Failure to Fracture: Episode 1 - Stress and Tension

Enjoy episode 1 of my series on King Crimson's "Fracture." It's about stress and body tension, which is the biggest inhibitor of success in my attempts to play this piece of music.
www.makeweirdmusic.com/learn/f...
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I've spent the past 15 years or so developing a unique type of expertise regarding the song "Fracture" by King Crimson: the expertise of failure.
The purpose of this video series is to demonstrate all the things I've learned about that have stood in the way of my success all these years. I'll talk about my time with Robert Fripp in Mexico in February 2015, what I learned from the Guitar Circle course, and what I've been able to learn since then on my own and through lessons.
Hopefully some people find this helpful! Let me know in the comments!
www.makeweirdmusic.com/learn/f...
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Make Weird Music is a website, video channel, and community run by Anthony Garone. It's a site for musicians and music enthusiasts to help broaden their creative horizons. Watch for great interviews with unique and incredible musicians! Look for educational content! Make fun of Anthony! Do it!

[@jimgoeddel5087]

I love what you're explaining here. It's more than just playing "Fracture". It's about being.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Thank you for appreciating it! It is definitely a holistic adventure. It is body, mind, and soul.

[@SuperMarioJamesSMJ]

To me the hardest part of the entire section is be arpeggiated augmented sequence... the otherworldly smoothness of the sequence is the real answer to the quest

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Indeed. It's so difficult.

[@mediocrefunkybeat]

The idea of 'doing nothing' as you say sounds very much like the model of Mindfulness - which itself comes from secular adaptation of Buddhist meditation techniques. I used to teach Mindfulness in a previous job and the practise of being able to focus solely on one thing whilst allowing distractions to drift away can be really helpful in many other areas of life. I might be slightly misinterpreting what you're saying but it makes perfect sense to me.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

There is a lot of commonality between Robert's awareness/presence exercises and mindfulness meditation. There are a few mindfulness gurus in the guitar circle, too! I'd love to chat with you about your teaching practice! Thanks for being so helpful, Duncan

[@mediocrefunkybeat]

Make Weird Music It was a while ago and in the context of a mental health charity. I'm no expert, I just knew marginally more than the clients! Everything new is old again.

[@Daxos45]

This video is just amazing, it really puts you in a place where you have never been before, i've never heard anything of what you said in any other place/video, and it's sincerely mind-blowing (at least for me). 'been trying to play the piece (Fracture) from a long time, and it's just ridiculously "impossible", but this video is a really good resource for players like me, that have never thought about what you talked about in this video. Thanks for this, it opened a lot of doors in my mind and it will surely mean something important in the future.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

+Diego Matus thank you so much! I put a lot of thought into this series for people like you. There isn't enough information out there on physically and mentally preparing to play this piece. Even with the tablature, we are not prepared. Please share and help us spread the word about good, challenging music.

[@boddhiswaha5446]

Great series bro, not everything in music is about success, most of our life as aspiring musicians, is to deal with the monumental work of our beacons and how we find ways to get there

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Absolutely.

[@clintonmcmurray767]

Great video. I think most players probably have their 'Fracture' piece - something technically demanding that requires full concentration in a relaxed state to perform well. I have my own, and an attempt to play it quickly reveals to me my how well I'm feeling. Any mental or physical stress, or lack of sleep, or consumption of alcohol, and it's just not going to happen. Occasionally, though, I might move on to play things that are much easier , sound pretty, and lighten my mood for half an hour or so, and on another attempt I find I can play it with relative ease. I guess that's doing nothing by another, probably less reliable, method.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

+Clinton McMurray hah, so true. What's your Fracture?

[@boddhiswaha5446]

Totally, I started learning 17 century chicken picking by Chris Impelliteri almost 11 years ago, and just yesterday I felt like an improvement would be to adapt the fingering to my way of playing instead of sticking with the tab I learned back then.. I have struggled with wrist pain for some months, and that is changing my whole perspective on playing and doing so with more precision and less effort

[@david_lynch]

Video 'bout a pick??? I can't wait!!! :))

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Yep! Maybe I'll get to it this week. Thanks for watching! Please share and spread the word!

[@jordanwatkins1981]

Great video man. I can relate to so much of this. I have also been trying to play Fracture for years (about 5 years for me, so far). I have tried the guitar circle picks for a good few months but stopped because they weren't really working for me and I got advised by one of my University teachers to 'not think about my picking hand so much'. I can also relate to the pain of it, I actually caused myself tendonitis (still have it after nearly 2 years) and I think trying to play this kind of stuff so intensely is partly the cause of it. After that I started getting lessons in the Alexander Technique, did that for a few months but I found it quite frustrating and slow. In hindsight I think I took a lot from those lessons, I seem to be slightly more aware of myself and the tension I am bringing to the guitar while I play. Glad to know there are other people out there who are having a similar experience. Keep it up man, we'll nail it one day :D

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

+Jordan Watkins thanks! Happy to do a skype session sometime. Message me on some social media service or something.

[@lecheenpolvo]

Incredibel video!!!!! I'm an amateur guitarist and Fracture always blowed my mind. We all need a tutorial!!!!! Plase, relax your body, relax your mind, and do a tutorial for us!!!! ;)

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

+lecheenpolvo thanks so much! What would you like to see in the tutorial?

[@lecheenpolvo]

Well, as I told you I'm an amateur guitarist, so if you can show us how to play Fracture in slow motion, or explaining step by step each part of the song. Thanks for your reply!

[@senseipaz9365]

meeeen i would love to have a talk with Mr. Fripp. You lucky one

[@senseipaz9365]

i've seen other of your videos, clearly you see more relaxed.\

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

It’s been a lot of work! It’s stressful to relax sometimes. Haha

[@richardjames7905]

Have you read ‘In and Out the Garbage Pail’ by Fritz Pearls?. This might help your relaxation response. I don’t play an instrument but do appreciate good music and I am a King Crimson fan and I get the discipline approach being used as a measure of quality ‘ control’ that has and still does pervade

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

I haven't heard of the book, but I should check it out! Thanks for the referral.

[@kbris9611]

Did you ask Fripp how long it took him to play it start to finish without mistakes?

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

No. He talked to me about Fracture but I was too afraid to ask questions. Haha

[@kbris9611]

I asked him a question once - haha Not a good idea to ask him questions

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Kent Brisley 😂

[@thenextpoetician6328]

@@kbris9611 Never ask a question unless prepared for the answer.

[@raymundoaustria5821]

When i play the intro my entire body starts hurting

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Too much tension. Need to relax.

[@alanatwood1243]

After 9 years of listening to Fracture as a fan, my snot-nose kid at 19 nailed it in one month of practice. And that was without the use of tab or lessons. Of course I hate him.

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

I swear I've seen this comment before. Am I going crazy?

[@viewfinder1801]

I have a kid like that. Incredible in-born talent and doesn't believe people when they try to tell him that. Sooo frustrating. Talent is wasted on people who don't have to work at it.

[@themanwhosoldyou9545]

"What you are tellimg me is that somebody who knows nothimg about playimg guitar, about performance, about playing an instrument and balery

[@MakeWeirdMusic]

Very interesting perspective, right?