Frezzette, 53, formed Cold Heat in 1968 with a few friends in his Pelham, N.H., hometown The high-schoolers got a few paying gigs; for example, a Lawrence pastor would pay the boys $5 to play at church dances. But they were more popular on the local birthday circuit, where they donated their time and talents for free.

The band only lasted for two years and unfortunately, they didn't even have enough money to buy a camera to capture the memories. But Frezzette hasn't forgotten the fun he had playing Beatles tunes with his buddies.

"It was all about playing. It was a passion; we had to keep playing and make music," Frezzette said. "Getting the equipment was hard. We only had one amp. I remember when I first wanted to learn how to play, I actually made a guitar out of wood. I did have a tape recorder, but I don't remember using it."

Today's garage bands aren't using a battery-powered tape recorder, either. Technological advances have made it commonplace for kids to write, record, edit, design and market entire CDs from their bedrooms. Play guitar but need a drummer, pianist and mandolin player? With just a few mouse clicks, your computer can provide all of the above. Boastful of your latest creation and want to share it with the world? A few more clicks and you can upload your music onto Web sites that millions of other kids just like you are trawling every day.

"It's so easy to set it all up," said Frezzette's 22-year-old family friend, Tommy Parks, who recently created his first CD, "What's Left Will Rise and Haunt," in his bedroom-turned-recording studio. "It's not completely professional, but it's pretty close."

Parks, a singer who plays drums, piano and guitar, was able to record directly into his computer each instrumental part individually and then layer the recordings to create one song through GarageBand, a program that has come free with all Mac computers since 2004.

"Not everybody has extra musicians at their disposal," said Xander Soren, senior product line manager for consumer audio applications at Apple. "So we built in band-backing loops. You have over 1,000 loops in GarageBand. We've got professional music in various keys. It's the Lego building blocks for making music: all the instruments could be recorded at different speeds, but the technology fits it all together in real time."

Methuen native Ben Cosgrove is just a freshman at Harvard, but he's already made six CDs in his parents' basement. Like Parks, Cosgrove is able to create multi-instrument songs as a one-man band with the help of technology.

"It enables me to more accurately realize the sounds that are in my head, which, for right now, is what my primary concern is," Cosgrove said. "I love the freedom to play everything myself, just because of the creative freedom it allows. It provides a way for me to eliminate the middleman, so to speak, and transfer my thoughts directly from my head to a recording, with the only limitation being my own technical skills on whatever instrument it's on."

However, Cosgrove does think about technology's affects on his music.

"I have tremendous respect for music as a sort of organic art form, and I try always to be conscious of that whenever I write, record or perform," Cosgrove said. "From when it began, music was a community thing - in so many cultures, music is a major force for bringing people together, and there's a sort of powerful, otherwise indescribable emotional connection that can be forged when you and someone else are playing the same music. There's so much to be drawn from other musicians and it's easy to overlook that if you have a bunch of software that can automatically give you synths of guitar, drums, trumpet, whatever."

Andy Edelstein, associate professor of music production and engineering at Berklee College of Music in Boston, has even graver concerns about technology's affect on today's budding musicians. For starters, he's worried that kids are becoming lazier performers because they know they can fix things later on through computer programs. But more importantly, he's worried that they're missing out on that emotional connection that Cosgrove admires and Frezzette experienced.

"There's something to be said for feeling the veins in your neck bulge while rocking out with a group of friends," Edelstein said. "Garage bands are synonymous with early rock and roll and pre-punk rock and roll. Rock and roll has the smirk of rebellion and is a raw, highly energetic, counterculture experience. There's something about computers and technology that doesn't really feel like that to me. I don't know if the true garage rockers who get into that spirit would be satisfied with long hours of moving a mouse around."

Edelstein believes technology could lead to isolation for more and more musicians. But Nathan Cohen, a music teacher in the Rockport Public Schools, said he's not so sure.

"I have friends who lock themselves away and create music by themselves, but they're anti-social anyway. Other people who do record on their own, they said the music they record using computer programs are songs they wrote in social setting," said Cohen, who's also a violinist and trumpeter in the band, What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? "I play in a band that uses ProTools, a multitracking, recording software, and Reason, which is a sampling program. Reason allows you to sample technological sounds; if you want a drum beat, you can go to the drum bank and listen to Latin drum No. 1 or African drum No. 2. Now, that's all well and good, but I have yet to sample something that sounds better than real thing. It's just a good way to experiment with sounds."

Many teens are striving to strike a balance between man-made and computer-driven music.

"Using computer programs doesn't help to write a song, but it makes it a lot easier to get your thoughts together in one place," said Danvers guitarist Tim Kennedy, 15, who is in the process of starting a garage band with a few friends. "I've done the whole one-man band thing, but I still like the social aspect of music and being around other bodies instead of just playing with the computer. I usually like to feed off other musicians rather than strictly stay on one path. With a computer, you can set a drum beat and put it on repeat; however, things just turn out good when you have more people involved."

And while the technology is impressive - especially to an untrained ear - it's not perfect.

"You can tell the difference in sound from a computer-made guitar and a real guitar," said Dave Belmont, a member of the punk rock band, Hysteria.

The 17-year-old Haverhill resident and his two bandmates played together for two years before investing in a PC computer program called Cubase and a 16-channel mixer to record their songs. But the guys, who have hopes of making it big, have since decided to record at Pine Island Music Resource in Byfield with professional engineer E.J. Ouellette.

"Maybe you could edit your music, but that's no substitution for good recording skills," Ouellette said. "If you want to compete with the major engineers and producers, there's no way a kid with a computer in his house could come close to what they do."

The cost of making music

GarageBand is an Apple computer application and is designed for budding musicians like 22-year-old Tommy Parks of Salem, N.H. A similar Apple application, Logic Pro, is designed for professionals. Parks, who aspires to achieve professional status, said once he conquers the ins and outs of GarageBand, he'd like to save up some cash to purchase Logic Pro | which costs roughly $1,000. (Apple also offers a less complex version called Logic Express for $299.)

Don't think all of this equipment enabling a budding artists' dream comes cheap.

"If you include all the equipment over the years - all the instruments - I've probably spent $15,000," Parks said. "That's why I'm living at home. I bought all this stuff while working 50 hours a week - it goes right toward the equipment. ... But I don't care how long it takes, I grew up playing music. It's my passion. I do have high hopes - I really don't see myself stopping at any point."

The "computer-centric" market - including items like sequencing software and digital audio work surfaces - exploded last year with double-digit sales growth, while more traditional electronic music products, like keyboard synthesizers and drum machines, saw virtually no growth. U.S. sales of recording software packages, plug-in modules, loops, sampling software and the like has grown from $80 million in 1996 to more than $200 million in 2005, according to the National Association of Music Merchants.

Danvers guitarist Tim Kennedy, who saved for an $800 digital 8-track recorder to hook to his laptop, thinks the money spent was well worth it.

"It's a part of rock and roll," the 15-year-old said.

Not every young musician, however, can afford that kind of investment. But not all want to make it for other reasons, according to Nathan Cohen, a Rockport music teacher.

"None of the kids that I talked to said they had a huge amount money for the really fancy programs. If they did, they'd be more likely to have technology replace some of their live work. But most of the kids (I spoke to) are involved in bands that still have their creativity generated by people in the band," he said.

Getting out of the garage

"Garage bands are more of a social thing. It's about hanging out; it's about playing music. The magic is what happens when you get a bunch of people together to collaborate. Technology is removing the necessity for collaboration because you can play one instrument and then another and then another."

Andy Edelstein, associate professor of music production and engineering at the Berklee College of Music in Boston

"The concept of a home studio has made it possible for just about anyone to go from the first song idea to the final production recording for relatively little expense and without leaving home. While the recordings are more 'polished,' the song ideas themselves often lack creativity. Bands of the '60s would take weeks or even months on a song and a sound until they got it right, whereas today the process is usually much shorter, but often less satisfying."

Joe Nuccio, music instructor at Newburyport High School

"The computer programs should be an asset to creating music - adding effects, certain instruments - but should not take the part of the entire band. Bands from a while back had to purely rely on talent and skill; now, many bands can use computers to alter the sound and some music is very fake, whereas bands from a while back were in a much more raw natural form."

Shawn Teal, a ninth-grader at Newburyport High School

"I would say the biggest difference (in garage bands from the 1960s and today) is that there are fewer place to play live now, but there are better opportunities to get your music out to a bigger audience through the Internet. Before, you were limited to your location, but now you can have a nation or even an international audience online."

Sheila Byrne, vice president of the Music Workshop in Salem, N.H.

"I think once you have a few solid ideas down, it's a good idea to put stuff up on MySpace because that's the future. Word of mouth is stronger through MySpace because people can hear you instantly. And when there's enough of a demand for something, you can get play time. We'll play teen centers and places that will have us for free. But we want to get to that next step. "

Tim Kennedy, a 15-year-old Danvers guitarist who formed a band this fall

"Even with all the problems MySpace has created, it's pretty great for musicians. A bunch of people who I don't know have gone to my page, including the singer of "Thrice." That really meant a something to me. It was cool to have some feedback."

Tommy Parks, a 22-year-old Salem, N.H., resident who recently made his first solo CD

Music by the numbers

* 42.7 percent of musical instrument sold around the world are purchased by Americans, followed by Japanese citizens at 15.6 percent and the British with 6.7 percent.

* 52 percent of U.S. households include at least one person 5 or older who plays an instrument.

* Nearly 75 percent of those surveyed started playing an instrument before age 11.

Source: 2006 survey conducted by The Gallup Organization, commissioned by National Association of Music Merchants