Its hard for me to follow tuts too cuz i just go on tangents with my own style, but the main reason for looking at tuts its to learn what theyre suggesting and how it adds to the sig. If you find something in a tut that you personally dont like or think it wont look well with the render or whatever that you picked, then you dont have to use it.
Sig isnt bad, id agree with what fatal said and yea just learn new effects you dont have to follow tuts to their exact steps.