Originally Posted by: CSchlegel
And there is an important lesson there. It's great to chase tone & get inspired by, learn from & copy licks from your heroes. It's a great place to start when you are learning. But it's also important to remember that the best you can hope for at the end of that road is to sound just like someone else. In the end, you want to use what you learn from your influences to find your own sound, your own tone, to blaze your own trail.

Have fun!

This advice is GOLD!!! Listen to him...he knows of what he speaks!! :-)

For years and years I have played guitar and always felt inadequate because I couldn't play like my heroes - SRV, Gilmour, Lifeson, DiMeola, Satriani, EVH, etc., etc.

I always enjoyed playing guitar since I was about 13. However, it became most fulfilling recently when I learned to use the skills I have to make something of my own, or learn songs more at my skill level and make adjustments to make it my own.

So now instead of feeling inadequate about my playing, I feel like I have something worth sharing and am super enthusiastic about playing. I've come up with arrangements using various chord voicings for cover songs we are doing with a band I'm involved with at the moment. I having a blast improvising funky rhythms to songs I would never have listened to on my own. I also learned how to improvise with my own style, which continues to evolve.

I would still like to play like my heroes one day. Maybe I will, maybe not. If not, that OK, as long as I can continue to improve my style, and as Chris says, blaze my own trail!