Take the challenge. Don’t allow your thoughts to control you. You’ll probably get a bit of anxiety, but if you doubt all thoughts then all will be fine and you’ll have courage to stand up and fight.

You’ll win some and lose some, but at least you’ll have courage.

Roland of Aragon

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Alright, now. This is it.

I won’t write much on this one. All I’m gonna say is, if you wanna be a music pro, you gotta get up on stage and shake in your boots and make mistakes.

Then do it again, again, again, again, again, again and again.

Not much to say from here. Enjoy.

Roland of Aragon

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Ya, we all got secrets. Right?

I know you do too.

There’s gotta be something in your past that no one knows about. Just keep it to yourself and let no one know. Not your mama, your girlfriend, or your wife. If you do, then they’ll judge you and maybe persecute you.

Stole something? Everyone’s done it, even if it’s small. God will judge you and he’s forgiving, but when the “Man” finds out. He’ll persecute the hell out of you, whether you confess or not. Man is unforgiving.

As a musician I’m not advocating using another musicians song, erasing their name and adding yours. That’s lying, with intention to deceive.

I don’t believe in copyright. It’s ridiculous to think you can literally steal a songwriters musical idea and then can possibly get sued for it. You can’t steal an idea, you can copy it, Yes. But, you can’t steal it. That’s not logical.

Kids copy all the time when they’re drawing Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. According to plagiarism.org that’s illegal. Lol!

Whatever.

Roland of Aragon

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“Rita returns to Professor B’s classroom looking for help, but runs into something unexpected.”

This scene is the last lesson of the book. Full of music academics and knowledge.

But…

Remember, music is a performance art, not an intellectual science.

Once you get that, then you’re on your way.

I put the academic part as a reference to knowledge to fall on. When you’re out in the world performing in front of thousands of fans, music theory will not come to mind.

I’ve performed thousands of shows and only a handful I recall reading sheet music and that was mostly in my high school band days.

Here’s my quote:

If you reading sheet music during the performance, then you’re not performing you’re referencing.

I use to be a big advocate on reading music and would get into debates about its importance, not anymore.

My reasons to learn note reading.

1. To learn songs that are not recorded.
2. For reference, just in case you forgot the notes.
3. As a lesson tool.
4. But not for performance.

I’m pretty sure if you learn a song by rote (ear) then the student will really nail it than reading it off a piece of sheet music.

Music performance beats music academics to a bloody pulp.

Keep that in mind.

Roland of Aragon (Performance Rules Supreme)

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“Drake the Dragon pulls a nasty move that destroys Rita’s confidence and hope.”

Here’s another untold story of my past.

I joined the regional gospel choir as a bass player, but there happened to be another bass player. So we swapped songs.

We were rehearsing one night for the upcoming regional district church service in Oxnard, Ca.

I took a couple of the songs and the other guy took the other half of the songs.

On the day of the show, I drove to Oxnard. Was pumped, rehearsed and ready to go. Holy Ghost right?

The choir began to sing and the other bass player started to play the first half of the tunes, while I was waiting my turn to swap the other half.

Finally, my turn came. Right in between songs I was ready with my bass to plug into the amp.

Then the lead Music director held his hand towards me in stopping motion and allowed the other bass player to continue with the other tunes.

The tunes that I rehearsed my ass off with. Now, I’m not gonna get my chance to perform. That douchebag of a music director didn’t want me to play.

What the?

That foo literally ripped the Jesus from my heart. I felt so bad. I left the church and took a walk in the city not knowing where I was going, contemplating, “What the hell just happened? “

I returned to the church service after a two-hour walk and my friends were wondering where I went. I kept it to myself.

I was young, around 21 years old and motivated and excited to get my musical feet off the ground. Then this loser music director turned me down in the middle of the performance.

What happened you asked?

One word. FAVORITISM and lack of honesty. I did not have a close relationship with the music director. The other bass player did. I wasn’t hitting the wrong notes during rehearsal, I was nailing it. 

But, because the other guy was good buddies with the music director and I was the new guy then I got the shaft.

I get it. My words may sound like I’m pissed. But I’m really not. Ii was a great learning experience on how not treat others in a leadership position.

I forgive the music director. He didn’t know, no better. 

The following 20 years of my music career was amazing and this story was just a fraction of my experience.

Amazon Best Selling Guitar Books! 

Take that music director!

Roland of Aragon (Yes, Best-Seller)

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Have you ever been forced to do something you really didn’t want to do?

I have.

So…

A few years back I was performing guitar in the church band. Then one week the lead worship singer decided to take a vacation that weekend. They needed a replacement.

The asked me.

I said, “Hell Naw!”

I can carry a tune, but I’m no lead singer. Fear drenched all over me. The pastor looked at me and did not take, “Hell, Naw!” for an answer.

The pastor said, “Find your musicians and create a setlist. You’ll be leading worship next week. “

Crap!

I took the plunge and did it. It was not bad for my first time leading church music. I’ve been a music director for over a decade but never lead the singing. I always had singers for that. It was a good experience.

Will I ever do it again? Sure, but I’ll never be pressured into ever again. I don’t care if Donald Trump asks me. If I don’t want to do it, then I won’t.

Unless there’s booku money involved. He-he.

Roland of Aragon (Booku)

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“The Shred Battles begin as Rita and the illegal crew rip on their axes and battle through the competition”

Rita made it passed the first round and into the semi finals against none other than Drake the Dragon (Guitar Ninja).

In my past, I have won the “battle of the bands” with my old group before. It was pretty cool. We won 10 grand and split it amongst the band members.

But…

I ended up with only $500 split amongst 8 other band members. So, if you do the math.

$10,000 / 8 band members = $1,250 for each band member.

What the hell?!?

Where’s my money? Did they take taxes?

I was told that the money went into post-production for our album. Which never released by the way.  The album was recorded it just was never releaed. As of today, I still haven’t received a copy.

I quit a year later.

Oh well, who cares right? It’s not like they made bank.

Never enter any deal without knowing the possible outcome. Regardless of how exciting it may sound.

Roland of Aragon (Lesson Learned)

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“El Federali corners Rita and her buddy Kolor in the ladies locker room looking differently.”

El Federali is dressed to impress, right? You gotta do what you gotta do, to get what you wanna get, right?

Risks are big part of daily life. I guarantee you will lose someday, but that’s a good thing. Mistakes and failures are the best teachers of life. Those dummy professors at those colleges don’t know what the heck they are saying. They just wanna stuff your mind with those made up concepts that are completely useless in daily life.

They want you stuck in the their classroom like good little robots and to reprogram you because your parents aren’t qualified.

Get off your butt and go into the world and make mistakes. That’s how the real world works. As a part-time stock trader, loses are part of the equation. As of writing this blog, I’m down 5% in a trade.

Hey, you win some, you lose some.

Roland of Aragon (Big Failure)

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“El Federali hatches a plan to corner Rita in the ladies locker room. I wonder what it is?”

I remember I was with my music homies and we were traveling up north for some gig in Northern Cali. We then arrived in Central Cali for a pit stop at a local gas station. I was half asleep and needed to pee badly. So I jumped out and ran into the convenient store and went into the restroom. I went into a stall, because for some reason there weren’t any urinals and did my thing.

After a minute or two, I heard someone walk in and start talking. It sounded like a female voice. I was confused, I peeked in the crack of the stall to look and yep, it was a girl.

I thought, “What the hell is this weirdo doin’ in the men’s restroom?” I thought for a sec and realized something.

I ran into the girl’s restroom without paying attention to the door signs. Ha-ha!     Hey, I had to pee man!

So, I zipped up my pants and bolted back to the car. My friends still clown on me about that day.

Well, nowadays (2019) it doesn’t really matter I can just claim to be a lady and I’m all good.

Roland of Aragon (Not A Lady)

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