groups: rock, jazz, country. There are many, many sub-genres of these three groups. So this type of guitar is great for all of these things; it just won’t be able to fulfill all the needs that classical and/or flamenco music need.
- Knowing you, Efe, I think you are more interested in these types of music rather than classical or flamenco music.
For now, you don’t need a guitar that has more than 19 frets.
The music store I go to is called Snider School of Music, and it’s just north of Yonge and Lawrence. 3225 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M4N 2L3
This store may still give the option of giving them the guitar to be sold, through which you’ll get the majority of that money when the guitar is sold.
Their prices are usually cheaper than chains like Long & McQuade. Plus, if you get one that’s used, it will be even cheaper.
Renting a guitar is another option.
If getting a different guitar is not possible right now, the I understand. If this is the case then I’m going to think of a new solution.
Smells Like Teen Spirit — I have purposely left out Smells Like Teen Spirit this week, as it is not a reasonable thing to practice with your current guitar.
This was an awesome class today, Efe. Make sure you have fun with these improvisation games! See you in a week!
Assignments from January 22nd
Hello Everybody:
I hope you’re all staying warm this weekend!
Georgia:
For this week, Georgia is to continue practicing “Waltz Time”. The song is in good shape, Georgia is playing the phrases smoothly and accurately, but sometimes needs clarification on certain notes. To help Georgia connect the names of the keys to the names of the notes on the page, please ask her to practice the song slowly and to name the notes out loud as she plays the keys. Practicing the song this way will also challenge Georgia to watch the sheet music as she plays instead of her hands. She also has worksheet on the page after “Waltz Time” that she is to fill out for class next week. The sheet asks her to assign a tempo marking to each line of music, add the missing bar lines to each phrase, and play all three lines. Georgia should reread the definitions of each tempo marking on the previous page to help inform her choices. We will review this next week.
Noreet:
This week we reviewed the rhythms in I Am the King. When practicing this song this week, please have her use a metronome to help clarify how the various rhythms fit into each beat. Encourage Noreet to review this song at a slow tempo so has time to hear and feel how the rhythms fit together. She can also record herself playing the song. When she is done, have her play the recording back and read along with the sheet music as she listens to confirm if all the rhythms sound correct. If she notices an error, circle it, and practice that section on its own before trying to play the whole song again. Noreet is also to continue practicing “Moonlight Melody” now that we have clarified where fingers start in the song. Please practice the first and third phrase hands together, and the right hand of the second phrase only. We will look at the left hand of the phrase as well as the end in class together next week.
Eva:
Today we reviewed the notes in the first phrase of “Young Tiger” and reviewed the definition of a tie, what it does, and where it is used in “Young Tiger”. Please encourage Eva to play this phrase for you at home and to count out loud as she does to help solidify her understanding of the rhythms in the phrase including the tie. Please also help her read the second phrase of the song. You can use the flashcards if Eva wishes. We will review this next week.
Benji:
This week Benji can continue to practice “Classic Dance”. Please help Benji by reminding him that this song is played in “C Position” where the thumb of his right hand and fifth finger of his left hand rest on C. He should review this song hands separately before attempting to play it hands together as there are some tricky fingerings at the end of the first and last phrase. When practicing hands together, please help Benji by reminding him that even though the notes in the right and left hand are different at the end of the first and last phrase, he used the same fingers on both hands to play them (4,3,2). Practicing this fingering will help Benji to play the two different phrases at the same time. He should also pay close attention to the dynamic markings he sees in the sheet music. Please encourage him to circle these.
Clara:
For this week Clara should continue to practice “Barefoot on the Beach”. In class we worked on brining the song up to speed. The tempo marking in this piece is 96-116 BPM. Encourage Clara to practice with a metronome this week to help increase her tempo slowly. Remember; this song is in cut time, which means metronome will be indicating the half note. Please encourage Clara to review the section we focused on in class before either adding onto the section or backtracking to the beginning. She should work on bringing the song up to tempo in sections to make this more manageable. Only when Clara has practice each section of the song and has been able to play these sections at her chosen tempo should she then attempt to play the whole song from start to finish. When she is ready, please encourage her to record herself playing at different tempos and to listen back to help her determine which tempo she likes playing at best, and which tempo she likes listening to best (these could be two different tempos). We also sight-read the A section of Andante in G minor from the RCM level 1 book. Here is a copy of Andante in G minor for Clara to review and read if she wishes.
Thank you everyone!
Looking forward to seeing you all 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
