Yep, I think Hunter was on the right track there, that certain guitars do tend to do better in certain genres, and surely are designed with that in mind. Thus those guitars are sought after by those perspective players. But yeah, a strat is pretty versatile, as Yngwie, Eric Johnson, Hendrix, etc. have shown. So maybe a beginner starting out on a strat wouldn't have too much to overcome in becoming a shredder for example, so perhaps starting out on a Rickenbacker would prove more difficult. But in the end, you'll play like what you want to, and will naturally gravitate towards guitars that help that along in some way.