Failure to Fracture

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Sometime back I read an interview with Robert Fripp in which he stated that the song, "Fracture", and in particular the section call "Moto Perpetuo", was the most difficult piece of music for him to play and he'd never compose something so difficult again.

Up until that time, I hadn't given the song any thought.  I went back and listened, and after several listenings I could hear all of the "extra" guitar pickings that were going on between each of the, what I would call, main melody notes. I guess I knew they were there all along, but never gave any thought to how they came to exist.  Yeah, now that I've listened to it intently, it sounds kind of tough to play, but how tough?  Someone else must have mastered it by now.

I set out looking for recordings of other individuals playing the piece, at least respectably.  I was sadly disappointed.  Below are links to some of the attempts I've found. (I'm not embedding most of these as inline videos because there are a lot of them.  You'll have to cut & paste the URL)...

One painfully bad attempt:
https://youtu.be/Tgv1bNJF8DY

And another:
https://youtu.be/Vum4Z8YvR3E

Not bad but a little overly distorted:
https://youtu.be/LvEUp0vHv6A

Sorry, not good:
https://youtu.be/KRUkBvYKsX8

Not too bad, but under amplified:
https://youtu.be/EYo8rG_EX0w

Way too slow:
https://youtu.be/Ce-Q7Ov0S9c

Not even close.  Did you even read the tablature?:
https://youtu.be/_wmbfrPx6EY

Slow, but the notes sound close to being correct:
https://youtu.be/baGiNrKszew

Getting close.  A little more practice:
https://youtu.be/EoWx3sUMQEo

Then I ran across a series of videos entitled "Failure to Fracture" made by Anthony Garone from MakeWeirdMusic.com. He pretty much disects the piece and analyzes what exactly makes it so difficult to play.  Here's the first part:

By the end of the fourth part, he does a pretty respectable rendition.  Jump to the end, starting at around the 9:40 mark:

Back in the July 2014 time-frame, there was a long thread on PA titled "Is Robert Fripp Overrated?".  I think the answer is no.  If you can compose and play a piece that NO ONE ELSE HAS BEEN ABLE TO PLAY, then you're not overrated.  C'mon, man, it's been over 43 years!  Someone must have mastered it by now!

Does anyone have a link to a video showing anyone else playing Fracture? Hell, I'd even like to see a link to the man himself playing it.  All I can find are audio tracks of live performances, but I want eyes-on-fingers... I want to see it played (and played well).  Any help, here?

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wiz_d_kidd Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 13 2018 Location: EllicottCityMD Status: Offline Points: 1360	Topic: Failure to Fracture Posted: February 14 2018 at 10:27
	Sometime back I read an interview with Robert Fripp in which he stated that the song, "Fracture", and in particular the section call "Moto Perpetuo", was the most difficult piece of music for him to play and he'd never compose something so difficult again. Up until that time, I hadn't given the song any thought. I went back and listened, and after several listenings I could hear all of the "extra" guitar pickings that were going on between each of the, what I would call, main melody notes. I guess I knew they were there all along, but never gave any thought to how they came to exist. Yeah, now that I've listened to it intently, it sounds kind of tough to play, but how tough? Someone else must have mastered it by now. I set out looking for recordings of other individuals playing the piece, at least respectably. I was sadly disappointed. Below are links to some of the attempts I've found. (I'm not embedding most of these as inline videos because there are a lot of them. You'll have to cut & paste the URL)... One painfully bad attempt: https://youtu.be/Tgv1bNJF8DY And another: https://youtu.be/Vum4Z8YvR3E Not bad but a little overly distorted: https://youtu.be/LvEUp0vHv6A Sorry, not good: https://youtu.be/KRUkBvYKsX8 Not too bad, but under amplified: https://youtu.be/EYo8rG_EX0w Way too slow: https://youtu.be/Ce-Q7Ov0S9c Not even close. Did you even read the tablature?: https://youtu.be/_wmbfrPx6EY Slow, but the notes sound close to being correct: https://youtu.be/baGiNrKszew Getting close. A little more practice: https://youtu.be/EoWx3sUMQEo Then I ran across a series of videos entitled "Failure to Fracture" made by Anthony Garone from MakeWeirdMusic.com. He pretty much disects the piece and analyzes what exactly makes it so difficult to play. Here's the first part: By the end of the fourth part, he does a pretty respectable rendition. Jump to the end, starting at around the 9:40 mark: Back in the July 2014 time-frame, there was a long thread on PA titled "Is Robert Fripp Overrated?". I think the answer is no. If you can compose and play a piece that NO ONE ELSE HAS BEEN ABLE TO PLAY, then you're not overrated. C'mon, man, it's been over 43 years! Someone must have mastered it by now! Does anyone have a link to a video showing anyone else playing Fracture? Hell, I'd even like to see a link to the man himself playing it. All I can find are audio tracks of live performances, but I want eyes-on-fingers... I want to see it played (and played well). Any help, here?

condor Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: May 24 2005 Location: Norwich Status: Offline Points: 1069	Posted: February 15 2018 at 01:28
	What's wrong with this?

wiz_d_kidd Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 13 2018 Location: EllicottCityMD Status: Offline Points: 1360	Posted: February 15 2018 at 07:22
	Yeah, I saw that one. I'm not sure why it fell off my list. Too many tabs open, I suppose. The first part is really pretty good! But the fast part that begins at 2:47 is still a mess. I think most of these attempts are fair and have the right general feel of the original, but technically (!) fall short of reproducing the precise cross-picking and fingering of Fripp. The key word there is TECHNICALLY. Above all else, Fripp was a precise, disciplined technician of his craft.