20 Neoclassical Licks Vol. 1
Need licks?
Do you love neoclassical styling? Are you wanting to expand your lick library? If so, "20 Neoclassical Licks Vol. 1" is for you! This video download contains 20 neoclassical licks, fast and slowed down, with TABs on-screen. No chit-chat. ALL LICKS! Get it now.
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Do you need help?
Every now and then it's perfectly normal to get stuck or to feel like you aren't progressing as quickly as you had expected. If you've recently hit an impasse in your technique or practice in general, it may be time to consider me as your personal consultant. I am here to help!
What do you get as a PREMIUM VIP Club Supporter?
By joining my VIP Club at the premium tier, you'll not only get ongoing critique support and a special role in my Alfred Potter Guitar Discord, you'll also gain access to the private download site FULL of regularly updated content, such as:
- Exclusive videos
- Jam tracks
- Album art concepts
- Recording resources
- TABs for bonus licks, riffs, etudes, exercises, warmups, full solos + more
- VIP-only "Practice Routines" ebook PDFs
- Access to the "Killer Scale Runs" video course
So, how does the ongoing critique support work?
Upon signing up as a premium VIP Club supporter and becoming a member of my Discord, you can then send occasional videos for critique where I will tell you what to fix (and how), along with bespoke exercises tailored to you and your challenges. If you have come to trust me and my teaching style, know that I won't let you down. We can work together to make you into a fantastic guitarist.
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Alfred Potter - "Argonaut" Album
My debut album
Recorded between 2014 and 2017, my first album "Argonaut" (instrumental progressive rock) was heavily inspired by guitarists such as Vinnie Moore and Tony MacAlpine. It tells the sci-fi fantasy story of the Argonaut as it twists and turns through a variety of musical vistas, from heavy metal to thoughtful modal ponderings.
Story
"The center of every universe is home to an eternal relic of unfathomable age. Any creature or species capable of reaching the relic at the centre of their universe will be assimilated and have their physical being destroyed, but in doing so will be granted the honor of creating the next universe to their exact specifications, and to some extent they will become a god. Their essence becomes the Eternal Relic in the new universe. This is the story of the Argonaut. A lonely traveller of unknown origin, destined to journey the endless expanse in his quest to undo the untold tragedies of his kind and to start anew".
Track list:
1. "Red Shift"
2. "Pillars of Creation"
3. "Virulent Worlds"
4. "Journey Across the Infinite"
5. "Synesthesia of Space and Time"
6. "Trials of a Hero"
7. "Cosmic Drift (The Eternal Sleep)"
8. "The Assimilation"
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$7USD
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Lead Guitar Practice Methodology
The Ultimate Resource
It's the only instructional guide on lead guitar you'll ever need! I'm not even joking.
This ebook PDF contains EVERYTHING I know and have ever learned about lead guitar techniques and practice strategies laid out in 32,000 words spanning 150+ jam packed pages.
Learn about:
- Guitar setup (Action/string height, neck relief, pickup height, intonation etc, & more)
- Lead guitar techniques (Picking motions/mechanics, pickslanting, alternate picking, legato, sweeping, muting, & more)
- What to practice (Music theory, scales, sequences, horizontal playing, skill application, & more)
- How to practice (Exercises, speed training, detecting errors, improvisation, building sync and articulation, & more)
PURCHASE & DOWNLOAD NOW
$15USD
The following is an interview between a student and myself for a college assignment of theirs where they had to question somebody working in the music industry. Hopefully you will enjoy learning a little bit more about me and perhaps give you a glimpse into what it's like starting out as an online teacher/musician.
1. What is your age, and family background in music?
"I am 30 years old. As far as I know, my father (Fred Potter) and brother (Gus Potter) are my only other musical family members. My 26-year-old brother was at some point the best pipe band side drummer in the North Island of New Zealand. While he no longer competes, he is still mindblowingly good. My father is an accomplished jazz pianist and has played all his life. What's interesting is that my father regularly encouraged us to take up multiple musical instruments throughout our childhood, but we outright refused! It wasn't until our teenage years that both my brother and I (independently) turned to music".
2. Do you have any formal qualifications?
"Not at all. I didn't even finish my last year of high school. This was the year I began electric guitar. Coincidence? I did try my hand at university and completed half a history degree but abandoned it in order to practice full-time".
3. How did you get into the music industry? Specifically how did you start your YouTube career?
"Being self-taught, I turned to YouTube for my music tuition. I scoured the search results in hope of finding helpful videos which would point me in the right direction and teach me how to play correctly. What I got was hugely disappointing. All the videos were just endless talking... or the opposite: playing and showing off! There were no teachers on YouTube (or anywhere else online) who simply taught licks with TABs or explained techniques in as few words as necessary. When I eventually got around to making a YouTube channel, I remembered this absence of quality videos and decided to fill the niche myself.
I began making videos, trying to keep them as short as possible. Always providing a TAB. People really appreciated this format, and so it grew from there".
4. Please describe what it is that you do.
"I work online as a guitar teacher. My main platform is YouTube where I create lick lesson videos (+ onscreen TABs), technique tutorial videos, technical exercise videos, jam tracks, Q&A videos, and music of my own. I also sell my own ebook PDFs and lick bundle video packages through my website. Through my Facebook business I offer and conduct private tuition by correspondence with dozens of students around the world. When I have any free time left over I practice constantly and try to record my music (Instrumental progressive metal)."
5. What skills would you say are needed to perform your job, and how long was the process to obtain these skills?
"This is a huge question. I will just start listing what comes to mind if that's okay: Being able to use a DAW recording program to create, mix, and master music, video editing to create videos, photoshop skills to create diagrams and art for videos and products, web developing skills for editing/updating website(s), time management skills, anti-procrastination skills, knowing how to explain things concisely and clearly (especially to foreign students who may not be too confident with English), knowing how to market a completed product using the internet, lead guitar techniques, lead guitar maintenance, music theory, and so on. In terms of how long it took to obtain these skills, I'll say they varied. Video editing and photoshop can be learned to a satisfactory degree in not very long at all, whereas learning just ONE lead guitar technique, sweep picking for example, took me around 6 years (keep in mind I was self-taught. I have taught others in far less time than this). And learning how to record, mix, and master music is ongoing - I still continue to learn more about that every week".
6. Do you think it is possible for musicians to be greatly invested in the industry, and maintain a disposable income?
"From what I can tell, there are three possible outcomes:
The third category is usually reserved for people who have commercial success because they make pop music and/or know people in high places. That or they know how to market themselves extremely well.
There doesn't seem to be a middleground between option 2 and 3, sadly".
7. How did you get into this job?
"It just gradually happened over the last 9 years of putting out content. Nice streamlined videos with no unnecessary chit-chat which get straight to the point and provide TABs. I started getting more viewers as time went on. The day I got my first paycheck from Google it really made me think: "Hmm, can I actually make a living doing this?"
9. How often does your job require you to interact with others, and what experiences have you had with these interactions?
"On a daily basis. On the whole they are overwhelmingly positive. It's so pleasing to hear how I've helped people. That's why I do what I do! I look forward to waking up and checking my comments and messages. My fans bring me happiness every day. And all I have to do is help them with their technique. A fair trade, I'd say".
10. Do you find passion in what you do?
"Most people don't believe me when I say this. But I don't enjoy guitar or making music. 99% of the time it's stress, hard work, and failure. Day after day after day.
But the sense of accomplishment and purpose it gives me is unlike anything else.
Believe me when I say I am passionate about what I do! I just don't enjoy it at the time".
Welcome to the second lesson on two-hand tapped arpeggios! Last time we covered the fundamentals such as: muting, string transitions, and a small 2-string example arpeggio to begin with. Now it's time to delve further into the technique and learn some larger arpeggio shapes. This lesson will teach you the tapped arpeggios for the four 7th chords of the major scale: The Maj7, the Dom7, the Min7, and the Min7b5 arpeggio. I will provide you with a TAB and also a fingering diagram (where the blue notes are the tapped notes) for each arpeggio.
NOTE: Use your picking hand's middle finger to execute the tapped notes for the following 4 arpeggios. Using the ring finger for tapped notes on the high e string is optional.
Maj7
Dom7
Min7
Min7b5
As always, check out the video below for a more in-depth lesson and to see/hear these arpeggios in action!
What are scale sequences?
A sequence is a repeated and ordered pattern applied to the notes of a scale or arpeggio.
Imagine walking in a straight line for 8 steps. You could go ahead one step at a time like you normally would or you could decide to mix it up. For instance, you could step forward 3 times and step back once. You could step forward 4 times and step back twice. You could even leap forward a distance of 2 steps and then take a step back. All of these would be different ways in which you could walk ahead 8 steps. They are different patterns. They are different sequences.
Why learn them?
From the moment you learn a scale, it is your duty as a musician to convert it into music. Playing scales up and down the same way forever simply won’t cut it. And so the use of scale sequences is the answer. Sequences are an essential part of fretboard freedom and musical freedom. The more you master, the more interesting and creative sounds you can make with scales. Using sequences can change the way in which your guitar leadwork affects a track/song/jam. For instance, simply playing up through the notes of a scale produces a rather bland and straightforward result, represented below by a straight line. Whereas by applying something powerfully intervallic like the second example in this article: the "Pentatonic 4ths" sequence, you can produce a far more jagged and melodic sound to the ear, represented below by the jagged rising line.
How to use them
Play through the examples. Alternate pick everything. Apply them to different positions/scales/modes/keys. Familiarise yourself with the different sound of each sequence. Next time you jam, make sure to incorporate them into your leads. Perhaps between licks, melodies or scale runs you already know. Remember to mix it up: play examples as 16th notes (4 notes per beat) but also try them as 8th note triplets (3 notes per beat). Different notes of the sequence will land on different beats and can change the sound. You may be very pleased with what you discover! Pay very close attention to the fretting fingering instructions under some ambiguous tabs. Play examples exactly as specified to avoid unnecessary difficulty and confusion.
Example #1: "Linear Fours" in C Major
Here is the first of four examples. Instead of playing the C major 3-notes-per-string (3NPS) scale up and down, we apply a sequence called "Linear Fours". The pattern goes like this: Forward 4 notes, back 1 note. When you step back that one note, the sequence begins again. Give it a go!
Example #2: "Pentatonic 4ths" in A minor
Now we will try out a pentatonic idea. This one is trickier as it requires you to employ finger rolling to hit adjacent notes. In other words, you'll need to rock a small barre back and forth with a fretting finger to play notes which have the same fret number but a different string. Go really slowly to ensure a clean sound. And make sure you follow the fingering instructions under the tab.
Example #3: "Skipped 3rds" Diminished Arpeggio
This example shows that sequences aren't limited to scales - they can be applied to arpeggios as well. Starting on the D note on the low E string we play through the 4 notes of the diminished arpeggio (Root, Min3, b5 & 6 AKA bb7). But we don't play them in order. Instead we play the first note, then jump over the second to play the third (Hence "Skipped 3rds") and then we step back a note to play the second. And from that note we skip up a third, then step back one, and so on it goes. Once again, pay attention to the fingering instructions below the tab. Love this sound!
Example #4: "Root, 7th & 5th Triads" E Lydian
This is the most complex example by far, and sounds amazing! I'll try to explain this one as simply as possible. We are basically sequencing an E Lydian scale by building triads of root, 7th and 5th off every note of an EMaj7 chord. But don't get too caught up with the technical aspects of this if you don't want to, just follow the fingering instructions (Slowly!) and enjoy this beautiful sound.
Check out the video lesson!