Have yall noticed this shit? Laypeople will watch any person who can barely actually play just spam his elbow picking while randomly fretting with GOBS of distortion and they’ll think it’s the greatest thing they’ve ever heard.
Now I mean this more in the context of technical playing. When it comes to slower playing like Gilmour or BB King then it’s easier for them to discern good playing but when it comes to shred fucking forget about it lol.
I guess it’s just the sad reality that when you get deep enough into something, most people won’t be able to relate to it and will have a very different experience. Maybe there’s also the case where something looks more impressive if the person is really doing big exaggerated movements and facial expressions, but guitar nerds like us are more impressed when someone does something we know is crazy hard and make it look easy.
I imagine almost any field has similar examples, and in those fields we would be the clueless ones. Photography, painting, dance, carpentry, etc. Though maybe some fields are more exposed on social media and gain this “undeserved” praise. I’ve certainly seen my share of high view count guitar content that makes me want to never go online again.
At live concerts, shreddy stuff can quickly drown in a mix too and the people in the crowd might be listening more with their eyes, if that makes sense.
Not sure if there’s really anything to do other than focus on your own stuff and what you are interested in.