Hello
Well at first thanks for the nice words !!!!
I personally think I am still in a learning process and that even after 24 years of playing, I will never stop learning new things, and that is the beauty of music, you will never be satisfied !
But I can tell you what I did to play the way I do.
I learned the most in my first ten years of playing.
I learned how to pick fast, I learned how to sweep pick, to use scales over the neck, to use other techniques like bending, legato, vibrato etc.
I learned a lot of stuff by watching other guitarists play and to use my ears. I always noticed that when it sounds good to me it sounds also good to others, so that was my main key.
I also had lessons, but they were more in a theoretical way, which I started using after the first ten years of playing mostly.
I had times in my first ten years that I was playing almost 8 hours a day, practising techniques and figuring out solo's of other bands (by ear, no internet at that time with tabs), I also visited gigs of other bands and always watched how other guitarists played, and I learned a lot from that.
Another thing which really helped me were the instructional video's of Paul Gilbert (Intense Rock 1 and 2) and Vinnie Moore. I really figured out almost every lick and tried to come up with new ones after that in the same league.
After the first ten years of playing, when my technique was at the level I wanted it to be I became more mature in my playing, I started listening to more melodic guitarists and developed a blend of shredding on the first hand to playing melodically on the other hand. I was getting into music like Marillion, Pink Floyd, Rush and the likes, and then I also started Aura (which later became Lemur Voice). That is how I got into prog metal. I also discovered John petrucci and I noticed he had gone through the same process as I did, maybe with a little bit other influences, but his way of practising and working on his playing was almost identical to mine.
Lately (the last 5 years) I am not really practising anymore, though sometimes I like to practise a piece, but in general I am writing music and trying to get better at that.
Three things are very important when you want to become a good player:
1) your ears !!!! Use them
2) your dedication/discipline
3) you have to be open for more then just one style
Greets
Marcel