Before senior Xavier Prospero graduates high school, he will have recorded two full albums in Green Day’s studio in Oakland, toured with Swimmers (previously known as Emily’s Army) across the country, and performed at Yoshi’s, the center of the Bay Area’s jazz scene. As a teenager, he has had experiences professional musicians might only dream about.

It started when Prospero’s parents signed him up for piano lessons when he was seven years old, much to his frustration.

“I kind of hated it. I wanted to play guitar but my parents told me I had to learn to play piano first,” Prospero said. “I didn’t pick up the guitar until eighth grade.”

Since then, Prospero has learned a lot. Last December he perform the National Anthem, Jimi Hendrix-style, at the Winter Rally.

“I always listened to music a lot,” Prospero said. “I just liked to play what I listened to.”

Prospero taught himself to play guitar until his freshman year, when he started taking private jazz lessons. Now he is a member of the high school jazz band.

“He’s a dedicated musician,” jazz band teacher Andria Mullan said. “He plays a lot of music outside of school which really helps the class when he comes in.”

His experience outside of school includes having played guitar for a jazz combo called the DDG Quartet — short for the Duck Duck Goose Quartet. This group comprised of Seb Mueller, Josh Berl and Joey Armstrong, Class of 2013.

“We had this great chemistry which was really cool,” Prospero said. “I didn’t know them at all until DDG and I was kind of the freshman of the group.”

The DDG Quartet did small performances at private parties, as well as performed at PHS Jazz Band concerts. Eventually they decided to make an album and Armstrong, whose father is Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong, suggested they use Green Day’s studio to record.

“It was awesome; we were treated like VIPs,” Prospero said. “I walked into a room with like a hundred guitars and thirty amps and I got to take my pick. I’d say I wanted to play this certain sound and guys would come out saying, ‘Here, try this, try that.’”

Prospero’s connection with Mueller and Armstrong, both members of what was then Emily’s Army, led to him being invited to tour with them across the country in the summer of 2013. His job was to sell the band’s merchandise during the day while they performed.

“Seb and I had to go out in the morning and stake out a spot — the closer you are to the stage the better, so we had to get up at like 6:30 every morning,” Prospero said. “And there were usually these parties that lasted until like 3 a.m., so we were just pounding coffee on no sleep every morning.”

While on tour, Prospero was able to experience first-hand a significant part of the music industry.

“It was not what I thought it would be like,” Prospero said. “I thought of musicians as famous people who were all really different and eccentric. And they’re not — they’re just regular dudes. They were just playing music because they liked to play music.”

Though Prospero is primarily a guitarist, he has played other instruments, including piano, trumpet and tuba.

“People think I play a lot of music, and I do, but there are a lot of other people at our school who have really cool talents that no one really sees,” Prospero said. “Like [senior] Jack Adams. He has a great feel for music and if he could harness that, he’d be amazing.”

Adams has been playing guitar since elementary school, and the two often play together.

“I was excited when he started learning guitar as well and I like to think I taught him a few things,” Adams said. “But in reality, he has an incredible ear for music and he’s far surpassed me in his ability to play the guitar.”

Prospero said that all of his opportunities as a musician have come from random chances and good luck.

“I just so happened to get into DDG, which is where I met the guys from Emily’s Army,” Prospero said. “We played in the quad at lunch because ASB asked us to, and then because of that I ended up playing the National Anthem at the rally. One thing led to another and somehow I’ve ended up playing for a lot of people.”

Prospero is unsure of what his future will hold regarding music, but he does know that he wants to create something that lasts.

“I used to want to be a musician when I grew up, but I realized I kind of already am one,” Prospero said. “It would be cool to make something that lived beyond me.”

Adams is likewise open-minded about Prospero’s destiny.

“Who knows where he’ll take music in his life,” Adams said. “It’s pretty much the only thing he’s good at.”