There was a time in Brett Baltezor’s life when he would have been described as shy. But that was long before he could be found on stage with his band “The Revolution,” playing blazing guitar solos on his Fender Stratocaster — behind his back.

Mr. Baltezor, 19, a former honors student, eager to embark on life goals, died unexpectedly last week. But his friends and family want everyone to “Remember the Music.” The phrase is stenciled on memorial T-shirts below a picture of the teenager striking a John Lennon-esque pose with one of his beloved guitars at his side.

The Benton High School graduate had the ultimate music room in his parents’ basement. A Marshall full-stack amplifier still towers over a drum kit and a gaggle of guitars and microphones.

Brett’s father, William Baltezor, opened a tweed guitar case to reveal his son’s favorite six-string — a tobacco sunburst Strat.

“He could make it sing,” he said.

An adjacent wall next to a pool table is a shrine to guitar gods Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Bob Dylan’s signed photograph accompanies certified autographs of most of the aforementioned musicians.

“Brett was really, really into trying to find his own way to speak through music,” said his mother, Carol Baltezor, who likened his band mates as “brothers from another mother.”

About the time he was finding his way around the guitar, his older sister, Jes, convinced him to follow her in theater. He took to it with a passion — like most other things he attempted in his life — and participated in every play production at Benton.

“The stage is really where he wanted to be,” Mrs. Baltezor said.

Peering down an upstairs hallway at the Baltezor home, Brett’s bedroom door is unmistakable — A poster of Bob Dylan greets incoming guests. But crossing the threshold, the theme quickly turns to baseball. Again, the walls are adorned with stars, this time of St. Louis Cardinals and from other teams. Many of the pictures and plaques are autographed. But then, sitting inconspicuously on a night stand next to his bed, is a bust of Beethoven.

A few years ago, Brett had his eye on keyboards, in particular a Yamaha Motif, a $3,000-plus instrument. His father told him they’d settle on something more basic, and that they’d revisit the Yamaha later.

“We got the keyboard home and turned it on,” Mr. Baltezor recalled. “I thought he was just going to dink around on it. All the sudden he starts playing the ‘Moonlight Sonata’ by Beethoven!”

Brett never got that Yamaha, but his church will. The Baltezors, with some assistance from a memorial fund that has grown beyond their wildest expectations, are gifting a Yamaha Motif in their son’s name to Wesley Methodist.

Jimmy Myers can be reached at jimmym@npgco.com.