Editing Robert Fripp (section)

==Guitar technique==
[[File:Guitar Craft symbol by Steve Ball.png|thumb|The knotwork symbol of Guitar Craft]]
{{See also|New standard tuning|Guitar Craft}}
Fripp began playing guitar at the age of eleven.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dgmlive.com/<!-- /diaries.htm?entry=13491 --> |title=Robert Fripp bio |publisher=Dgmlive.com |access-date=19 February 2012}}</ref> When he started, he was [[Amusia|tone deaf]] and had no rhythmic sense, weaknesses which led him later to comment that "Music so wishes to be heard that it sometimes calls on unlikely characters to give it voice."<ref>{{harvtxt|Tamm|2003|loc="Chapter two: The guitarist and the practice of music"|p=[http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook/ch02.htm 16]}}</ref> He was also naturally left-handed but opted to play the guitar right-handed.<ref>Sid Smith. ''In the Court of King Crimson.'' London: Helter Skelter Publishing, 2002, p.15</ref>

While being taught guitar basics by his teacher Don Strike,<ref name="Tamm14"/><ref>{{Cite web|author=Steve Ball|title=History of the Guitar Craft Plectrum|url=http://www.steveball.com/words/history/PickHistory/index.htm|access-date=2023-02-20|website=Steveball.com}}</ref> Fripp began to develop the technique of [[crosspicking]], which became one of his specialities.<ref name="Tamm14">{{harvtxt|Tamm|2003|p=[http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook/ch02.htm 14]}}</ref> Fripp teaches crosspicking to his students in Guitar&nbsp;Craft.<ref>{{harvtxt|Tamm|2003|pp=[http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook/ch10.htm 137 and 141 (Chapter 10)]}}</ref>

In 1985, Fripp began using a tuning he called "[[New standard tuning|New Standard Tuning]]"<ref name="Heroes">Baldwin, Douglas (November 2007). "Guitar Heroes: How to Play Like 26 Guitar Gods from Atkins to Zappa", edited by Jude Gold and Matt Blackett, ''Guitar Player'' p.111.</ref> (C<sub>2</sub>-G<sub>2</sub>-D<sub>3</sub>-A<sub>3</sub>-E<sub>4</sub>-G<sub>4</sub>), which would also become popularised in Guitar Craft.<ref>{{harvtxt|Tamm|2003|pp=[http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook/ch10.htm 134, 142, 148 (Chapter 10); cf. pp. 160], [http://www.progressiveears.com/frippbook/preface.htm 4]}}</ref>

Fripp's guitar technique, unlike most rock guitarists of his era, is not blues-based but rather influenced by [[avant-garde jazz]] and [[European classical music]]. He combines rapid [[alternate picking]] and crosspicking with motifs employing [[whole tone scale|whole-tone]] or [[diminished seventh chord|diminished]] pitch structures and extended [[sixteenth note|sixteenth-note]] patterns in ''[[perpetuum mobile|moto perpetuo]]''.<ref name="Heroes"/>

Rather than stand when performing, he seats himself on a stool (unusual for a performer in rock music), and by doing so was called in a May 1974 issue of ''Guitar Player'' "the guitarist who sits on stage".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.elephant-talk.com/wiki/Interview_with_Robert_Fripp_in_Guitar_Player_(1974)|title=Interview with Robert Fripp in Guitar Player (1974)|website=Elephant-talk.com|access-date=11 October 2019}}</ref>