"Showing off skills". That's my problem right there. I know you're a big fan of Joe Satriani, for example. One of my biggest criticisms of him as a musician is his self-indulgent noodling. That navel-gazing approach to thinking that the best music is the one with the biggest deck. :sick:
Which is why I liked that last video you posted from Satriani... it was definitely of a more thoughtful, and less reflex-driven, style.