Thomyorke, you say that "just bending a note doesn't make it soul" (I guess in response to Aiwass's statement about whammy work), yet you mention players like B.B, Hendrix, and Gilmour, all who are generally known for their "soul" almost exclusively on how beautifully they bend notes to "really make the guitar sing". Second, to say that a musician doesn't play with soul is like saying that a chef doesn't like food: on one hand it's incredibly unlikely, and on the other you can never claim that unless they actually tell you, it's not up to the listener to decide if someone is playing "with soul", for all you know someone could be pouring their heart out, or Hendrix could have been mindlessly playing riffs he had no attachment to. DO you think Vai practices 10 hours a day for however many years he has, simply because of the money? I can tell you, no matter how much money a rockstar makes, that amount of dedication and (in my opinion, considering his grasp of theory) obvious intelligence could be earning a heap more doing something else. I hope I don't come across as rude, but who are you to tell someone who has spent their entire life dedicated to their craft that they lack soul because you don't like the sound of their melodies? I mean, do you get my point? I can hardly stand Vai, but please, your argument is immature to the extreme, and, considering how late it is in Australia, and how much I have to write in the next 12 hours (most likely without sleep considering the procrastinating I do on these posts), I'm really not in the mood to be that sympathetic.
"Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year, it's just not that widely reported".