Very interesting thoughts & approaches from you guys, here are mines.
I really suck for covers, it's much more easy to create from scracth for me. I'm a very moody guitarist, I have to get in the right mood to be productive and satisfied with my play, . If I don't feel it I prefer working on a previous mix. All kind of moods will lead to lots of differents results, this is the cool part ... I need to let the steam out sometimes (that leads to hi gain stuff , hard rock, metal riffs, punk rock...) and sometimes melancolic ( ballads, aerial stuff, ambiance stuff...) , I'll often feel much better after recording and all notion of time gets pointless at this stage ( the flow !). Sometimes, I don't even feel playing my guitars, I'll just let the ladies in the closet lol. I often remember a very old quote from a bluesman : 'when I'm not into playing my instrument, I'll stare at it and imagine what could come out of it in my head all day long, I'll then play this on the next day'.
I've developed a personal & pretty productive work-flow , that I'd like to share with you :
I have to find a minimal motivation & will before grabbing a guitar, and I will always start to record after 5 min of warming noodles , I then tune my guitar once the strings are warm enough, and dial a cool inspiring drum track. I will always start from the drums whatever I play, I cannot really start from scratch , I need a good groove from the drums. I've got this cool 'guitar tap' option on my DAW that let you setup the BPM while you're strumming at you own pace on 4 bars, it's really great since I ask the computer to adapt to my own personal pace and not the contrary. An electronic drummer at your disposal 24/24 and that will not ask for beers or meeting your sisters is a blessing 
Once BPM is set 'naturally' and groove is on , I's say the ideas come easily and stick really well together once I lay down 2 guitar tracks, a basic harmony. I'll then record a bassline (with an octaver FX, no need to unplug) , and some background guitar fills & other arrangements ( synths or pads). I then move to another part , verse, bridge, solo ... After a while I'll listen to this minimalistic track and either keep it or throw it, and move to another track if I'm not satisfied ( I throw about one third of my tracks). I will always record most takes on the first session (1 hour) and most tracks are naturally double tracked (this forces me to play in time and gives me good discipline) . I then do a quick pan and keep the mix for the next day. Mix is less and less necessary now, since with experience, I've put the comp or EQ mods directly in my rigs (slots A and B = bass cuts and treble enhancements), and this saves lots of time. Same story for the FXs , I mostly use the ones from the KPA and not my DAW's ones.
I have fount that using a capo (which I used to hate) is a great way to get out the compulsive guitarist habits ( playing in A or E, penta licks ...) and forces me to play out of the box. In case of total lack of inspiration, I'll dial the fantastic harmonizer from the KPA and work on 3 notes jazz chords / progressions , this is an highly creative tool. I often play with my monotron as well (plugged to the KPA), same harmonizer trick for rich pads that will fill a later song.
All this practices are my daily workout after my daily job. I record on a daily basis and play with real people from time to time, witch is really moving me ahead better than playing along a computer. On the other side playing solo is far more productive, since you always adapt well to yourself and work at your own pace, and only when you're motivated enough. But this is limitative in some way, I really got to push myself playing with real people and get out of the comfort zone to move further.
and the profiles are really vol. pot responsive while the original sims aren't !!!