Sloppy but Famous Contest

Not sure what you're referencing re: Leo Kottke

I'm just a casual fan, but I saw him play in Minnesota maybe a decade ago. He clearly has ridiculous skills. (Or at least he did back then.) His genre tends toward the rhythm-centric, so he may play with pitch sometimes, but I don't recall hearing him blow it outright. I'm not saying it hasn't happened, I've just never caught it. IME, he is pretty much a metronome - I've seen few players who can keep time like Leo.

A related item, a piece of advice I once got from a guitar teacher: If you ever miss and play a blat during a solo, just play the same note again. Once is a miss, twice is quirky improvisation.

Tostado,

I play primarily fingerstyle and couldn't agree with you more! It explains so many of my shortcomings.

OTOH, most of my favorite fingerstyle players are getting on a bit, but they're still on top of their game. John Renbourn is 70, Richard Thompson and Lindsey Buckingham are both 65, and Tommy Emmanuel is 60. It can be done!

Notwithstanding all that, IMO your comment is squarely on point.

Oops - to clarify.

My favorite popular music fingerstyle players are hangin' in there... I wasn't trying to specifically equate Renbourn et al with the classical players you note (although Renbourn has recorded some pretty awesome Baroque material and Buckingham does have a mean "faux" rasqueado in his bag of tricks).