[QUESTION] Who is that one guitarist whose licks you can’t wrap your fingers around?

Let me preface this by saying that I started playing in the late 80s by learning Satriani and Vai songs, then when Images and Words came out, Petrucci was thrown into my daily curriculum. I learned the hell out of their entire catalogs and aside from a lick or 2 here and there, I could damn near read tab books like people read actual books lol

I had to retire in 2006 due to tearing my hands up but I’ve started playing again and decided to take on the one player whose licks I just could never get right… Eric Johnson.

Why is that? I could never figure it out. I could play faster than those licks are, but something about them makes my pick and fingers malfunction. I got to where I knew the notes and could play it slow, but I can never quite get faster. Any tips??