Failure to Fracture: Right Hand Architecture

Watching this makes me feel like confessing that my pick grip is completely wrong. I have carpal and cubital tunnel so my grip strength in my right hand is not good. I developed a 3 finger grip pseudo-architecture, and for years (at the advice of a physical therapist) used moleskin material to build up the larger part of the pick with something easier to grip, rather than trying to grip something thin and smooth. in time I was able to abandon the moleskin, but still have this odd architecture. Part of the problem is the part of the thumb that would be in contact with the pick with what you're demonstrating is partially numb, and sometimes the index finger can be a bit numb. With the 3 finger grip it feels more secure.
Maybe at some point I could attempt to relearn this? Not tonight though LOL!

Thanks for this video. As a guitar player myself this info is very useful. Thanks again.

As a massive nerd, I love this sort of thing.

I have read your book a couple of times and have been trying some Fripp stuff, myself.
Larks' Tongues III is ridiculously hard... I don't know if I will ever get that up to full tempo!

I actually got some GC picks, but I prefer the Dunlop Sharp picks. I have the .73mm which I love for acoustic. I have been using the 1.14mm for electric. I am going to try the Jeff Loomis sharp picks as well.

I've been learning Fracture myself, this is very useful!
The Krimson discography, specifically Discipline, forms a significant part of my musical DNA, both as a listener and a guitarist, so its interesting and helpful to see a more defined and refined right-hand form for playing this complex music (especially since I'm playing Discipline for my Music performance exam this year).

I am putting my right hand through a kind of painful hell, so I hope you're happy. But maybe, after a few weeks, I will for the first time feel comfortable with a pick. They tend to move around on me. Thank you.

This is super helpful. Funny enough I picked up my guitar for the first time in about a month yesterday to practice Larks III again and watched some of your videos. I get elbow pain at the higher speeds so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

The problem I always run into whenever I try to play fast is that I lose the synchronization between the right and left hands. My left can't keep up with the right.

Also, how do you address palm muting and/or anchoring the wrist on the bridge with this technique?

enjoy your content very much, thank you. do you alternate between standard tuning vs nst, for the different pieces you approach, learn, perform?

Fortunately for me, I have no desire to learn how to play Fracture so I can stick to the picking technique I have used for forty+ years. I'll stick to listening to Fripp and yourself play Fracture, it is more entertaining - some things are best left a mystery 😉

Thank you for this highly informative and insightful video. Ever since I heard Fracture, more than 48 years ago, it has been a constant source of quiet euphoria to me. Intuitively it was something I recognised to be a yardstick for several qualities that seemed obvious to anyone who heard and listened. The guitar parts seemed breathtakingly impressive and the composition and arrangement highly sophisticated. It has remained my yardstick for measuring any metal since, although anyone who has listened to Crimson knows they were many things, a genre unto themselves. Nothing I have heard since has had the same impact on me, or revealed such a level of musicality in terms of band interplay in a live setting. Personally, I’m grateful to you for the whole Failure to Fracture project and the dedication you have shown by which you have showcased and championed a piece that is sacred to my heart. Highest gratitude and regards. John from Sydney.

One thing that f up for me is the angling of the pick, i watched every frame of Alex Anthony Faide playing this nightmare and he changes the angle subtly while cross picking. But i have no clue how to do that at such high speed. Do you even notice this type of movement ?

Great story, Ant. I still don't know how that works!! I confess. My fingers dangle.

The difficulty of pulling the pick out from between thumb and fingers reminds me of some tai chi exercises which make it very hard to push someone over.

Robert Gripp

Happy new year! You would not believe how much better it feels to jumpnstrings like this. I wrote a thing and was able to throw 16th notes in there (it started to sound like Radical Action).
Anyway, I hope the new year brings good news, including that Wetton Era transcription book. I am super excited about that.

I’ve felt that my right hand technique is abysmal for many years. I definitely want more versatility in how I pick (you need to be really loose for like r&B and gospel and comping in general, but for times where I need extreme speed and precision I will try this out. Thanks

Thanks for the video, I have been making a mistake in my practices because I don't leave space for the “pencil” in the right hand posture, however I am left with a doubt about the angle of the pick when plucking the string, I have the perception that it should be strictly perpendicular, do you know what is Robert's recommendation in this regard?

The ending of the suite was OMG!

In the early 2000s, as an avid RF online diary reader, I came across a discussion on right and left hand technique that (together with live DVDs) transformed my guitar playing. I'll never have the time in my life to put in the work to reach Fracture/Trap/Suite levels of playing, but basically any pain from guitar playing permanently disappeared within a week and for that I am forever grateful.

One thing that might be worth mentioning is Fripp's recommendation of a visual way to verify a good hand orientation before we begin picking, until we're able to do it by feel:
- viewed from the front, there's a straight line down the forearm through the middle finger. (The wrist isn't bent up or down.)
- viewed from above, there's a straight line down the forearm through the thumb. (The wrist isn't bent toward or away from the guitar.)