Were you in an open battle all techniques and styles accepted? If so, the licks were probably very good. And the listeners were probably experienced guitarists who could see the skills it took to play it.

The the untrained ears some speed licks seems really hard when they are in fact easy to do.

That's why I prefer to play by feeling. I had my Malmsteen years. I thought he was a god until I heard a blues man play the most beautiful solo I had ever heard. In every note you could feel his pain. After that I started to see the guitar differently as I used to.

I could never play a solo before. I was concentrating too much on hitting that 64 notes licks. I wasn't able to jam with poeple either. Then I started to slow down, feel the rhythm and magic happened. I played my first solo. To this day I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

Now I really love to play. Now I'm ready to be heard, that's why I tried to be a host and that's probably why I got the "job". I'm not the fastest player around, nor the best soloist, but I sure love to teach what I've learned.