Ah, see, when I say "guitar music" I was just kinda waving my hands at the generally accepted "rock" and "country" lanes (contrasting with, say, rap and r&b music, which yes, can also involve guitars). People like movements. People like scenes. For better or for worse, that existed with emo. Eras, regions, things to associate with, things to debate. That's cool. People like that.
I don't give much a shit about virtuosity, or radios, for that matter—and the average listener doesn't, either. I like Leo Kottke. Richard Thompson is a sick player. But Bo Diddley is probably my favorite guitarist ever, and some of those songs are just an open E chord getting chunked around in every direction. Sounds raw as hell. You can dance to it. On top of that, he's singing about how he has a farm full of women. That's pretty cool. That's some pretty wild shit to be singing about in 1955. The whole chorus was just his name. That's also really cool. Here comes a two-note solo. Sounded great, didn't it?
What you're saying about Rick Beato and all that other shit kinda moves to my point. If you want musical complexity and interesting chord switches, you're not gonna find it in those popular "rock" and "country" lanes because they've been neutered entirely, there's nothing there at all. You will hear some wild shit underpinning modern rap music, though. You'll also hear far more innovation, interplay, and danger. And yeah, you'll also hear a lot of derivative slop, as you have in every past decade.
It's not like human brains got any less interested in minor keys and arpeggios. It's just that the people making music with computers have been making more engaging music than people with guitars, and weaving together into scenes and movements that produce unique talents. There aren't a half-dozen bands in Indianapolis or somewhere right now that are cooking up some unique new take on rock and roll that's gonna reverberate and influence and be built upon.
