Originally Posted by: wildwoman1313

I'm afraid originality isn't something that can be taught, Kasperow. There is no step-by-step method I can recommend, only suggestions to point you in the right direction. Everyone comes to originality in their own way. It's intuitive. What works for one guitarist may not work for another. Some guitarists, like Keith Richards, develop their own style naturally. Keith evolved his sound by practicing on a tour bus and listening to records by famous blues legends. Steve Vai, on the other hand, spent hours and hours in a college classroom learning extensive theory and practicing exotic scales. You should develop some measure of proficiency on the guitar before you start to work toward developing your own sound and style. It helps to know a little bit about what you’re doing and why you're doing it. This will give you the tools and the know-how to better express yourself. Once you have a grasp of the basics, start applying what you know to phrasing and improvising. Pay close attention to the styles of music, the choice of notes, and the different types of chords you're drawn to. Play around to see what music flows naturally out of you instead of consciously trying to force it. Take some of your favorite licks and put your own twist on them. Try some of the tips mentioned in the article. All this will help lead you to the start of developing your own sound and style. I hope this helps in some small way. :)

Your reply did help, though it may or may not be contrary to another article I've read...

I recently read another article somewhere, which suggested that a guitarist's style and sound is actually a representation of their mind and personality and such, so digging deep into one's past and carefully analyzing yourself (the way you behave, the way you think and so on) would help guide a guitarist towards discovering their own style.

Whether the two suggestions are mutually exclusive or not, I can't say for sure, since both make sense to me in their own ways.

I'll just have to learn a few licks and riffs first that I can experiment with... and hopefully get good results with...