GearDump

Next to Les Paul, Robert Fripp might be one of the most unique and innovative Guitarists of his generation. Fripp, has basically redefined Guitar Technique, Teaching, and Tone with every work that he has done. King Crimson’s early work included the mellotron which was an early form of sampling. The Mellotron was played like a keyboard. When a key was pressed down a piece of tape was played at a specified speed thus creating the illusion of an instrument being played at the specified pitch. Throughout the first few King Crimson records you can hear the mellotron playing string parts.

Robert Fripp’s keen interest in music technology has yielded a wide variety of tones. For Fripp tone is clearly a compositional tool. Larks’ Tongues in Aspic contains some of the heaviest fuzz ever recorded. Information about his equipment is quite scarce since Fripp is more concerned about composing music then actually playing guitar, though he is certainly very skilled. In the mid 1980’s Fripp started using the Roland GR-300 guitar synth. Even today he continues to use guitar Synths and a monster Rack to create diverse guitar sounds.

Fripp has used various fuzz boxes in his career similar in style to Muff style fuzz units. He suggests that his fuzzes are not as good as the current production muffs. In interviews he has specifically mentioned the Big Muff, Foxey Lady, Buns Buzzaround and the ColorSound Fuzz units. Upon actual examination it seems that the Buzzaround was the most frequent fuzz he used since it has such a unique sound in comparison to the other fuzzes he discusses. He is also known to use a rackmount Ibanez Digital Delay & Roland Space Echo. Though Fripp appears to be non-chilant about his equipment his mixture of Vintage and New equipment suggests that he takes an active interest in how good it sounds.

Fripp has used a wide variety of Amps. In the early days of King Crimson he used Marshall but later switched to Hi-Watt’s. As time went on he favored clean amps with a fuzz box for distortion. During the eighties he used the Roland JC-120. Nowadays he favors more of a more synth friendly rig with a Carvin Power Amp powering speaker cabinets.

Fripp takes some of the more common elements of the guitars such as string gauge and tuning very seriously. He has, since the 1980’s, used new standard tuning (CGDAEG) and consequently has used different string gauges to compensate for the changes in string tension. New standard tuning features prominently in his teaching a form of playing he calls guitar craft.

If you don’t know Robert Fripp I suggest you listen to Larks’ Tongues In Aspic. That record truly demonstrates his guitar prowess.

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