The enigmatic Robert Fripp has been a prog rock staple for the past few decades. Now 68 years old, Fripp has been performing for 48 years, and completely mystifying players and audiences alike for 47.5 years. Despite being most well-known for just one band, King Crimson, Fripp has worked on over 700 records, and is constantly pushing the envelope of guitar playing, technique and even the very nature of what it means to be a guitar player. In 1984, he joined with a school in West Virginia to teach a course called Guitar Craft, which ran for 25 years until its dissolution in 2010. Needless to say, the man was and continues to be a highly influential player, and will continue to be so long as new generations can find copies of In the Court of the Crimson King and Larks’ Tongues in Aspic in used record bins all over the world. While Fripp is a boundary-breaking guitarist in every sense of the term, it’s not too late to channel your inner Fripp and begin on the path to true Guitar Craft.
New standard tuning
One of the key elements of Fripp’s sound involves a tuning that he invented which he refers to as New Standard Tuning. Without filling this article full of complicated music theory, the structure of NST amounts to all-fifths tuning, or rather, an approximation—Fripp originally coined NST under a strict all-fifths arrangement, however, he kept breaking high B strings this way. After much experimentation, he switched to a G string. The final version of NST is:
C2-G2-D3-A3-E4-G4
This arrangement dictates that all but the G string are tuned to fifths of a low C (the G string is tuned to a minor third from the E).
Of course, this tuning isn’t optimized on a regular string set, so the gauges must be optimized for NST should one choose to go that route. Though users after him have modified the values somewhat, Fripp himself uses a 10–52 set, with values 10, 12, 16, 24, 38 and 52.
Get good with loopers
One of Fripp’s most groundbreaking efforts centers around his Frippertronics System, which involves looping on three different analog reel-to-reel tape machines. Fripp used three Revox tape machines—one A77 and two B77s—to achieve this highly unique sound. The first instance of Frippertronics on record is on Fripp and Brian Eno’s (No Pussyfooting), where Fripp contributes guitar work. Another Fripp and Eno collaboration titled Evening Star was recorded a short time later using the Frippertronics System.
Since Fripp first fired up Frippertronics—in 1973 or possibly before—he’s had much practice in both implementing live looping (30 years before it showed up in a pedal), and getting accustomed to the system itself. If sounding like Fripp is the end goal, players are advised to seek out a looper with dedicated speed options to simulate the myriad of tape manipulation that Fripp used. The Z. Vex Lo-Fi Loop Junky is perfect for these applications, as it has a Speed control as well as the ability to literally make your guitar sound like a worn-out tape machine. If tape wear isn’t the end goal, a regular looper such as the Ditto X2 will suffice, as it offers reverse and half-speed effects for further experimentation.
Get some pitch-shifter pedals
When Analog/Digital Associates (known as A/DA) formed from the ashes of the Seamoon company in 1977, it released the Flanger, and eventually, the Final Phase and the Harmony Synthesizer. Out of these, the Harmony Synthesizer was by far the rarest, with 950 units ever produced. The pedal was legendary for its ambition and sheer size; it was a massive box with four footswitches. Craig Anderton, who quite literally wrote the book on guitar effects perhaps said it best: “It’s amazing that this box even exists at all.”
Not surprisingly, Fripp used as many as four simultaneously, eventually settling on three. He played the Harmony Synthesizer during his time in League of Gentlemen and it persevered there for decades until the eventual integration of the Eventide H3000 harmonizer. Though Fripp’s live pedalboards only ever show one Harmony Synthesizer at the most, the triplets lived in the studio and using all three in tandem helped produce Fripp’s legendary recorded tone. Using three harmonizers at once is quite a task in itself.
We are living in a golden age of pitch shifters—many companies are producing them. The Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork and DigiTech Drop offer specific intervals, much like the H3000 that Fripp uses in his rack. Thankfully, the Pitch Fork and Drop cost far less than the H3000, even combined.
Listen to different music
While Fripp is a certifiable guitar genius, he didn’t just make his music appear out of thin air; just as you, the reader, has influences, Fripp himself had influences as well.
Many of Fripp’s roots can be traced back to European classical music and jazzists like Sun Ra and Ornette Coleman (though it was not explicitly stated as such, Fripp does cite avant-garde jazz as one of his primary influences).
Fripp actually told Guitar Player in 1974 that “virtually nothing interests [him] about the guitar,” much to the chagrin of many fans. He went on to suggest that Jimi Hendrix doesn’t actually like playing guitar but uses it as a medium with which to speak. Among other things, he posits that most guitar-based music is boring, save for a few cuts. That said, Fripp has very few influences that lie within the realm of rock ‘n’ roll. Try expanding your horizons, then expanding on these new horizons. This may lead to increased incorporation of other styles and the marriage of several types can serve as serious inspiration.
Technique
In the very same Guitar Player interview that Fripp essentially called the bulk of guitar-based music banal, he spends a lot of time talking about technique, and he mentions that he believes his “plectrum hand” to be much more important to his overall sound than his other. This is because Fripp utilizes several picking techniques that allow him to complete lightning-quick runs with ease.
One of the major techniques employed by Fripp is cross-picking, where the player pivots the ball of his or her thumb on the bridge and plays that way. In the early days, Fripp played a bridgeless Fender guitar and had to improvise this technique by hovering his hand and “hard-pivoting” in the air. This allowed for some serious muscular development. Look no further than the solo on “The Night Watch” or his work with Andy Summers on I Advanced Masked for examples of Fripp’s insane picking prowess.
Fripp also gets lots of mileage out of a technique called perpetuum mobile which means “perpetual motion.” This is a technique that involves the rapid playing of a short piece of music an indefinite number of times without a gap in between where the specified melody stops and begins again; the passage is treated as one long piece, rather than several short pieces strung together. Coupled with some bizarre time signatures, no doubt gleaned from avant-garde jazz pieces, mastering perpetuum mobile is a key to unlocking Fripp’s silky smooth fingerpicking techniques. Fripp’s Guitar Craft course also makes great mention of the Alexander technique, which is a continual process that teaches its students how to avoid muscular overexertion in everyday activities, which Fripp distills into the guitar playing universe.
Fripp has cited a couple other more incidental influences in his playing style, such as a horribly set-up guitar. Fripp’s first axe was a “Manguin Frere” which he claims was impossible to fret above the fifth fret. In his determination to master this unnavigable beast, he developed an abnormal muscular build that aided his playing later on. As far as actual form is concerned, Fripp prefers to practice with an Ovation 1867, as its unique shape compliments his form the best. Let that be a lesson; sometimes fit is king. Fripp has access to any instrument in the world, but the 1867 just fits right, so that’s what he uses.
Specific gear
Throughout the years, Fripp’s actual guitars have been more or less the same; he primarily uses a Gibson Black Beauty Les Paul but some others have snuck in here and there. In the ‘80s, Fripp used a Roland G-303 synth guitar, which can be seen on live performances of tracks from the album Discipline.
Fripp has implemented both a Fernandes Sustainer and MIDI into his rig, as they offer great flexibility to a player that’s known for doing several things at once. The MIDI connectivity allows for triggering sounds and even complex passages from Fripp’s towers of rack gear. The Sustainer bridge is especially helpful for facilitating the perpetuum mobile technique as it allows for notes to sustain and produce a glissando effect.
Speaking of Fripp’s racks, they include four TC 2290s, a BBS compressor and a variety of preamps and utility pieces in addition to the aforementioned Eventide H3000. While four digital delays isn’t exactly the most practical thing for a budding Fripp soundalike, players can inch closer to the man’s sound with just one or two and some clever looping. The savvy player will want to pick up a unit like the TC Electronic Alter Ego x4 or Flashback x4—it offers both a 2290 patch and the ability to simultaneously loop and delay an instrument. For a fun Fripp-esque trick, try running a guitar into an A/B/Y box, with a delay (set to a one-second or longer delay time) on A and the clean signal on B, then switch between the clean and delay signals.
Fripp’s other pedals include a Russian Big Muff, RAT, Fender Blender, Xotic Robotalk, Dyna Comp, Cry Baby and Robin Trower’s personal Uni-Vibe. While nothing on the market can match the mojo of the Trower unit, all these effects (or passable approximations) are available for purchase today. You might even own a couple already. However, it’s important to note that Fripp expressly mentions that he can get the same sounds with any piece of gear, and he emphasizes that it’s more about technique than equipment. For those of us that haven’t achieved a Zen-like state regarding guitar playing, though, there are these specific devices.
In an age where people are quick and content to emulate standard blues and rock guitar players, the world needs more guitarists that cite Fripp and other experimental guitarists as a direct influence rather than a mandatory inclusion. The man uses a unique set of technique and tools to achieve his signature tone and style. It is these types of choices that separate carpenters and aerospace engineers. Both are equally important in the grand scope of things, but it is the initial choice of tools and skills that causes the divergence that makes us all unique.