The genre as we call it...jazz, rock, blues....and on and on. There are
artists that stay in the one genre and then there are those that roam
between all genres. BB King IS the blues, Wes Montgomery = jazz
and rock belongs to a variety of players from Keith Richards to Eddie
Van Halen.

While the progressions are different (rock is typically a I-IV-V
progression and jazz is typically a II-V-I progression) so are the
scales used to "solo".

Fusion, or the blending of more than one style is a path that
many artists go down either intentionally or unintentionally over
the course of their career.

Another fundamental difference is the "tonal" differences
in the guitar player's sound. Jazz players typically have a fairly
"clean" guitar sound while rock players are more apt to go with
a "gutsy" overdriven sound. Blues players often mix it up with both.

A good look at your music collection will more or less tell what kind
of music you enjoy most. Classical is most different in the use of
a vast variety of instruments and mostly un-amplified instruments.

If you've listened mostly to only 1 genre of music, I challenge you to
expand your horizon and change it up a bit. You don't need to go
from classical to heavy metal, but from rock to jazz, blues to rock or
anything else can be a good thing.

All for now,

John E.