Hi Meade. As I taught myself the banjo using nothing but a book of chord charts and listening to Trio albums at half speed back in the day, I pretty much picked up John's style of playing, Yes indeed it is distinctive. And I wasn't happy until I could play pretty much note for note. The way he played could never be charted. One song that drove me nuts and I could never play was Rider. So I learned his licks and Dave's. The sad part is, and I regret it still, I learned how to play like them but never tried any other styles of banjo like bluegrass or clawhammer. I was stuck with Dave and John all my life. Stupid for sure.