If you could master the technique of any guitarist, living or dead, who would it be and why?

I would like to wake up with the technical ability of my teacher Virginia Luque. She has extraordinary command of her hands and exquisite tone. Not only that, when she plays she doesn’t just play the music, she embodies it. This is extremely rare and I’d love to possess that ability. However, in the end, we are who we are. We possess our own strengths and weaknesses, and we all have our own unique voice on the instrument. I think our greatest challenge as players is to have the confidence to be who we are, and to express ourselves on our instrument like no one else. 

I have to say for me, no one has influenced my playing more then Marco Tamayo. The ease in which he plays such complicated passages so beautiful is astounding to me. I have struggled with tension in my playing all my life. To the point where I no longer play most of my old pieces. I'm retired now, and I have embarked on relearning how to play, with the sole intention of playing without tension. This of course requires re-wiring my brain, changing the way I practice and most importantly stop the mindless repetitions. This is such a pit, that once your in, it's very hard to extract yourself.   Practicing is now an art in itself, scientists and academics around the world.  It's amazing the advances that have been made in how the brain can so easily be fooled into doing the wrong thing vs. the right thing so quickly after just a few mindless repetitions of the wrong thing.   The quality of players today at such a young age is a product of the advances made in practicing.     

So hard to choose man. From my limited exposure, I will pick

1. Xuefei Yang - for her imagination and execution on what a guitar can sound like. The sounds and melody she extracted from her guitar in her Sketches of China album is simply astounding.

2. David Russell - for his immaculate articulation, every note is clearly sound and given appropriate attention. 

3. Laura Snowden - for her ability to imbibe emotions into every piece she plays. 

with their powers combine. 

Taking the title literally (purely technique) I’d be hard pressed to choose between John Williams and Manuel Barrueco, I’ve seen both live and their technique was pretty much flawless. Ideally I’d have the technique of John Williams and the musicality of Julian Bream. When they played together the ‘whole’ was greater than the sum of the parts. They seemed to being out the best in each other whilst giving in a little to each others idiosyncrasies. 

My choice is not considered a Classical Guitarist, but he is classically trained. He is renowned in the Jazz world, and that is Ralph Towner.  Not only is he a brilliant, innovative guitarist, but also a superb composer.  My second choice would be Andrew York, another wonderful composer, whose sense of harmony, as is Towner, is just superb.

Andres Segovia or John Williams for technique, Julian Bream for musical esthetics. I once sat front row center in Ann Arbor for a Bream-Williams duo concert. Williams breezed through everything effortlessly while Breams struggled in anguish at every passage, thrashing his hand all over the place. But when you listen to them alone, Segovia had the worst sense of tempo (unless playing with an orchestra), Williams music is slightly sterile and Bream is the one that makes you jump out of your seat and say "Wow-where can I get the score for that!"

In the consideration of one of the greatest guitarists of our time, John Williams; the greatest of all times was perhaps Agustín Barrios; so why not "go for the fence"?  I have seen many classical guitarists through the internet but very few in person.  One I have seen in person is Pablo Saínz Villegas, and I was really impressed by the energy he brings to the scenario.  Sort of what these gents are describing in Julian Bream.  And then, there are so many young excellent guitarist that having the talent of any of them would a dream.  Regards, José