Oceanside teen plays guitar in California

Budding musician Alex Frondelli, 14, of Oceanside, was invited to play guitar at Winter NAMM 2010, a music trade show exposition in Anaheim, California, Jan. 13-15. Frondelli was asked to play for Jet City Amplification to showcase their products.

The teen linked up with the company after his father, John Frondelli, sent them some samples of his son playing guitar, and said the company offered him an amplifier and $200 to play four short sets at the exhibition for three days in a row.

Frondelli, who already has his own Web site and several YouTube videos, said the event is a great opportunity. “What I’m hoping is that this will get me more recognition and showcase me a little bit,” he said. Frondelli attended NAMM last year as a spectator, and had a chance to meet some of the music industry’s biggest names, like Quincy Jones. Frondelli said he was inspired by something Jones told him that year: “If you can see it, you can do it.”

Frondelli, who comes from a musical family, began playing the drums at age three. His father is a professional musician and the owner of Frondelli USA Drums. But when Frondelli didn’t make his school’s jazz band on the drums, he decided to take up guitar. “Within a year, I got halfway decent,” he said. Frondelli made Oceanside Middle School’s jazz band the next year, when he was 12, and has been playing guitar ever since.

Frondelli learned the instrument with some help from his father, by taking lessons, and also through lots of trial and error. Now, he’s trying his hand at arranging and composing his own pieces. Next year, he hopes to take music classes at Oceanside High School, and to start private lessons with a guitar teacher.

For a musician so young, it’s tough to find gigs — Frondelli isn’t old enough to play at clubs and bars — but he does occasionally jam with his friends, and he’s hoping to play some local talent shows in the future. He likes to play rock, jazz, and funk, and counts bands like the Rolling Stones and musicians like Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix among some of his favorites. To learn more about the young musician, visit his Web site at www.alexfrondelli.com.