About 29 bands, soloists and duos performed in the heats at the King's and Queen's Performing Arts Centre.
Sequoia Cunningham, from Logan Park High School, and Ihlara McIndoe, of St Hilda's Collegiate School, were selected to go through to the solo/duo regional final.
Sequoia, who studies classical singing, said she was really excited to get through and hoped to improve on her performance.
''I was a bit nervous.''
Rockquest director Glenn Common said the standard of bands that played on Saturday reflected the increasing sophistication competition organisers had noticed in recent years.
''This has resulted in an eclectic range of genres at any one time, rather than one trend dominating for a short period.''
Ten bands were selected to play at the final in Dunedin on June 8.
From there, the solo/duo first and second place will be announced, followed by the top three bands and a range of other awards.
The top two in each section will then submit videos to be judged for selection to play in the national final in Auckland in September.
The 10 bands to go through to the regional finals: the Criminally Insane, Taieri College; Nova (Queen's High School); To Kill a Mockingbird (John McGlashan College and Bayfield High School); the Sleeves (King's High School); Loose Ends (South Otago High School); Perpetual Button (Kavanagh College); Not from Space (Logan Park High School); Albion Place (John McGlashan College); the FarqVards (Logan Park High School); Puzzle Puppets (Otago Boy's High School).
