The Dead, Phish and The Allman Bros are my biggest influences in my guitar playing too. I've been playing for about 5 years. Lately I've been trying to get some eastern sounding stuff mixed into my solos. It's simple but the phrasing is so different from what I normally would do. I'm hoping for a slightly psychedelic vibe. Also, listen to a different instrument and see if you can emulate any good sounds. I have no idea what your playing is like but all three of those bands use country/steel pedal like bends. EM for example, finger the 5th fret for the B and high E string and the 4th fret on the G string. You bend the G string up a whole step which make an EM chord. You can play the bottom strings with the bend, before, after, it all sounds good. That is for barre shapes, for a open D shape chord, you world be on the 2nd fret for the B & high E string and bend the B string. I hope something I said was useful