In this talk, I will be explaining how different percussive and tapping techniques have arisen over last the few decades within the genre of progressive rock and metal music. Percussive techniques such as thumping, slapping and popping started primarily as electric bass techniques but has recently moved on to the electric guitar and is used greatly by virtuosic guitarists such as Tosin Abasi and Javier Reyes. In the world of two-handed tapping, a lot of focus has been placed on Eddie Van Halen for popularising two-handed tapping and Stanley Jordan for having a ‘pianistic’ approaches to the instrument. Although both are great examples of different approaches to tapping there are still other guitarists that are coming up with different techniques and approaches such as Yvette Young, Sarah Longfield and Josh Martin. These techniques include butterfly tapping, glitch tapping and the use of different fingers in each hand working independently. Along explaining the history of these techniques, I will also be talking about how to practice these techniques and what to look out for when learning them, these include different exercises, various stages in the learning process and different approaches to the techniques such as various hand positions and wrist vs forearm movement. These techniques do not require the use of plectrums but do require a solid fundamental in fingerpicking which will also be explained. I will also explain what tonal options should be used for these techniques. There will also be a section on how to use these techniques from a compositional standpoint, to create certain timbres and textures when playing with a band.