Percussive Fingerstyle Guitar through the Lens of NIME: an Interview Study Andrea Martelloni Andrew McPherson Mathieu Barthet Queen Mary University of Queen Mary University of Queen Mary University of London London London 327 Mile End Road 327 Mile End Road 327 Mile End Road London, United Kingdom London, United Kingdom London, United Kingdom
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT guitar performer, aimed at playing layered arrangements Percussive fingerstyle is a playing technique adopted by rich in rhythm patterns that are reminiscent of a full band. many contemporary acoustic guitarists, and it has grown This style was born between the 1980's and the 1990's substantially in popularity over the last decade. Its foun- out of the pioneering work of artists such as the late Michael dations lie in the use of the guitar's body for percussive Hedges; over the last decade, however, it has seen a remark- lines, and in the extended range given by the novel use of able rise in popularity and it has evolved into a commu- altered tunings. There are very few formal accounts of per- nity of players, mainly thanks to online media outlets. The cussive fingerstyle, therefore, we devised an interview study strong visual appeal of the percussive technique is surely to investigate its approach to composition, performance and one of the driving factors of its success; also, the ingenu- musical experimentation. Our aim was to gain insight into ity of the arrangements has a way of inspiring guitarists the technique from a gesture-based point of view, observe and other musicians who may be inclined to experiment on whether modern fingerstyle shares similarities to the ap- their instruments beyond traditional capabilities.