M.Mus (U of T)
B.Mus (Oberlin)
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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Ronan — Oct 10th
Hi Ronan!
Here’s what to do this week.
Strumming
Have fun playing that guitar! I loved seeing your energy and all the strumming you were doing in class today! Keep on going with that!
Chords
Keep trying to play these chords.
- I welcome you to play that^ G chord with any finger other than finger 4.
Single string picking
Play the following games on the High E string. — Repeat these melodies over and over, as shown in the pictures below.
- 0 3 5 3 — The frets. The 0 (the open string) has been added so as to give rest to your LH between the repetitions.
- 3 5 3 5 — The frets.
Have fun with this, Ronan. These things are all being assigned to you so that both of your hands get stronger. I also want you to slowly start to remember which chord is which. — Throughout our classes, you will start to get used to the shapes you’ll see on the guitar. In scales and in chords.
Thank you so much! I’ll see you in a week!
Dalia — Oct 6th
Hi Dalia!
Great work today. Your homework was well done, and you were getting better at the challenges I kept giving you in class!
Here is what to play this week.
Strumming Patterns
Play the following SP’s. Do each one over the following chords. One SP on only one chord at a time.
- The challenge with each of these is to remember to restart them with a down-strum. — Watch your RH (Right Hand) when playing these. Make sure to restart each SP with a down-strum every time!
Last week
“Pineapple Rest Rest!” — D DU rest rest
“Watermelon Che-rry!” — DUDU D D
“Apples Peaches Plums and Pears!” — DU DU DU D
This week
“Pineapple Pear Rest!” — D DU D rest
“Pineapple Rest Pear!” — D DU rest D — I named it differently in class; this name works too
- The idea is to keep learning to silence the strings. Or as we say in guitar: mute the strings
- Well done on this today!
Try all the above SP’s on the following chords.
Last week
This week
- Aim to hold down each of these frets nice and strongly
- Curl your fingers onto the frets
- When in doubt, adjust the ukulele up so that your left arm and hand have plenty of space to hold down the frets nice and strongly
- For the Am (A minor) chord: If finger 2 is too challenging, then feel free to play it with finger 1
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Just pick twice on each of the first 2 notes.
- Fret 0 on the E string
- Then fret 7 on the E string
- Picking is done with a smaller movement of your RH. Push down through the string with mostly your thumb
- Make sure to have the pointed part of the pick be the one plucking through the string
Additional notes
- The LH (Left Hand) nails need cutting to be able to hold down frets properly. Please do that as soon as possible. — Having RH nails is also not very good if you’re going to be using a pick, like we’re doing. This is not as important as it is for the LH. But if you’re going to be doing lessons with me for a long time, then I do recommend cutting those, too
- Remember to stretch your hands after an ukulele playing session. The 3 different ones I demonstrated today: Fingers back. Thumb down. Wrist forward
Dalia will remember these stretches from class today. The man in this video demonstrates them, too. — If she forgets, have her watch this video.
- The video starts with him showing some other ones that are really good for the arms and the back. Feel free to do these too. But it’s most important that you do the first 3 I described
- He says do them before a session. That’s not necessary. You can do them in between a playing session, if you want. But for sure do them at the end of a playing session
- Watch from 0:00-2:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1XsLRQFV7rY
Thank you so much, guys! See you in a week!
Ronan — Sep 26th
Hi Ronan!
Here’s what to focus on this week. Spend a minimum of 15 minutes doing each of these things a day. — Remember to rest and to stretch in the ways described in my last week’s homework notes.
- Also: If you spend a day just working on one of these things for 15 minutes, that’s fine too. That counts towards your progress on your instrument.
Posture
Here is the order of things to pay attention to when positioning yourself in good guitar posture.
- Sit down with your body slightly slanted; that is, your knees pointing left
- Put the guitar with the body on your right thigh
- Have the guitar head pushed somewhat forward from your left side — The idea here: have your wrists as straight and as free as possible to be able to move around and play things with plenty of space for both arms to do so
It’s fine to tilt the guitar body onto yourself & check where your LH fingers must go. But then tilt it back upright.
- Keep the LH fingers nice and curled. That shape is stronger than straight fingers
- Have your LH thumb go close to your LH fingers holding down frets; as if there was a rod going through your guitar between the thumb and the fingers — This, too, will ensure that you can hold the frets down strongly
G chord from last time
We looked at this chord a little bit today, too. Keep trying to hold it properly and strum only the top 4 strings. — Remember, we speak upside down in guitar; High E string means closer to the floor but higher in pitch.
Em chord
- Based on the previous diagram, you can infer what exactly is meant by this one
- The numbers there are the LH fingerings
- The white dots are the open strings
- So: Hit all 6 strings for this one :)
Try the E chord too — bonus challenge
- You struck this chord pretty nicely in class today
- Though I think holding down these frets and playing them properly every single time might be a super big challenge right now. So this I’m not going to be strict about you getting this chord right
- Hit all 6 strings here, too
Open strings — D DUD DUD DUD
- D = Down, U = Up
- Have a metronome playing at a speed of 50BPM (50 beats per minute). Play this SP (strumming pattern) with this beat. — Remember to count yourself in at the start of this. Say “One, Two, Three, Four” with the beat
- If that’s^ a big struggle, just play one strum every 4 beats
- I like your nice and loud playing on these. But also try to strum these SP’s lightly
- Try it on the above mentioned chords, too
Frets 0, 1 & 3 of the High E string
- Play each fret individually. One by one. — Strumming a full chord like above needs more of a swing in your hand and arm. For single notes like this, you need a smaller push down with your thumb. Think of it not as a strum, but rather as an instant push-down through the string; like your pick is already on the other side of the string the moment you start your plucking motion. — It sounds ridiculous, but this is a way to start getting the feeling for picking (that is, plucking with the guitar pick) single notes
- Fret zero just means play an open string. You don’t hold down any frets. And only that string, in this case
- Have the fingers directly to the left of the frets — For certain chords, that won’t be possible. The idea is just to have the fingers on left of your fret somewhere. Never directly on top of the fret
Additional notes
In the coming days, I may add a Google Drive link to this homework post. There will be additional resources like videos and PDF’s that will be needed for a lot of the homework I give.
Thank you, Ronan. See you next weekend!
Aubahn — Sep 19th
Hi guys!
Great meeting you today, Aubahn! Here is what to play this week.
G chord
This is the version of the G chord we played in class today. — I was saying use finger 3; but I’m changing that to finger 4.
- LH (Left Hand) fingers: index = 1, middle = 2, ring = 3, pinky = 4
- The horizontal lines here are the frets. The metal things on the guitar neck. — When holding the guitar, they are actually vertical to us
- Have your fingers curled onto the frets. Be nice and strong on the strings
- Have the fingers directly to the left of the frets
- The High E string is often written as a lowercase “e,” like I have it here
- Play this chord. Strum down and up repeatedly
Em chord
The E minor chord. This one needs you to hold it down sort of like a Spiderman move, haha.
- Based on the previous diagram, you can infer what exactly is meant by this one
- The numbers there are the LH fingerings
- The white dots are the open strings
- Play this chord. Strum down and up repeatedly
Memorize the string names
- E A D G B E — Lowest to highest
- “Eat A Darn Good Breakfast Everyday”
Posture
Here is the order of things to pay attention to when positioning yourself in good guitar posture.
- Sit down with your body slightly slanted; that is, your knees pointing left
- Put the guitar with the body on your right thigh
- Have the guitar head pushed somewhat forward from your left side — The idea here: have your wrists as straight and as free as possible to be able to move around and play things with plenty of space for both arms to do so
Stretching & Rest
Make sure to follow these directions too. Trust me, this is more important than most people realize.
Rest
- Rest your during and after a guitar playing session — 30 seconds to a minute is a fair amount of time for a break
- The fingers are more delicate than other muscles in the body so do not overwork them
Stretch
- Here is a video describing the main stretches to do during and after a guitar playing session. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1XsLRQFV7rY — You don’t have to do so much during a playing session; just do it when it feels like it would be a comfortable moment for it. It’s a little more important to rest during and after the session.
- Also do the other ones I described: Neck movements & stretches, hip circles, body, arm, and leg stretches — again, primarily after a session
Additional tools
- When time and resources allow, please get an appropriately sized guitar strap. Wearing this will help ensure that you maintain good posture
- Get a tuner — There is a free app I use to help me tune my guitar; it’s called Tuner T1. You generally want to tune the guitar before every new playing session
I recommend at least ten minutes of playing everyday.
Have fun with this, Aubahn! Looking forward to our lesson 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
