Jerry, I'm only in the beginner stage of learning, so I'm looking at this from a "things I wish would get more attention" standpoint.

Flashy players sometimes are good. I like listening to them play. Listening to them explain their techniques (which, in my experience, they don't do) might be interesting if I knew more and/or was more of a guitar nerd than I am. These are workshops for masters, or at least intermediate players, and they aren't usually too helpful to me.

Some of the flashy players are just flashy. Even I can play tunes on guitar. It's pretty easy, especially since I know a bunch of tunes already on fiddle. I'm not that interested in 'impressive, but easy'. I want to learn 'so unobtrusive people hardly notice your playing, but pretty difficult'. Unobtrusive, appropriate accompaniment is a skill learned by the ears that listen and that part of the brain that does the hearing. You need a minimum amount of technical skill, but more skill means your more able to make the sounds your brain dreams up.

Jerry, this is a great idea for a thread. I think I'll sit back and read what the folks who know what they're doing have to say. To add to Jerry's questions: what is it about a song that makes you decide how to accompany it? How do you come up with An Arrangement'? What do you play in between the words and the lines of the verses? Thanks.