You are a much more technically adept guitarist than I'll ever be, however I do find something troubling: I looked at your video, and then started checking out your competitor's videos. All of the French Guitar Contest videos I saw have strikingly similar guitar work. It's like: Distortion on, play some fast runs, whammy whanks, tapping, go cleaner for the 'sensitive' part, then repeat distortion part. I have no idea how this contest works (i.e. are there different genres covered like Jazz and classical?) but even in the 'progressive' genre, have we become so stratified that everyone approaches the instrument basically the same way? Remember what Michael Hedges did with an acoustic? He totally re-wrote our concept of what the instrument was capable of. IMHO, we need more originals. My 'top' guitarists are never the Satrianis and Vais of the world (I can't even tell them apart half the time), nor the incredibly formulaic playing of people like Slash. It's the Zappas, Hendrixes, Neil Youngs of the world - who sound like NO ONE ELSE who really get me going. Is their playing 'derivative' too? Of course - all of us are inspired by what came before - but they've made it their own, made it anything but generic. It seems that all I hear on the Fractal side is speed metal, thrash and gymnastic progressive. There is so much more.
That said: You are an amazing player, and you play with taste and technique within the confines of the genre. I could never approach your abilities, and I commend you for them. I just hope everyone will 'get off the (too well) beaten track' and take 'the road less travelled' more often.
Peace.
