Yeh, i actually think there is a new generation of amazing guitarists coming through...people aged from 16-22 or so... that will eventually start showing up everywhere. Ive seen so many guitarist around that age that are just amazing, in my year at school there were 4 or 5 of us that were really serious on guitar (i mean every 2nd person played guitar, and heaps were in bands and stuff...), that could do all the sweep picking and tapping and such.
Its just that age group grew up with the 80s metal guitarists in their face, and the likes of Kirk Hammet and Marty Friedman and such...
But i also think there is heaps more emphasis on good song writing these days, as opposed to weird techniques or fastness. And thats a good thing, so you may not see how good some of the guitarists really are because theyve realised that tapping and sweeping really dont have that many uses (other than screaming SOLO SOLO SOLO).... even looking at Mikael for example, his soloing on Sorskogen is heaps faster than anything he does in Opeth. Its just all about changing on focus, nowadays theres also a lot more focus on being original, not copying.. and about including many different styles into music. All these things have an effect on the type of guitarists being produced, and i think although quality has gone down in some areas, there are still magicians to come (but they are just magical in other MORE IMPORTANT areas).
But yeh, there is a plethora of guitarists out there that are in bands and have only played for 2 or 3 years, i guess its got to do with lower attention spans, and mainly impatience. I personally have never planned to release any music till i think its good enough, i still see an album (im talking my music, not my band) as being probably 1 year or two away before i should even consider it. And ive been writing music for quite a few years now.
Basically I think there are still guitar genuises coming through, but there are just more beginner guitarists coming through because guitar has become way tooo popular (and as always its the easiest shit that gets noticed and liked).
