José Tomás

Considered a major influence on the evolution of classical guitar technique in the second half of the 20th century, he trained many guitarists from all over the world.

[2] Tomás was initially a self-taught guitarist, but then continued his studies with Regino Sainz de la Maza, Emilio Pujol,[1] and Alirio Diaz.

The two extra strings allowed him to play music originally composed for the vihuela and lute on a modern guitar without sacrificing any notes.

"Pragmatic and erudite, but at the same time humble", he received a constant stream of guitarists who visited his home in Alicante seeking his advice.

[5] Amongst the classical guitarists who studied with Tomás are David Russell, Raphaella Smits, Thomas Müller-Pering, Ahmet Kanneci, Cornel Imry, Edson Lopes, Yoshimi Otani,[7] Ignacio Rodes, Rafael Serrallet, Carles Trepat, Mario Caserta, Edoardo Catemario, Jonathan Baker, Klaus Helminen, Jim Frazee, Patrick Gaudi, Bauke Oosterhuit, Luis Diego Martin, Alex de Valera, Masahiro Umemoto, Ichiro Suzuki, Spencer Burleson, Eric Madriguera, Benjamin Bolt, Ross Benavides, Philip Rosheger, Tom Johnson, Bryan Townsend, Marco Antonio Anguiano, Ryuhei Kobayashi, Baltazar Benitez and Jesús Castro-Balbi.