This is a subject that I have been thinking about for a while, since I seem to run into a surprising number of players that think if it isn't original guitar music, it isn't worthy.
Learning and performing the classics is of great value, whether we are talking about piano, guitar, or anything else.
A well-executed cover performance can display a standard of technical accomplishment that is widely recognized. It can also be very educational to push yourself to learn to play something exactly as the original artist played it. Learning difficult passages note-for-note can make unusual fingerings more accessible, and trying to emulate an artist's sound can force you to explore exactly what makes that sound unique, perhaps forcing you to learn a little something that you never expected along the way.
It adds skill sets that you may or may not use if/when you find your own sound. I have the utmost respect for the type of player that can do a cover and absolutely nail the original artist's sound, and then by choice go off and demonstrate an individual style and musical creativity (the key phrase is "by choice"). But just about as often I will hear a barely recognizable cover that may indeed be an expression of the player's creative playing style, or it could be that what passes for individual style is really the only way they can play it.
Although I'm not proud of this by any means, to be honest I hear a very small percentage of original solo acoustic guitar out there (YouTube or otherwise) that has the hooks to make me listen to the end, much less want to play it. I think many players feel that Windy and Warm, or Jack Fig, or even the dreaded Stairway to Heaven are their standard classics, as much as Nocturne or Pathetique are piano classics to be covered exactly as written.
I wish my original music was not crap, because it would certainly be nice to be able to play something where no one could tell when I effed it up. But fortunately, lacking musical talent and creativity doesn't necessarily stop some of us from being able to play a few things reasonably well. And YouTube represents an outlet and goal beyond just playing to bedroom walls. I like cover music and I actively seek it out, more so than original tunes.
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