Hey Marty,
i always read about guitarists who are working on their stuff and asking you what they should do to build up speed. it seems like everyone is focusing a great deal on it. but then, you respond with the same answer over and over again, "speed isn't everything. someone could play 16th notes all day long and not be good..." well i am that guy. i have been playing for a while now and i can speed along with the rest of em and keep up with solos when i take the time to learn em, but personally i don't consider myself to be any more than a beginner guitarist when it comes to theory, scales, and chord progression. do you have any advice for the one guy who's not trying to build up speed??

Play along with as much music as possible. This will develop your ear. Forget about speed, technique, scales, modes, all that stuff. Just try to take what you have and make music out of it, adding little new things one by one.