Hi Marty,

I sympathise with your ambition, and share your frustration. I've been listening to Doc's guitar playing for decades, and although I can sometimes work out what he's doing with a tune (more or less), I still can't play it anywhere near as fast, or as accurately as he does. And even if I could, the end product would still lack the grace, wit, and zest that characterises Doc's playing. Because that comes from within – and it's that extra ingredient which makes Doc a musical genius, rather than just a very, very competent player. So, I can only echo the sound advice offered by khandu – learn all you can from other musicians, but stay true to your own vision, whatever that may be.

A little story here, which may be instructive. Edward Fitzgerald was a fairly undistingished mid-19th century English poet and scholar. He took on the task of translating the verses (or "Rubaiyat") of one of Persia's most famous poets – Omar Khayyam. When a friend wondered whether he was up to the job, Fitz replied that he was not aspiring to produce a poetic masterpiece, but simply to convey the spirit of Omar's verses honestly to the English reader. And he added "better a live sparrow than a stuffed eagle". Omar's vision touched Fitzgerald so profoundly, that he was driven to try and share it with other readers. Persian scholars say that his translation is inaccurate. And English literary critics describe his verse as no better than second rate. Nevertheless, Fitzgerald's version of the Rubaiyat became a best-seller, and remains one of the most influential books of all time, because it speaks from the heart, and to the heart. It may only be a sparrow, compared with poetic eagles like Shakespeare's sonnets, or Milton's Paradise Lost - but it lives.

There's a lesson here for all of us parlour pickers. Copying Doc's guitar solos note for note (even if we have the chops to do it) can only produce another stuffed eagle. But the real challenge is to apply everything we can learn from Doc – or any other maestro – to help make our own ideas come alive for other listeners. Rick Fielding's ideas on how to develop technique are excellent. (I'll be stealing some myself Rick, so thanks for 'em.) But technique is a means to an end. The goal is sharing whatever it is you have to communicate with your fellow human beings –not just impressing them with your technical facility.

Wassail!