DENNIS ROBERTS - AUTHOR
Tell
your readers a little about yourself, where you grew up, where you live now, where
you went to school etc. Let them get to know the personal you.
I was born in the little Bohemian city-town of Northampton, MA, and have lived
most of my life in semi-rural Western Massachusetts, with a couple of short
stints on the West Coast. Essentially, I’m a New Englander at heart, and I’m
most at home in the wooded hills of the Northeast where I can hike, bike,
kayak, and camp.
For
the most part, I attended school in Franklin County, MA, until I was 16, after
which I obtained my GED. In my 30s I returned to college to study music and
made the Dean’s List multiple times, won a scholarship with my essay writing,
and graduated with honors, quite an accomplishment for the wild child I was in
my teens.
I’ve
always been artistic, whether drawing, writing, crafts, or any other pursuit.
My musical journey began late, in my mid-teens, and has been the number one
artistic passion in my life. I was a self-taught guitarist, playing rock and
metal, until studying music formally in college, when I moved into jazz.
What
inspired you to author your book?
My
book was born in a flash of inspiration on a summer day in August 2018 when I
was in bed and sick with a 102° fever. My eyes sprung open and I thought, “It
can’t be that easy.” But it is! I came up with an entirely new, unique, and innovative method for teaching and
learning the complex art of jazz improvisation, distilling the advanced
concepts into a system that’s easy to learn and apply so that guitarists can
improvise sophisticated jazz lines on the fly.
Where
did you get the inspiration for your book’s cover?
My
method is so distinct that I wanted a cover that distinguishes the book from
the typical books in the genre, which usually feature a standard jazz guitar
and way too much print.
The
cover concept developed very quickly and I knew what I wanted within the first
week. I moved from an initial concept of a white cover with line art against
splashes of watercolor in the background to an undistinguishable “anyone” jazz
guitarist in the heat of performance done in watercolor with a much more
intense background placed in contrast against a field of white.
I
went with the Broadway font for the cover title and author and that became a
theme for the logo I created and some of the internal print.
Who
has been the most significant influence on you personally and as a writer?
I’d
always dreamed of being an author in my youth, writing short stories and
plotting full-length novels in fantasy, Western, sci-fi, and historical fiction
right into my 20s. In time, I set those aspirations aside. Then inspiration
hit. “The Master Arpeggio System for Jazz Inspiration” is written entirely in
my own voice, with my oddball humor and instructional tone.
What
were your struggles or obstacles you had to overcome to get this book written?
This
entire project has been a work of sheer inspiration. The book practically wrote
itself. I took some significant breaks, but the writing itself took under six
months. I’ve actually run into more problems with formatting and publishing.
I’m still having the manuscript reformatted so I can release the book with
several other distributors.
Tell
your readers about your book.
MAS4JI,
as I call it, is a remarkably new approach to improvising jazz lines on guitar.
I use only 10 “master” arpeggios and 10 steps on how to develop them to help
guitarists create melodic jazz phases in the moment. It goes against all the
conventional ways of teaching this complicated subject and presents the
information in a very simple way that is easy to learn and apply and avoids
most of the academic vernacular and jazz jargon. It puts the sounds of jazz and
fusion under guitarists’ fingers without endless boring exercises and mounds of
music theory.
Who
is your target audience, and why?
MAS4JI
is not for beginner guitarists. It’s
for guitarists who’ve been playing for at least a couple years or more and are
interested either exploring jazz sounds or adding those textures and ideas into
their own playing style. It’s also for beginning jazz students who want to move
into improvising great lines for upcoming recitals.
Unlike
many other instruments, most renowned guitarists who play jazz came to it from
other musical genres, often blues, rock, funk, or metal. This is geared toward
all those self-taught, self-motivated guitarists who want to move into playing
jazz-style lines quickly with a system that they can apply to everything they
learn and incorporate into their existing style.
It’s
also an excellent tool for teachers who want a method that will produce quality
results in their students. Because it’s intervallic instead of scalar and it’s
very visual and based on how
guitarist learn, it will give them a new lens through which they can see everything
they learn from that point forward. It’s a new way to see and navigate the
fretboard.
If
you were going to give one reason for anyone looking at your book to read, why
should they buy it?
It’s
a very huge claim to make, but the Master Arpeggio System for Jazz
Improvisation is quite likely the easiest jazz improvisation method there is .
. . anywhere. Time will tell, but I
don’t know of an easier system out there. If you’re a guitarist who wants
dramatic results within six months,
this is the book for you!
What
do you consider your greatest success in life?
There
are a number of great successes I’ve experienced throughout the peaks and
valleys of life. However, in this context, MAS4JI is the culmination of everything I’ve ever done musically in
that it’s the most inspired and unique thing I’ve ever created.
What
one unique thing sets you apart from other writers in your genre?
I’m
not a famous guitarist. I don’t have an illustrious background with a history
of musical successes. However, this method is so unique that I believe, in
time, it will become recognized as a game changer, maybe even the new standard.
It turns the traditional approach to teaching this subject on its head and puts
it in a new context. It’s a niche that no one else occupies in this field of
study.
How
do you overcome writer’s block?
I
don’t experience that. MAS4JI was one book that has been divided into three,
with the other two already partially written. They’re very progressive and
follow a remarkably clear vision I have that will take guitarists from a very
basic, strong foundation and build on that until they can play at a highly
advanced level using the most modern advanced concepts, all learned through the
remarkable master arpeggio system. It just flows for me.
What
one piece of advice do you have for new authors.
Formatting
is crazy. I’ve hired freelancers to do it so I can focus on other things. Also,
learn everything you can about
marketing and promotion. You need to be targeted and focused or you can waste a
lot of time and money. Don’t be afraid to hire competent help when you need it
so you can do your thing, but also learn as you go. There’s a long learning
curve, but it’s navigable.
Tell
your readers anything else you want to share.
Follow
your dream(s). “The Master Arpeggio System for Jazz Improvisation” is the first
of three books (initially), shortly followed by a YouTube channel, website,
blog, an online store featuring many supplements, backing tracks, and more,
even an eventual online academy teaching the books as video courses, online
workshops, private lessons, a merchandise store, and much more. My business
plan extends well into 2023 right now. I’m following my passion.
- The Master Arpeggio System for Jazz Improvisation (MAS4JI) teaches you just 10 master arpeggios and how to use them in 10 simple steps to help you generate endless jazz lines for massive gains with minimal effort.
- Learn how to improvise using triads and arpeggios, target tones and voice leading, quartal arpeggios, pentatonic scales, superimposition, chromaticism, side-slipping, tri-tone substitution and more without all the endless exercises and complex music theory using an innovative method that’s easy to learn and apply.
- Play with your intuition without paying the high costs of tuition; MAS4JI is designed to fast-track guitarists to playing and improvising sophisticated jazz lines as fast as possible using simplicity to generate complexity.
- So much time and effort can be invested in the intensive learning process with relatively little results. MAS4JI is the shortcut through the forest that you can take without wandering down the wrong path and getting lost.
- MAS4JI is versatile and can be easily applied to blues, rock, metal, progressive, fusion, and jam band playing styles to bring new dimensions of expression to your solos!
Product Details
- Publisher : MAS4JI.com (April 1, 2021)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 99 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1736482106
- ISBN-13 : 978-1736482100
- Item Weight : 9 ounces
- Dimensions : 8.5 x 0.23 x 11 inches
