if i may intervene. blues may not be a show-off genre. so you never get to see them actually shred. but you have to have more technical "know how." there is a lot of music theory involved with blues. and since most solos are improved, you gotta KNOW what you are playing and why that is. or else, you'll end up butchering a song because of wrong notes.
We all drown in blackened waters
-zakk wylde