What makes you sound unique?

[ehdwuld]

Yeah the only flaw in my Grote was that jacked nut

 

[Phantasmagoria]

mmm...yeah

 

[Sirion]

IDK, really. I've tried cultivating some particular ideas of mine that I like the sound of, but as I work in another creative field, where I have to be original to be relevant (and make money), originality has never really been something that I strove towards: in this field, I am more than happy to belong to a tradition.

 

[misterwhizzy]

The crowd shouts in unison: "We are all individuals!" (Old Monty Python reference, sorry)

Never apologize for Monty Python references.

 

[weepingminotaur]

IDK, really. I've tried cultivating some particular ideas of mine that I like the sound of, but as I work in another creative field, where I have to be original to be relevant (and make money), originality has never really been something that I strove towards: in this field, I am more than happy to belong to a tradition.

This is sort of where I'm coming from. Music is a passion of mine, but it doesn't pay my bills, so I'm more or less happy to play -- learn songs, improve my chops where and when I can, and hopefully start a band or play with people in the near future (something I've been missing since I moved cities a couple years ago). I certainly have no urge to write songs, though being a metal guy, I will sometimes come up with riffs while practicing that I should probably record or store in some way.

I think I interpreted the OP's question as being more about what makes us unique as players from a technical standpoint. Like, I too am happy to belong to existing musical traditions, and I'm not interested in innovating in that sense, but I'd like to have a more defined and personal sense of phrasing, attack, and note choice than I currently do. On some days, I feel like I do, a bit. On others, it's easy to feel generic. But it's a blessing to be able to play at all, so I'm not bothered by my relative lack of uniqueness!

 

[Securb]

I think for me, it was when I started to get academic about music; I didn't abandon all the self-taught runs and riffs that got me to that point. I incorporated the old and obscure with the new and learned how to apply it all better.