I don’t know quite why you seem to be so hostile to the blues, or anyone that wants to defend the skill of the musicians that play it. If you want to see a skilled blues guitarist doing all the twiddly bits, then I’ll happily point you in the direction of Gary Moore, or blues-adjacent Steve Vai.

And if you’re a metal fan, then maybe you’ll find Metallica’s respect for Gary Moore persuasive.

His sound was not over-processed. It was very, very basic. It basically was a guitar, an amp, a fuzz box and his hands. I remember seeing him in Copenhagen in 1984 or 1985. We were recording Master of Puppets. He was playing a Strat, which is known for a clear, somewhat thin sound. But the sound he was getting out of that Strat was so thick and so full and just so raw. This was before you had all these guitar processors that could make the cheapest guitar sound like the most expensive guitar, so I kinda deduced that most of the sound was in his hands.