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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Efe November 29th
Hi Efe! Here’s a list of today’s homework in detail.
E Major string crossing
- 65BPM fastest. Strictly. — Do this alongside my video.
- Practice it as we did in class. 8 reps, 2 bars of rest. Then do that again. Until 5 whole minutes have passed.
- Pay close attention to one hand at a time. Take time to correct what mistakes might be done on one of the hands. Then do the same with the other hand. The mistakes I saw today: the picking pattern was not being followed; ingrain the habit of picking this down-up-down-up. The left hand fingerings were not being followed; it is always supposed to be 4, 1, 2, 0. Never use finger 3.
Goals:
- String crossing. I want to ensure that this is not such an issue later on. Many guitarists have this as a weakness even in their later years. It’s best to iron it out now.
- Picking patterns. Learning and sticking to the (picking) directions in a tab.
- Physical prep of the whole body when playing these techniques. Playing with worse posture will inevitably make your music sound worse or your body feel worse.
D & G chords’ transitioning
- Keep trying with this.
- Get the chords’ fingerings right. The main issue was with the D chord today.
Goals:
- Get used to the different postures of the wrist we’ve been talking about.
- Get accustomed to the wrist posture that is farthest out from the body. Remember: the guitar body should hang a little lower than your right knee. This will allow space for your left hand wrist to work properly.
Posture
- Play any chord or single note with proper posture.
- Remember: Straight, Strong, Comfortable. These things will ensure that your body is in good posture. This is important because I don’t want you to build bad habits or get any injuries.
- Standing
- Sitting
Goals:
- This is a very basic exercise told in order for you build the habit of having proper and reliable in all of your body. From your legs up to your head. — Keep ensuring that you’re following all the directions that result in maintaining good posture. See my pictures in this Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1cURXZdyFoL_6FZX5V4COTxCljwXKq8wO
Little Drummer Boy
- Its faster tempo — Do this both with the video of the melody and without it.
- Its slower tempo — Do this with both the video of me strumming and without it.
Goals:
- Learning to fluidly play alongside a melody.
- Get the feeling of strumming a song.
- Get the feeling of this song’s strumming pattern.
I know that these exercises can be frustrating. But you can do it, Efe. Remember: This process is not an overnight change. Keep on going strong!
See you in a week!
When iCloud Failed: A Decades-Long Apple User’s Race Against Time
On November 7th, 2025, I lost a decade of my work and personal history in what should have been a routine restart.
I’ve been an Apple user since I was 12 years old. I’ve owned and operated my music school, ABC Academy of Music (music-lessons.ca), for 22 years. I’ve built my entire business and personal computing life on Apple’s ecosystem—Macs, iPhones, iPads, iCloud, the full productivity suite. I’ve had enough faith in Apple to be a shareholder.
In all those years, Apple has never let me down the way it has now.
What Happened
My Mac maxed out its RAM. The system generated low memory alerts. I did what anyone would do: I force quit applications, emptied the Trash, and restarted.
When the machine came back up, it appeared to be reinstalling macOS. When the process completed and I reached my desktop, everything was gone. Not just the files on my desktop. Everything in iCloud too.
At first I assumed the files simply hadn’t synced yet—that the machine needed to reconnect to iCloud. This was exactly why I used iCloud in the first place: not just as a backup, but so I could access my files anywhere, on any machine. That’s what Apple promises. That’s what I paid for.
But the files never came back. Whatever happened during that crash didn’t just affect my local machine. It wiped my iCloud storage too.
What I Lost
Custom CRMs I built over more than a decade to run my multi-location music school. Paid client lists and active student records. Student reporting systems and databases. Financial records spanning years of business operations. Our certificate of incorporation. Tax filings. Marketing materials, custom designs, logos, templates, and tools developed over 10+ years.
Personal files too. My taxes. My CV. University transcripts. Recipes that are deeply important to me as an amateur chef—some handed down, some developed through years of trial and error.
Strangely, some aspects of iCloud appear completely untouched. My Photos are fine. But Keynote, Pages, and Numbers have only limited files restored. The inconsistency is baffling, and no one has been able to explain it.
Three Weeks of Trying
It’s now been three weeks since the incident. I’ve spent countless hours on calls with Senior iCloud technicians. They’ve been professional. They’ve escalated my case. They’ve told me they’re doing everything they can.
But what they’ve restored amounts to a fraction of my actual data and files—and none of it is what I need to run my business or access my personal history.
Here’s what Apple support has refused to do:
- Connect me with the iCloud engineers who actually understand the system architecture
- Provide me with a disk image of my iCloud drive so I can work with independent specialists
- Explain how a local system crash could propagate to cloud storage
Even the Experts Are Stumped
I’ve taken my computer to forensic data recovery specialists. Even they were unable to make sense of why this happened or offer a solution. The data was supposed to be living in Apple’s cloud—not dependent on my local machine. The experts I consulted could not explain how a local crash could wipe cloud storage, and they had no path forward for recovery.
This leaves Apple as the only entity that can investigate what happened and potentially recover my data. And Apple won’t connect me to anyone who can.
The Deadline
November 7th was the incident date. Cloud storage systems typically have a 30-day window before deleted data is permanently purged. That deadline is approximately December 7th—days away.
If Apple doesn’t act before that window closes, everything could be gone forever.
Why I’m Sharing This
I’ve reached out directly to Tim Cook, Eddy Cue (the SVP who oversees iCloud), and Apple’s PR team. I’ve outlined the situation and explained the steps I’m taking.
I don’t want to make noise about this. It’s time I don’t have, and it’s not in anyone’s interest. I just want my data back—what I paid for, what I spent years creating.
But three weeks of working through normal channels hasn’t connected me to anyone who can actually help. Time is running out. Regretfully, I feel I must escalate this publicly because I have no other options.
The Question
How does a local system crash wipe cloud storage? Isn’t the entire point of the cloud that it’s separate from your local machine? Isn’t that what we’re paying for?
Even forensic data experts couldn’t answer these questions. Only Apple can.
I’m sharing this because other people deserve to know: iCloud may not work the way you think it does. And if it fails, getting help may be harder than you expect—even if you’ve been a loyal customer for decades.
What I Want
I want engineering resources assigned to investigate this and attempt deep recovery. I want the disk image so independent specialists can work in parallel. I want to understand what happened.
Most of all, I just want what’s mine.
If you’ve experienced something similar, or if you have advice for getting engineering-level help at Apple, I’d appreciate hearing from you. And if you think this story is important, please share it.
Time is running out.
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
