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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Thursday, May 21st
Josh
We continue working through the pre chorus section into the chorus section, and this time around we work towards playing with the music, with me on the xylophone playing the melody. I would like Josh to start establishing connections with how the different patterns link to different sections of the song, especially when the phrase starts on a pick up beat the bar before. Focus on trying to get the Chorus 2 bars pattern familiarised, and play it 4 times in repeat.
Aleksander
Aleksander is now familiar with all the patterns, so what we did this past class was trying to remember how many repetitions each pattern is played for each section. Just a small tip about executing the chorus pattern, is that the beat 3 is similar to a paradiddle, and should be phrase towards the end. That helps with any unevenness in the two consecutive kick drum hits. As for the bridge section (notated under occurs @2:37), the first bar is a little more spaced out, and the hihat crash should sync with the “hey” chant in the vocal part. We will try to play through the song next week.
Zico
Zico is now not only playing all the notes, but also executing at a very musical fashion. He is starting to understand where the climax of a phrase or a fill is, and how to build towards it. Next challenge for him is the stamina part, with the song being relatively long and the score being fairly dense and fast. I would like him to try going at full speed, and see if there are any sections he is feeling impossible to play. We will workout a strategy with preserving energy next class.
Noah
We worked on the Routine handout again, this time with a focus on the rolls and the flams. Both are not foreign concepts for Noah, but we worked on how to do it efficiently. Noah is starting to understand how to do a crescendo over a roll and giving it a solid downbeat. We also emphasised on the importance of keeping the secondary hand low when executing a flam, and trying out different variations of the flam exercise (flam tap, flamacue). Then for Smooth Criminal, we worked through page 2 and Noah is becoming more and more natural with the four way coordination required for this piece. He can start working towards the third page by his own, where he will find similar patterns, but slightly varied.
Koel
Koel impressed me with a full run through of the song under tempo. He has seen great improvement executing the samba accent pattern in the middle of the song. Also with the shuffle feel, it is now a lot smoothen up, but I do have one small comment for him to work through. The second beat of the pattern sometimes is not swung, probably because of muscle memory of the common rock pattern, which I have advised him to try slowing it down and making sure he fixes that slow. Also when playing the shuffle beat, I want him to place more emphasis on the beat 1 and 3, and ghost more of the notes in between, That saves energy, but also pairs better with the light hearted feel to the song.
Homework for May 20-27
Nova
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 per day
What to practice: Scales A minor natural + harmonic, E minor natural + harmonic, Mixed up Song, If I Were a Rich Man
How to practice:
Scales- remember fingering pattern. RH 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-5 ascending, descending opposite way, LH 5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1 ascending, descending opposite way. Natural minor is exactly the same notes as relative major, harmonic minor is with the raised 7th (E minor has D#, A minor has G#)
Mixed up Song- make mezzo forte dynamics (instrumental part) and forte dynamics (lyric part and ending) sound distinct. Also distinguish three articulations: staccato, detached, and legato. Make sure you don’t connect the 2nd and 3rd detached notes in a detached bar, and watch the second staccato note in a staccato bar- do not connect or make it detached.
If I were a Rich Man
-great practice with the eighth notes!
-Practice staccato bits. They should bounce.
-Go over rhythm and articulation in bar 4- measure is divided between the two half notes.
-Remember the accented staccato on the chord in bar 8.
-Bars 15-16: watch fingering change, note sequence, and rit (slow down). End on a 5th interval, accented staccato.
Maya
Recommended minutes to practice: 5-10 mi per day
What to practice: Autumn song, Hiking
How to practice:
Autumn song- no stopping at hand transitions. Isolate bars 2-3, practice multiple times, then sandwich between bars 1 and 4 and practice until you get it multiple times in a row without stopping. Do not forget to make two-beat notes longer.
Hiking- practice on a steady beat, without stopping at hand switches. Watch rhythms.
How parents can support practice: Supervise, especially provide help with making hand transitions smooth.
See you 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!
Efe – Mar 14th
Hi Efe!
Here’s a rundown of the material I’d like you to look at for the next couple weeks.
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
— The Google Drive of the previous week
— Here is the latest Unlisted YouTube video covering the bullet points below: Link
- The riff that transitions from the main one into the chorus
- The riff that transitions from the chorus back into the main riff
- Everything in the ending riff of the song
— The solo of this song is played with the octave chords we’ve been talking about. When I see you next, we’ll be working on the solo.
— I added a picture to this Google Drive. It has the new set of chords we agreed you’d be playing for the Octave Chords’ game. The frets are different, because reaching them where the video says is not a comfortable reach for you on your guitar.
F#m scale
— Keep working on this scale. From the last Google Drive. Starting on fret 9.
Final note
I know you’ll be gone for 3 weeks from here, Efe, so I’ve assigned all this in such a way that it’s realistic for you to be able to sound very good on all of it. I’m not giving more because I want you to really work on feeling comfortable playing and knowing the parts I’ve assigned here.
Wishing you a great 3 weeks! Take care!
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
