not my style of music but Marty Friedman(Megadeth)

go to 3.04 for the solo

 

Mick Taylor is a guitarist who is best known for his time in the Rolling Stones from 1969 until 1974 and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in 1967 through 1969. Taylor appeared in some of the Stone’s most classic albums, including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main St.

Al little Joe Satriani goes along way

Joe Satriani - Nineteen Eighty (Official Video) - YouTube

 

Some greats in here, showing they have a sense of humour as well:

 

Then there was Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson - Cliffs Of Dover - Live - Bing video

 

Chris Rea, Al Di Meola.

40 minutes ago, vogie said:

One of the most underated guitarists of his era, I remember when he died most people just thought of him as another "pretty boy", he was doing session work well before he became famous.

 

 

And he was a Beach Boy for a short time.

What about blues guitarist Buddy Guy? 

He had his own distinct style, but could also imitate other guitar greats, particularly Jimmy Hendrix. 

17 minutes ago, MeePeeMai said:

Tony Lommi (of Black Sabbath) known as the Godfather of Metal guitar is worth mentioning.

 

 

 

First 4/5 albums all <deleted> brilliant.

The list keeps getting longer.  I hope Mike Oldfield of Tubular Bells is up there  , or was that just a fantastic album ?

my favourite Tom Morello solo starts at 3.15

The intro is also played on guitar and cant think of another guitarist that played like this.

 

15 minutes ago, CraigInBangkok said:

not my style of music but Marty Friedman(Megadeth)

go to 3.04 for the solo

 

Megadeth were great with their sideways take on metal. I just don't think they had the depth or variety of Metallica.

1 minute ago, toofarnorth said:

The list keeps getting longer.  I hope Mike Oldfield of Tubular Bells is up there  , or was that just a fantastic album ?

this is Andreas Kapsalis's version of tubular bells on an acoustic guitar

 

Sadly, not a mention of Brian Robson Rankin....the guitarist with possibly the most unique, recogniseable guitar sound, who influenced more English guitarists in the 60s than anyone else. Designed a series of superb guitars named after him. And who, in the words of Geoff Emerick, produced the best vocal tracks ever recorded at Abbey Road in the early 70s. 

 

 

1 minute ago, RickG16 said:

Megadeth were great with their sideways take on metal. I just don't think they had the depth or variety of Metallica.

I was never really into either but really appreciate both their musical talent

 I looked at some the posts , and it seems like the "greatest guitarists" are for the most part European or American , is it because Europeans and Americans are better guitarists than other people or are these the greatest guitarists we know of that play the music we like?

Surely the best guitarist of the prog rock genre: Steve Howe of Yes

 

 

4 minutes ago, sirineou said:

 I looked at some the posts , and it seems like the "greatest guitarists" are for the most mart European or American , is it because Europeans are better guitarists than other people or are these the greatest guitarists we know of that play the music we like?

Whatever you like 

if we are going into prog rock ... Steve Hillage (Gong, solo)

 

24 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Al little Joe Satriani goes along way

Joe Satriani - Nineteen Eighty (Official Video) - YouTube

Joe Satriani is a guitarist, composer, songwriter, and guitar teacher. In his early career, he was a guitar instructor to many students who would go on to become quite well known themselves. These include Steve Vai, Larry LaLone, Kirk Hammett, Kevin Cadogan, and Alex Skolnick. He has played with Mick Jagger and Deep Purple.

Much underrated but a great for me, Bill Nelson of Bebop Deluxe.

 

Surely Andres Segovia has to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

 

 

Joe Bonamassa is a blues guitarist who has been in the industry since he opened for B.B. King when he was just 12 years old. He trained with guitar legend Danny Gatton. Bonamassa is known for his extensive vintage guitar and amplifier collection, especially the Les Paul “bursts.”

 

 

What about Julian Bream ?

 

 

 

3 minutes ago, LeungKen said:

Surely Andres Segovia has to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

 

 

tendons in my right hand are aching just watching him play that 

For my third suggestion I offer up Django Reinhardt who lost the use of 2 of his fingers.

 

 

 

38 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Whatever you like 

That has a large part to play with it, but "like" is subjective, and proficiency is objective. and there IMO objective ways to measure "greatness" in a particular endeavour.

Arguably the Greatest guitar player Jimi Hendrix, He said 

"When asked in an interview what he thought about being the best guitarist in the world, Hendrix said, “You think I’m the best in the world because you haven’t heard the Greek guy.” When asked who the Greek guy was, Hendrix replied, “Manolis Hiotis. When you listen to him playing, then you will know who the best is.“ "  Yet most of us have never heard of Manolis Hiotis , or of all the other Hiotises (is that the plural of Hiotis  LOL? 

http://preparedguitar.blogspot.com/2014/05/manolis-hiotis.html

I Love all of the ones mentioned in this thread, they are all great, and I grew up with them, found memories of my youth . Mark Knopfler is my guitar hero,  but as I get older I scrounge the internet and YouTube  for new music, and there is a whole world out there making music, and a lot of it is pretty good. 

listen to the opening of this Greek song. 

 

 

I play guitar since I was 13, making it now 52 years. The challenge of such a "best" list is indeed that the guitar is used in a variety of styles - each style having its own favourite proponents. And "best" might be relative as has been said before. Many good guitarists are not widely known and others well known names are by far overrated. Agree with Petrucci, Hendrix, Knopfler though in their particular style. And besides ... before you can be a good guitarist you need to be a good musician - this is often overlooked especially for this instrument.

 

Here come some alternatives:

 

Dr. Viossi plays Petrucci:

 

Matteo Mancuso plays Allan Holdsworth

 

 

Leonardo Amuedo plays Abrazos (own composition):

 

 

Pierre Bensusan plays "Night Song" (own composition):

 

 

44 minutes ago, LeungKen said:

Surely Andres Segovia has to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

 

 

He brought the guitar to the concert stage, and inspired countless men and women to delvelop skills and paly music from the baroque to modern

Thankfully I have had the pleasure of seeing and hearing many classical greats perform

 

Karen Schaupp

Gareth Koch

Julian Bream

John Williams

Slava and Lenard Gregorian

to name a few