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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Thursday, May 7th
Josh
Josh is seeing great improvement with more consistent practising habit. We continue working on the few pre chorus bars. For this week the goal is to link up bar 34-36. As a reminder, bar 35 is a repeat of 34, and 36 is the bar that pairs with lyrics “like to say to you…”. Also work on the verse pattern as it comes back in later section.
Aleksander
We ended the class with a successful play through of the song Bring Me to Life. We will move on to Smell Like Teens Spirit next class. The score is available on the drive if he would like to start giving some read.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MwwUXU5Fo4L2iPh-f4Vked6Gy4uD4rtK/view?usp=sharing
Zico
We continued working on The Trooper. Through Stick Control practise, Zico is now in a good place to play the song. The section that could use some slow practising is the guitar solo 2 section, building up the endurance for the bass drum pattern. We will try a play through of the song next week.
Noah
We continued warming up with Stick Control. Seeing greater four way coordination with the drill. Then we segue into the pre chorus section of Smooth Criminal. Noah quickly picked it up, and with that I would like him to work through the chorus section this week.
Finn
Finn is seeing improvement in terms of the choppiness in his playing. The open hihat is now connecting smoothly into the buzz, creating a very cohesive timbre. Practise all the bracketed bars in repeat, and attempt connecting one to another, and we will work on building sections of the song next week.
Mateo
We spent the lesson putting some finishing note on Labios Compartidos. Once again I will like to reiterate, successful practising habit is highly dependent on picking out trouble spots and building upon it bit by bit, and getting comfortable with it. We will put a close to the song and move on to Sweet Child o Mine. Good job Mateo!
Koel
We went back to working on Fool in the Rain. While we work on this material, I would like Koel to also build upon this general technique working on the “Routine” Handout, and as fun, also work on the first 4 lines of the Samba Funk handout. In terms of the song, let’s now focus on Verse 4, and try out all the fills that John Bonham made up for each phrase ending.
Efe — May 9th
Hi Efe!
Here is what to look at for this week.
Artists to listen to
- Van Halen — Rock — Songs to try: Good Enough, Jump, Panama, Running with the Devil, Eruption, I’m the One, Jamie’s Crying, Atomic Punk, Ice cream man
- Joe Pass — Jazz — the link from today — We were about 1 minute in when you noticed a run on the guitar that you liked
- Django Reinhardt — Jazz — This man lost a finger on his left hand in a fire. And yet he still became a magnificent guitarist
Acoustic Open
- Continue to work on the first 16 bars. I saw some improvements today. — Make sure to try it without the video. Then do it with the video at 0.6x speed. I’ve slowed it down for this week. — If it is feeling super slow, raise the speed to 0.65x speed.
- Try the ending chords. Remember to make the last one cut completely short.
The above genres of music are full of countless things to discover and I hope those given songs inspire you to check out even more songs.
See you in a week!
Efe – Feb 7th
Hello Efe and family!
Wishing you a good week! Here is this week’s material.
This week’s Google Drive folder: Feb 7th
Last week’s Google Drive folder: Jan 31st
This week’s Google Drive
— Acoustic Open — The piece I wrote for you to learn musical notation with.
- The PDF here is of this piece.
- Here are some pictures of the notes on a guitar, corresponding with the music staff.
- For the guitar, we use the treble clef. For this clef, remember the following acronyms: “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge” for the lines, and “Face” for the spaces. They go from lower to higher. — An important thing to note is that the staff is really just 7 letters repeating themselves. A to G. So whatever letter you’re playing, the next door letters are just going up or down the alphabet by one letter. Knowing what notes you’re playing in a piece of music gets easier with time. — The pictures in this Drive folder show you the frets for each note, and where on the guitar to play them.
- Try playing through the first 4 bars of it. I’ve left out the tab on purpose. — Use the pictures to help you find out exactly what to play.
- Some help: The piece ends with a C major chord. So you’ll know that this chord’s lowest note is a middle C. From here, you can navigate letter by letter to determine what the notes on the other frets (or open strings!) are.
- The goals: learn to name what letter of note you’re playing, and where to play that note on the guitar. Don’t worry about the sharps or flats for now. I’m just getting you to learn plain old letters of the alphabet. A to G, in their various octaves.
- I’m not expecting you to be a master of this by the end of the week. But I want you to start being able to name at least some of the notes by next class. For the long term: I’m aiming for you to be able to play any named note on the guitar in the treble clef (no higher or lower notes), if you were quizzed. My goal is for you to be able to ace that type of quiz by the end of this semester.
Last week’s Google Drive
— Em pentatonic scale
- We’ve almost covered 12 frets on the fretboard. The goal is for you to reach all 12. This will give you the ability to solo more freely.
- There is a picture of the next group of frets I’m adding to your knowledge of this scale.
- Keep playing powerchords with the following: pick any note from this scale on the lowest 3 strings. Then add its fifth; remember that chess-knight movement shape I told you about a while ago.
- Play around with all of the above over this backing track. Latest Backing track
— Chord game
- The video here references Buddy Holly’s “Words of Love.”
- These are chords you know. But the hard thing about them is transitioning between them all. This video is supposed to train you in exactly that.
- The biggest help for this: Finger 1 never leaves the string. It shifts, but it never “jumps.” Unlike your other fingers; they all have to jump somewhere in order to hold down the next chord.
- Make sure to play the A chord with the fingering I showed you today. — All 3 chords in this video have their respective charts here, with the correct fingerings. Please make sure to get these fingerings right.
Lastly
— Please find your guitar pick. You’ll need it for the upcoming classes. I’d also prefer you to play the things in this week’s homework with a pick.
- If you can’t find your pick then please get some new ones.
- Get several. It’s a worthy investment.
— Listen to “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” Official audio
- At least once. More is good because you’ll have it in your head more, and therefore you’ll know how it’s supposed to sound.
- Familiarize yourself with how it sounds. Especially the parts you didn’t know recognize from it today.
Remember, a lot of this is easier than it looks and sounds. Learning music, like with many things in life, is about “getting used to it.” So just keep spending time with it.
I look forward to seeing how you do for all of the above, Efe. You’ve improved significantly over these past 5 months. I’m excited to see even more progress from you :) I’ll see you in a week!
Efe – Jan 31st
Hi Efe!
So sorry I couldn’t be at the lesson today. I should be well for next time.
This week’s Google Drive: Efe – Jan 31st
Here’s what to look at for this coming week.
Em pentatonic scale
- New backing track: Em Blues
- This backing track is a little faster than the one from before.
- Try bends and vibrato here, too. — A note: for the high E string, doing bends and vibrato down toward the floor is not possible, so only do these things upwards.— High E string vibrato: small pushes upward.
— High E string bends: pushing up with at least two fingers on the note.
I’ve added some new notes to your knowledge of this pentatonic scale. There’s a picture of them in the Google Drive. Keep improvising in the notes of this scale for this week.
E, A, and D chords
These are all major chords. I’d like you to get acquainted with playing them, and have an idea of the shapes of each chord. This video in the Google Drive what I’m asking you to play along with. Feel free to slow it down if it feels too fast.
- The best way to play this particular game is to remember that finger 1 of the Left Hand never leaves the G string. It shifts between some of the chords here, but it never “jumps.” The other fingers have to jump.
Have fun with this, Efe. We’ll be able to go over previous and new material in much more depth next class. See you in a 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
