Robert Fripp — £2,500 · Premium Tone

• The Marshall DSL40CR delivers power-tube saturation at master volume 6–7 — this compression and sag is what separates amp-driven tone from pedal tone. Set the master first, then dial back the channel gain to taste rather than the other way around.
• Sit upright and play with a relaxed, efficient technique — avoid shoulder and wrist tension
• Use real tape echo or a long delay pedal to build Frippertronics-style loop layers
• Guitar Craft discipline emphasises posture and physical relaxation as prerequisites — the player's physical state directly affects the quality of the sound produced. Develop a seated posture where the guitar rests in a stable position without any muscular holding. Tension above the instrument creates tension in the sound
• New Standard Tuning (C-G-D-A-E-G, low to high) was Fripp's alternative to standard tuning — this tuning provides consistent major-second intervals between adjacent strings. The scale and chord shapes are completely different from standard tuning and require learning the fretboard from scratch
• Sustained notes that crescendo over time come from allowing the loop volume to build while maintaining a consistent guitar output — the increasing level comes from additional passes through the loop system, not from adjusting any volume control during the sustained passage
• Silence has equal compositional weight to notes — Fripp's compositions contain extended silences that are precisely placed and measured. When practising improvisation, impose a rule that 50% of each measure must be silence to develop the discipline of spacing that his music demands

• ✗Not exploring the Marshall DSL alone before adding pedals — a Les Paul or humbucker guitar into a British amp is already a near-complete overdrive system. Adding drive pedals on top is often unnecessary and muddies the amp's natural character
• ✗Ignoring the individual pickup volume and tone controls — the two-pickup switching options on a Les Paul give you four distinct tones within a single setting. Most players only use two.
• ✗Ignoring the room or PA system — prog guitar changes tone dramatically in different acoustic environments. Dialling in EQ in isolation gives a different result than through a full PA.
• ✗Adding too many pedals — complex rigs with multiple switches require full attention to operate. Start with less and add only when a specific gap is identified.

If you like Robert Fripp's tone, these players use a similar approach — same gear philosophy, comparable sound characteristics.