I haven't heard everything Buckethead has done. When I think of experimental guitar work I'm thinking along these lines
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb-GPdnfbyI (Keith Rowe)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWCbPuU-i4k (Lee Renaldo)
It's not like metal or prog or folk (nods to Fahey though) done weirder. It's totally in its own domain. From what I see from Buckethead, it's a hodgepodge of ideas thrown together with a lot of technical skill but even if it's short/ blended/ mixed and so on- show me something of his that is really in a different universe the way my picks are. But still there's another intangible, his music doesn't flip out my subconscience. Most of the 'experimental' stuff I like fills me with a deep sense of doom like seeing into my death. And I don't hate Buckethead, I get a kick out of him. But he doesn't have the power to leave me distorted and wrung out like Lee Renaldo and upset like I've been tripping too long and can't seem to shake it.