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0000017c-60f7-de77-ad7e-f3f739cf0000Arts & More airs Fridays at 7:50 a.m. and 4:20 p.m.Theme music: "Like A Beginner Again" by Dan Barry of Seas of Jupiter

13-Year-Old Can Play 10 Instruments, Hosts Own Open Mic

Scott Melchi watches as his son, Sammy, plays lead guitar in their band
Rebecca Thiele, WMUK

Learning to play an instrument takes dedication, time, and patience. Spending hours learning to read and play music, practicing over and over again until you get it right. These things can be frustrating.

Most people spend their lives trying to perfect their skills on a single instrument. For Sammy Melchi that’s not the case. At only 13 years old, the middle school student can play just about any instrument he puts his hands on.

Sammy Melchi’s Generations Band has three other members, including his father, Scott Melchi. Sammy’s dad plays bass and occasionally, sings lead vocals. In the past, his dad would bring him to his own band rehearsals, where he picked up a thing or two.

“I was in a band, we were doing like Pearl Jam, and like 90’s stuff with some younger guys. And Sam used to come to rehearsals with me and he would just watch and he learned every song just by watching us, he’d learn the songs," says Scott Melchi, Sammy's father.

"So eventually I told him well just bring a guitar along and play along with us. So he’d bring his guitar and play along with the band at rehearsals. So, pretty soon he knew every song we could do.”

Sammy was even offered a free, custom guitar by Heritage Guitars after playing at one of their events. Sammy tells the story:

“I went to like a event where they had a bunch of people that played Heritage instruments. So I went there and I played. Marv Lamb, one of the owners of Heritage Guitars talked to my mom and said that he’s going to build me a guitar. And so, months had passed and I like, kind of just like put it away. And then, my mom told me they wanted to play pictures of me at the Heritage thing and then when we got there, they told me to go get my guitar and I didn’t know that they were going to give it to me that day. And so that was a surprise.”

Sammy can play so much more than the guitar. According to his mother, SherilMelchi, he plays about ten other instruments. 

“Piano, drums, the bass, ukulele, bango, mandolin, harmonica, lead guitar, electric acoustic, saxophone, anything he puts his hands on," she says.

I know what you’re thinking. Ten musical instruments at 13-years-old? Although it may sound impossible, Sammy has never had a formal music lesson.

“Yeah, I’ve never really had lessons," he says. "Except for like sometimes, like on YouTube I’ll go on to see how to tune it or something. But that, that’s about it.”

He’s even taught fellow classmates how to play different instruments. His mom tells a story about how Sammy wanted to switch from alto to tenor saxophone:

“Well this other kid came in and he said he was gonna play the tenor sax, it was available for him to play. And Sam said he tried and he tried and he tried and I tried to show him how to play it and he still couldn’t grasp it. And I said so what does that mean? He said I’m gonna play the tenor sax and the alto sax. And I said so what’s this kid gonna play? Well he said I taught him how to play the trombone. I said what do you mean you taught him how to play the trombone? I said how do you know how to play the trombone? He said Mom I just hear it.”

Sammy started playing piano when he was five. According to his mom, his favorite artist was John Lennon. Then, at nine years old, his dad bought him his first guitar.

Only a year later, Sammy broke both his arms when he fell off the monkey bars at school. His dad says that the first thing he wanted to do after his casts were removed was to play.

“He’s like, ‘Dad, we need to go to an open mic and play.’ So we went to an open mic and we played blues. That’s been like three years ago and it just took off from there,” says Scott Melchi.

Sammy and his parents hope that he will pursue music in the future.

“I’d like to see him go to school for music, which I think is what he wants to do. I mean he’s a natural he can read and write music already at 13-years-old and I’m yet to read or write music,” says Scott Melchi.

To see Sammy and his band play, head over to Three Rivers and visit Sam’s Place every other Sunday, or the RivieraTheatre on Wednesday nights.