I've been everywhere trying to search for a songwriting process which will work for me, as every time I pick up the guitar and play (for hours on end), I can't seem to find a good riff which will stick (and when I do, I realize I'm plagiarizing another person on accident, or doing something COMPLETELY unoriginal.) How do you go about it, guys?

I never write a full song start to finish. I come up with all sorts of stuff separate, and then I paste it all together, changing keys and tempos and whatever if necessary. The trick to coming up with things themselves is to have an idea in your head before you start playing, if you're trying to come up with something with no idea of what you want to come up with, you tend to rely on already recorded music and muscle memory to create something, so it comes out too similar to something already done. Those are just my two cents, take it or leave it.

-Get Guitar Pro
-Start writing music

Soon enough you will have a full song, with drums and all, ready to be recorded!

One of the best advice I have read was by Vernon Reid [from Living Color]. Now I don't really care for hismusic but ... he said this:

Analyze your playing. See where your fingers go, what automatisms are in your playing [patterns, figures, chord progressions, etc]. Try to find thos little things you always go back to ... and then ... don't do that! Change one note, even if it is "wrong", play something backward, off a fret, off a string, etc ... don't follow any rules, just change.

The purpose here being to find new things to incorporate into your playing, new directions, sounds, etc ...

He's so damn right with that statement too. I absolutely agree with it.

Sometimes just a sound from any sound bank gives me an idea, from there the notes come alone… naturaly

I haven't written a full song on my own in years as I'm in a band and have 4 other people writing with me so all i can suggest is that's its always good to have someone with you who understands what your trying to do and what your overall goal is, especially if there a good musician and like what you like! But if your going it alone then just stick with it, don't give up, constantly try different things like tunings, techniques, tones, equipment...etc. It all helps!

When I began writing, I would pick up my guitar, and I would come up with a riff or a melody, what have you. I was never satisfied with whatever it was that I had come up with, I would convince myself that it was just too damn boring. One day I had decided to take what it was that I had come up with, and just elaborate on it. Add bass and percussion, and it becomes an entirely different beast. Add vocals, and a melody that was once plain is transformed into a SONG, with the nuance lying in the bass, drums and vocals. Elaborate off of what you have and change the dynamic. Add a chord based chorus, a bridge, whatever the hell you want. The point is, don't expect to pick up one instrument and create a symphony, it's a tough tendency to break out of, but once you realize that a song is made up of several voices, the writing process absolutely explodes.

When I began writing, I would pick up my guitar, and I would come up with a riff or a melody, what have you. I was never satisfied with whatever it was that I had come up with, I would convince myself that it was just too damn boring. One day I had decided to take what it was that I had come up with, and just elaborate on it. Add bass and percussion, and it becomes an entirely different beast. Add vocals, and a melody that was once plain is transformed into a SONG, with the nuance lying in the bass, drums and vocals. Elaborate off of what you have and change the dynamic. Add a chord based chorus, a bridge, whatever the hell you want. The point is, don't expect to pick up one instrument and create a symphony, it's a tough tendency to break out of, but once you realize that a song is made up of several voices, the writing process absolutely explodes.

This is probably the best advice on the whole thread.

When I began writing, I would pick up my guitar, and I would come up with a riff or a melody, what have you. I was never satisfied with whatever it was that I had come up with, I would convince myself that it was just too damn boring. One day I had decided to take what it was that I had come up with, and just elaborate on it. Add bass and percussion, and it becomes an entirely different beast. Add vocals, and a melody that was once plain is transformed into a SONG, with the nuance lying in the bass, drums and vocals. Elaborate off of what you have and change the dynamic. Add a chord based chorus, a bridge, whatever the hell you want. The point is, don't expect to pick up one instrument and create a symphony, it's a tough tendency to break out of, but once you realize that a song is made up of several voices, the writing process absolutely explodes.

You're so damn right with this. Just adding drums alone brings things to life. That's why I love Guitar Pro. I sat down today and came up with 2 chords I thought sounded awesome back and forth. Wrote them up in GP, then just kept going cause riffs just kept coming to me as I would write them down. I ended up adding a harmony to those chords in the intro and it sounds massive now. The harmony chords really add more life to the intro and make it less bland.

I'll probably record it one day soon, since it's just about done.

When I began writing, I would pick up my guitar, and I would come up with a riff or a melody, what have you. I was never satisfied with whatever it was that I had come up with, I would convince myself that it was just too damn boring. One day I had decided to take what it was that I had come up with, and just elaborate on it. Add bass and percussion, and it becomes an entirely different beast. Add vocals, and a melody that was once plain is transformed into a SONG, with the nuance lying in the bass, drums and vocals. Elaborate off of what you have and change the dynamic. Add a chord based chorus, a bridge, whatever the hell you want. The point is, don't expect to pick up one instrument and create a symphony, it's a tough tendency to break out of, but once you realize that a song is made up of several voices, the writing process absolutely explodes.

I have it in reversed order, at start I have something little, which I like, then in process of expanding idea I end up having stuff I don't like.

I like Nathan's idea (though that requires having developed musical imagination, not everyone has that) and that Vernon Reid's method of avoiding patterns - that actually sounds damn smart - I think lots of musicians have problem with that one (even Dev has his favourite type of sweep lick, doesn't he).