Meet Roland Of Aragon of Gardena

Today we’d like to introduce you to Roland Of Aragon.

Hi Roland, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
After nearly three decades in the music and art world, my career has been nothing short of an adventure — performing and traveling to hundreds of gigs with indie artists, releasing multiple albums, teaching thousands of students, writing fourteen books (including two Amazon bestsellers), launching a few startup businesses, creating my own comic book, and now working on a new album.

It’s been a roller-coaster ride and a blessing all rolled into one.

It all started back in the 80s — arguably the greatest decade for pop culture. My dad was a master welder, but also a guitarist with a deep love for music. He wanted my brother and me involved from the start. I was also an artist who loved drawing and cartoons, and I became pretty good at it at a young age. My childhood dream was to become both an animator and a professional musician.

One afternoon, when I was about seven, my dad picked up my brother and me from school in his old Volkswagen bus. We puttered down the road for about thirty minutes, and the whole time I was thinking, “Please don’t let it be the dentist.” Eventually we pulled into a massive parking lot filled with hundreds of cars. Where are we? I wondered.

“Alright, let’s go!” my dad shouted.

We followed him up the stairs of a nearby building and walked into a room filled with electric pianos. My eyes lit up. Like any clueless kid, I immediately started pressing keys and pushing buttons.

“Stop that and sit down,” my dad said.

Turns out, he had enrolled us in a beginner’s piano class at the local college. Our teacher, Mrs. Farley, was a kind woman with a warm smile. Once the room filled with other kids, she greeted everyone and then sat down to play a beautiful, energetic piece on the piano.

I was floored. How did she do that? I thought. I was hooked instantly. After class, I devoured the piano book, spending the next several days learning every tune I could. In that moment, something shifted. I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life: music.

That was just the beginning.

Over time, I learned several instruments, eventually falling in love with the electric bass. Within a few years, I joined every musical group I could — church band, concert band, jazz band, pep band, marching band. I played trombone in school groups and bass at church. Meanwhile, my passion for art never left; I still dreamed of animation.

After high school, I applied to CalArts in Valencia. I attended orientation and thought maybe I could major in both music composition and animation. But the high tuition and the industry’s shift toward CG animation in the 90s — leaving traditional animation behind — discouraged me. So I leaned fully into music.

At nineteen, I became the music director at my church — a huge blessing — and my freelance career took off. I was getting gig after gig, performing with countless indie artists and even several major artists in the industry for the next two decades.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Wow, that’s a great question. I faced plenty of struggles along the way. When gigs dried up, I had to find other ways to pay the bills. In my early twenties, I stumbled into music education because performing work was scarce — and to my surprise, I ended up loving teaching even more than performing.

The 2008 market crash hit everyone hard. Gigs vanished, students dropped off, and money was tight. In times like that, faith becomes essential.

My mother grew up on a farm in northern Mexico, where hard work was a way of life. That work ethic shaped me. But I eventually realized that while hard work matters, many people work hard their whole lives and never get ahead. For years, I felt stuck — even cursed. I had always believed knowledge and action were everything. But over time, I learned that success is mostly psychology. Our beliefs, doubts, and the environment we grow up in shape our mindset more than we realize, and a negative environment can hold you back for years.

Everything changed when I picked up an old book: The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. It was a game changer. I wish I had read it as a kid — they never taught this stuff in school. One quote hit me especially hard:

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”

After nearly fifteen years of teaching and gigging, I wrote my own guitar instruction book, The Only Beginner’s Guitar Book You’ll Ever Need, which became an Amazon Top 10 bestseller for almost a year — a huge blessing. I also created my own comic, Illegal Aliens, and took it to conventions across the West Coast as an indie artist.

And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: positivity, purpose, and persistence carry far more weight than raw knowledge or hard work alone. Hard work moves your hands, but mindset moves your life.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Around 2014, I started searching for a comic or cartoon that taught people how to play musical instruments — and I couldn’t find anything like it. So I figured, why not create one myself? That’s how my comic Illegal Aliens was born. The story is loosely inspired by my mother’s life and faith, with a sci-fi twist, and I integrated guitar lessons from my bestselling instruction book directly into the narrative. The first ever comic book that teaches how to play guitar. I think that’s pretty unique.

When I hit the comic convention circuit, something unexpected happened — I sold out of my comics at both the Las Vegas and Los Angeles conventions. It was surprising, and I even began to build a mini fanbase.

My long-term plan is to turn Illegal Aliens into an online animated series — something fun, challenging, and meaningful. For now, I’ve put the project on pause to refocus on music composition. As a lifelong fan of film music, I believe movies and music together are one of the most powerful ways to share a faith-based, positive message with the world. That’s exactly what I’m working toward, with a planned release in early 2026.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Stay positive. Be persistent. Have fun and love the process. For years, I believed you had to be a realist to succeed — but realism never helped me reach my goals. Realists rarely persist. It’s the dreamers who become achievers.

Earl Nightingale said it best: “You become what you think about most of the time.”
So dream — and then dream bigger.

Surround yourself with like-minded people. Ignore the haters. Doubt the negative thoughts. And above all, believe in yourself and trust in God.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://toonstunes.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toonstunescomics/
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00NLOABP6