Marty, you could concievably learn to play just like Doc and you still wouldn't be Doc Watson. If you can incorporate some of Doc's stuff into playing like Marty, I'd say that's a much better goal.

I have a fair number of bodhrán heroes, none of which I can or would copy exactly. I do, however, incorporate a little or sometimes a lot of what I see and hear them doing into my playing. I've made a lot of my progress thus far, playing with a fiddler named Mike who really likes Kevin Burke and steals some of his licks, but doesn't play exactly like him. He plays a lot of bits and pieces from different fiddlers. He unfortunately moved away, so I get to play with him far less frequently, but when we do get to play together, ther are moments when I'm playing a Johnny McDonagh style rhythm to a Michael Coleman style lead flowing into a subtle Cathy Jordan style drumming to a hard edged Ciaran Tourish-esque fiddling to a Frank Torpey/Kevin Burke etc. It's not exactly the same but by borrowing bits and pieces from different peoples styles a player has a much larger bag of tricks to dip into. It seems to have worked so far. I've been playing a little under 5 years and some people seem to really like my playing as if I'd been playing all my life. Can hardly wait to see what the next 5 years brings.

I realize this is a bit of thread creep, What with you posting concerning a musical instrument and me replying about the bodhrán, but it's the best I can offer.

Good luck,
Rich