I actually CAN shred: chromatic scale up to 240bpm, scales - up to 170 bpm. And I still consider it non musical and I avoid doing it when playing with other people. I view shredding just as a verry good excercise that improves your coordination and control of muscles.
And about all the discussion about image: Ok its the 21st century already, music and vision are going to be fused more and more together. NO WAY! And if you said that you are doing music as for blind people then why don't you just strum your acoustic guitar so that you can make music for the blind people and the people without electricity?
The thing about image is just to be very careful not to look like a whore and this is where it gets complicated and a great deal of the artists fail.
Also visualisations, I havent been to any live of TOOL but people who have said that they do mind-blowing shows which involve a lot of effects and acting and scenery and they have costumes. Such kind of performances which involve a fusion of several arts are getting more and more popular, we have even here in Bulgaria some bands that are getting really good at these. And I really am convinced that the future is closely related with such kind of multidisciplinary shows.