Satriani is much more talented than I in the speed department, but I love doing fills. I'm creative and I use all four fingers on the fretboard for free style solos. I was usually able to recreate 90% of the licks on pop songs when I was in a top 40 cover band. There's always a lick here and there that you have to transpose to something you can actually pull off. EVH at his best always pushed the envelope for me.
I like Orianthi's style (Michael Jackson's lead guitar player). She's pretty exceptional.
I was always more comfortable in the Southern Rock genre. Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, Warren Haynes and Govt Mule, etc. are my favorite people. 4/4 rock rocks with creative styling and soulful execution always attract my attention. Skynyrd guitarists were always my favorites to watch on stage.
Tapping is an art I never really mastered. You have to have the strings so low that you can almost blow on them and get a note. That doesn't match up well with normal playing. To do a good bend you need strings high enough for your bend finger to push the rest out of the way, not slip over the next one as you bend.
I'm looking forward to being a part of this online creation. For a group name, I vote for "Vapor Lock".
Heck, It's already taken ...
http://www.bandmix.com/vaporlock/
Here's a Christian rock song done by Lincoln Brewster that our group is covering frequently now. I have all the parts down for the guitar solo, but getting them all done in real time sequence is giving me fits. I need to practice it in real time (120 bpm) and get fluid. The little EVH style lick toward the end of the solo (2:19) is pushing me to the limits. It's short, but packed with fingerboard gymnastics that are a little foreign to my style.
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