How Guitar Lessons Helped This Six-Year-Old Play in Front of 4,000 People
Trevor Suggs playing with O.A.R. at the Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre in Charlotte, NC.
Most musicians never dream of having the opportunity to play in front of 4,000 people as an adult, let alone as a kid. But for six-year-old Trevor Suggs, that opportunity came much sooner than anyone expected.
Trevor, now 9 years old, had been jamming to O.A.R. tunes since before he could walk.
Jerry DePizzo, the guitarist and saxophonist for O.A.R., is a longtime family friend of the Suggs family and followed Trevor’s musical journey from the very beginning.
At just three years old, Trevor picked up his first instrument: a three-string mini Loog guitar. His parents quickly noticed that he had remarkably natural strumming skills for his age. When he turned five, Santa brought him a rock ’n’ roll electric guitar. Trevor practiced faithfully for several months before his parents decided to enroll him in guitar lessons at Learn Music.
Looking back on his very first lesson, Trevor remembers having “a lot of fun” and learning how to play a D chord.
Shortly after Trevor started lessons, Jerry DePizzo reached out to the Suggs family and mentioned that O.A.R. would be stopping in Charlotte as part of their tour. One of the first songs Trevor learned during lessons was O.A.R.’s “About an Hour Ago,” and Jerry had an idea: he wanted Trevor to come on stage and play the song with the band.
Trevor’s dad, Joel, said he initially brushed it off as a joke, but he quickly realized that Jerry was “dead serious.” Trevor accepted the invitation and immediately began preparing for the big moment with his Learn Music instructor.
“For about two months, that was all they worked on,” Joel recalled. “He put in a lot of practice to prepare for it.”
When the day of the concert finally arrived, Trevor nailed the sound check and earned his chance to perform on the big stage. He even joined the preshow huddle alongside the members of O.A.R. and Dispatch, who opened the show that night.
“They truly made him an honorary member of the band,” Joel said. “He had the best time.”
Reflecting on the experience, Joel remembers being “way more nervous about it than he [Trevor] was.”
“Not only was it an incredible opportunity for him at such a young age,” he said, “but it also taught him a valuable life lesson that hard work can have a great reward.”
For Trevor, the highlight of the night was looking out at the crowd and seeing “the audience dancing, singing, and cheering.”
Now, four years later, Trevor still loves the stage. He takes weekly guitar lessons at Learn Music and is a member of two bands, The Band Heroes and Short Fuse, through the studio’s Legends program. Recently, he performed at Learn Music Live at the Cain Center for the Arts and the Legends Block Party at Primal Brewery.
According to his dad, Trevor’s favorite place to be is on stage performing live music.
“It started with having the opportunity to perform with O.A.R.” Joel said, “and now getting to play the Learn Music Live and the Legends Band events. Playing live has given him so much confidence, and he never seems to be nervous about it.”
Trevor’s favorite part of being in a band is playing live music with his close friends each week.
“I enjoy learning new songs together and getting to perform them live in front of an audience at the Block Party,” Trevor said. One day, he hopes he and his bandmates “can make our own music and become a famous band!”
Trevor performing at the Legends Block Party with his band, Short Fuse.
About Learn Music
Learn Music was founded in January 2014 with the mission of helping students become confident, capable through private instruction, performance, and collaboration. The business is owned and operated by Cornelius native Adam Wilson and his wife, Rachael.
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