Yellowknife (Apr 01/05) - Yellowknife's guitar prodigy Lyndon Duong will have his own CD out by the end of April.

Called Serenade, the CD will feature 12 instrumental guitar tracks, four written by renowned Vietnamese composer Trinh Cong Son and the rest by classical composers.

Whenever Duong performs, audiences are astonished to learn he is self-taught.

Born and raised in Yellowknife, the 12-year-old became interested in music because his uncle in Ontario plays guitar and he wanted to try it.

"When he was 7, he said he wanted to play guitar so I bought him one and a book for beginners," said his father, Bac Duong.

For the past five years, Lyndon has practised daily. Although he has never taken guitar lessons, he taught himself to read music and he often picks up new songs by ear.

His parents are supportive of their son's love of music and keep their eyes peeled for any opportunities for him to perform. Through their efforts, Duong and his guitar have become a familiar sight at festivals and concerts.

But Duong said that though he's virtually always the youngest performer at events, the other musicians treat him as one of their own. That's not surprising because, though Duong is a Grade 7 student at William MacDonald school, on stage he's a seasoned professional.

Last summer he spent some time with Juan Martin, the award-winning Spanish flamenco guitarist who was up here for Folk on the Rocks.

"That went really good," said Duong.

His guitar playing took on a new flair after the sessions with Martin.

One of the things he learned from the professional was a new way to strike the guitar with all of his fingers, instead of the usual two-fingered pluck.

Duong has already finished laying down the tracks for the CD and the album is in the post-production stages.

Rick Poltaruk of Dancing Sky Studios, who is engineering the CD, said Duong was a consummate professional in the studio.

Musical prodigy

"That kid took to it faster than any other person I've worked with," said Poltaruk.

Poltaruk said Duong is a quick study.

After explaining some recording techniques to the guitarist, Poltaruk said he never had to repeat his instructions.

Compared to performing in front of an audience, recording in a studio "was a lot quieter," said Duong.

Some songs Duong nailed on the first or second try. But if he made one mistake on pieces with more complex fingering, he'd have to do the whole song over again.

Having the opportunity to do retakes was one of the advantages of the recording session, he said.