Percussive picking

"Percussive picking" is an emerging term for a style of fingerpicking incorporating sharp attacks on the strings, as well as hitting the strings and guitar top with the hand for percussive effect. Flamenco guitarists have been using these techniques for years but the greater resistance of steel strings made a similar approach difficult in fingerstyle until the use of pickups on acoustic guitars became common in the early 1970s. Michael Hedges began to use percussive techniques in the early 1980s. Current percussive fingerstylists include Preston Reed, Kaki King, Justin King, Erik Mongrain, Phil Keaggy and Andy McKee.