Can you tell Fripp from Belew?
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=134255
Printed Date: February 21 2025 at 06:45
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Topic: Can you tell Fripp from Belew?
Posted By: Faul_McCartney
Subject: Can you tell Fripp from Belew?
Date Posted: January 20 2025 at 02:02
| As in their guitar parts of course. I'm sure some fans are obsessive enough to remember who played what riffs at what concert, but can you distinguish based purely on the playing? I'm curious who was playing what in Frame by Frame for example. |
Replies:
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: January 20 2025 at 02:12
|
I recall their work on Discipline being pretty distinct... In the 'Frame by Frame' intro Fripp is playing the speedy pentatonics and Belew the chords & screeches. At 1:06 that's Fripp doing the arpeggiated open chords, but they do sometimes do unison, as well as play off each other. Most of the wild sound effects ~ elephants, metallic scrapes, etc. ~ are Belew. ------------- "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy |
Posted By: omphaloskepsis
Date Posted: January 20 2025 at 02:59
| Yes, I can tell Fripp from Belew. |
Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: January 20 2025 at 03:18
|
They're both very characteristic guitarists, so normally I can tell them apart easily, but then they can also emulate each other fairly well, and then of course it gets difficult. |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: January 20 2025 at 05:01
| On solos usually no problem. On tunes like Frame by Frame it's more difficult. |
Posted By: mellotronwave
Date Posted: January 20 2025 at 10:20
| yes I do |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: January 20 2025 at 10:32
|
Ade's style is unmistakable. ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: Faul_McCartney
Date Posted: January 21 2025 at 10:11
| Well for those of you who answered, what helped you to learn the distinction? Listening to Belew's solo work? Watching them in concert? |
Posted By: Valdez
Date Posted: January 21 2025 at 10:41
This is right. I can tell them apart easily when they are doing their own thing. ------------- https://bakullama1.bandcamp.com/album/sleepers-2024 |
Lewian wrote:Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: January 21 2025 at 12:15
|
Hi, Out of curiosity .... are we listening to the music as a whole or to just a guitarist? I'm not sure that I have ever wondered who drummed what (threesome group), or who played what in the days of Belew of anyone else. I do think that RF likely does not like someone improvising out of the blue and kinda leave him wondering how to fill in the space ... but when things are worked out, it is really nice to see Belew and RF go at it. When it first came out, I did not like the Belew addition, but in the past few years my ear tuned in, and I liked it much better, and while not my favorite time for the band, it is super nice and special. My "favorite" time of this band is the John Wetton period ... those albums are fantastic in my book. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: January 21 2025 at 12:51
I can tell Fripp from Above, Belew, and from sideways on too, although personally. I'm more of a fan of the Sensational Crimson Queen.  |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: January 21 2025 at 14:00
If you know Fripp's approach to playing from previous King Crimson records ~ highly technical & angular ~ you can then distinguish between that and the more traditional but modern style Belew has. Also their tones are different : Belew having a jazzier, tinnier sound with a touch David Torn's method on Bruford's BLUE project. ------------- "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." -- John F. Kennedy |
Posted By: Jaketejas
Date Posted: January 21 2025 at 22:42
|
Yes, Fripp does the mind-boggling arpeggiated riffs while Belew makes the animal noises. |
Posted By: Awesoreno
Date Posted: January 23 2025 at 00:05
| In terms of soloing, Fripp tends to play with a lot of quartal leaps, since he tunes his guitar strings in all fourth intervals (meaning the fifth and sixth strings are tuned up a half step to make each string a fourth away from the previous, normally the fifth string is a third interval up from the fourth string on a standard tuned 6-string guitar). This kind of playing is incredibly evident on Factured and FraKctured, and most of the Larks', like the main melody of part 2 and the intro of part 3. |
Posted By: Awesoreno
Date Posted: January 23 2025 at 00:10
On a tune like this, where they're using the same tones, it wouldn't really matter who is playing what during the instrumental sections. The main conceit of that piece is that the guitars are playing the same repeating figure, but one of them cuts off a note at one point while the other remains consistent, creating a phasing effect inspired by the work of serialist/minimalist composers. I would imagine that Belew is playing whatever part is easier for him to play while singing during the vocal sections, but upon viewing live videos, it honestly does not look any easier at all. It takes a lot of practice to get this right (or at least, years of getting used to singing while playing something that is of a very different rhythm than the vocals, something I'm working on), and seeing Beat live did not disappoint!
|
Posted By: mellotronwave
Date Posted: January 23 2025 at 00:29
| ^Indeed ! |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: January 23 2025 at 05:18
| I've always wondered who does what on those 80s albums but no I can't really tell the difference for the most part. |
Posted By: Disconnect
Date Posted: January 23 2025 at 11:07
| I find all their respective parts easy to distinguish in both studio and live contexts, but that's just me. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: January 23 2025 at 12:03
| I suppose my guess would be that most of the clean sounding guitars that sound like they are on a loop are probably Fripp although the distorted guitar bursts at the end of LTIA pt 3 are probably him also. |
Posted By: Awesoreno
Date Posted: January 23 2025 at 22:28
| Watching live videos helps. Bruford has posted several tracks from a 1982 and a 1995 concert on YouTube, and the KC channel has posted several as well. Check em out! |
Posted By: cstack3
Date Posted: January 23 2025 at 23:24
|
They both embraced the "Gamelan" style of play, emulating the style of classical Indonesian music. Therefore, their guitar parts can become inter-twined. Adrian can play Robert's parts quite convincingly, but he doesn't use Robert's "new standard tuning." ------------- I am not a Robot, I'm a FREE MAN!! |
Posted By: Awesoreno
Date Posted: January 24 2025 at 21:23
| ^Yes, as I mentioned above. |