I have a vivid memory of biting off more than I can chew. I'd been jamming with a guitar player for about a year and he started getting into fusion. So he invited this hotshot fusion bassist along and we had a three piece jam. Things were going okay until Billy Cobham's Red Baron. Like a fool I went for gold, trying to ape the hero fill at the end of the progression instead of simplifying.
I screwed up coming back in and was never invited to jam with those players again. The guitarist really took a piece out of my hide after the bassist had left. I still remember him shouting 'I couldn't believe it when you dropped that beat!" and saying how I'd embarrassed him in front of a player he was hoping to impress. Oops.
Of course I was mortified, but a lesson learned ... an example of what can happen with the Peter Principle!
As for the Neal Morse tune, crikey Soulfly, just choose something simpler - maybe a bit of Dream Theater or Tool