Nobody has brought up Trey, so I guess there are no phish phreaks out there. Any talk of guitarists just isn’t complete without him though.
Fareed Haque is incredible, check out groove www.groovetv.net and check out Garaj Mahal or FHG and enjoy 
I saw John Scofield in a small club a few years ago and he blew me away. One of those shows where you are moved to laughter in order to cope with the what you’re seeing. 
Victor Wooten - ya he’s a bass player but the dude is from another planet when it comes to playin. He plays it like a classical guitar at times. Freekish…
In no order:
Robert Johnson
Muddy Waters
Lou Reed
Prince
Tony Iommi
Hendrix
Gary “Dr. Know” Miller from Bad Brains
Joe Strummer
Johnny Cash
Adam Jones from Tool
Kurt Cobain
Kerry King from Slayer
Tom Morello
Johnny Ramone
Keith Richards
Chuck Berry
Kim Thayil from Soundgarden
John Lennon
Vernon Reid from Living Color
BB King
Joey “Shithead” Keithley
Tim Sult and Neil Fallon from Clutch
Thurston Moore
Bob Marley
Forgot to mention Mathias Jabs and Rudolf Schenker of the Scorpions to my list of favorites.
I think both of these guys are great in their own right and even better as a team, the former being more technically proficient and the latter being the better songwriter.
He admitted he wasn’t “technically” very good, but he could make it cry and sing.
[quote=“Matchstick_man”] Bootsy Collins if you’re talking bass guitarists.
[/quote]
Seeing footage of him as a 17 year old performing with James Brown totally blew my mind when I first saw it…
I would also add Eddie Hazel who was in Funkadelic in the early years… His solo album Game, Dames and Thangs is awesome
I’d have to say
Ace Frehley of KISS, they never sounded the same without him…
Syd Barrett was a visionary listen to his solo albums…
and possibly
Mick Jones and Jeff Beck
Actually it’s me. I’m favorite. Takes me about fifteen minutes to change chords though. Please be patient.
I’m actually my favorite harp player though. Because I am the best harmonica player in the world.
[quote=“Grasshopper”]
Syd Barrett was a visionary listen to his solo albums…
and possibly
Mick Jones and Jeff Beck[/quote]
Have to agree. And I’d have to add John Renbourn.
And of course, Leo Kottke.
[quote=“Comrade Stalin”][quote=“Grasshopper”]
Syd Barrett was a visionary listen to his solo albums…
and possibly
Mick Jones and Jeff Beck[/quote]
Have to agree. And I’d have to add John Renbourn.
john-renbourn.com/[/quote]
Not forgetting Richard Thompson of course. Or John Martyn.
[quote=“sandman”][quote=“Comrade Stalin”][quote=“Grasshopper”]
Syd Barrett was a visionary listen to his solo albums…
and possibly
Mick Jones and Jeff Beck[/quote]
Have to agree. And I’d have to add John Renbourn.
john-renbourn.com/[/quote]
Not forgetting Richard Thompson of course. Or John Martyn.[/quote]
Well, that goes without saying! 
Thompson rocks!
Add to the list Brad Gillis and Jeff Watson from Night Ranger
Garcia, of course. Nobody could not play the notes the way he didn’t.
But, I love the sound of the guitar, and have many “favorites” for many different reasons.
Roy Buchanan
Buck Owens
BB King
Freddie King
Jorma Kaukonen
Mike Bloomfield
Eric Clapton
Stephen Stills
Carlos Santana
Peter Green
Jeff Beck
Keith Richards
Otmar Liebert
Buddy Guy
Leo Kottke
John Cipollina
Jimi Hendrix
JJ Cale
Ry Cooder
George Harrison
Duane Allman
Dickey Betts
[quote=“Tigerman”][list of guitar players including. . .]
Leo Kottke
[/quote]
Good list Tigerman. I’d include many of the same, including Kottke. I also like him (though he’s not at the top of my list), but I understand that John Fahey was his inspiration. Are you familiar with Fahey? How does he compare to Kottke? I don’t mean to put you on the spot – just curious.
Great guitar album:
Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin & Paco DeLucia - Friday Night in San Francisco
Speaking of tired old Clapton, can someone explain to me why he is considered so great. I know he’s a decent guitar player, he plays some good blues, seems to be a nice guy, we all felt terribly when his boy fell out the window, and the resulting song was a great one. But why is he consistently rated among the best ever? Surely he doesn’t compare to Hendrix, SRV, Jimmy Page, Santana and others, does he? In what way?
And what’s the meaning of Slow Hand? I always assumed its meant in jest because he’s actually so fast. But I don’t recall any songs where he shreds. Mostly it’s just nice gentle blues, good music but not fast and to my uneducated ear not demonstrating nearly the control and emotion of Hendrix or Santana. So what’s the deal?
Listen to his solo on, say, “Double Crossin’ Time” off the John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers “Beano” album.
The kid just had supreme taste.
How does he compare to Hendrix, etc.? He doesn’t. Hendrix was a visionary, Clapton is a blues guitar player. Page was a session man, SRV came 20 years later and brought fresh perspective, Santana? He never made the hair stand up on my nape.
So what though – they all rock. It’s all good.
Thanks, I’ll see if I can get ahold of that and listen to it. I’ve long wondered about his rep. As for Slow Hand, is that because in truth he really jams (although many others are surely much faster) or is it something else (eg. he plays with such emotion that it’s like he’s in slow motion)? It never really made sense to me.
And why the lusting for speed? Speed means nothing to me – I’d rather hear a single sustained note gently vibratoed on the edge of feedback for 8 bars than someone like that pompous Swedish twat Malmsteen spitting out 16 bars of 64th notes in 8 seconds and saying precisely ziltch other than “look everybody! Look what I can do! And look at my tight sateen trousers and ringlets! I take my own hairdresser on all my tours, you know!”
It’s not that I’m lusting for speed. Just trying to understand what his name – Slow Hand – is supposed to mean.
As for the Beano album, I’m listening to a few samples here at amazon.com and it does sound good:
amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de … ce&s=music
You say Santana never made your hair stand up, but you also get off on hearing “a single sustained note gently vibratoed on the edge of feedback for 8 bars.” Isn’t that what Santana does best?
I saw Clapton of couple of times in NY. He was perfect, studio perfect. And that’s something I just don’t like, but between songs he’d jam, he’d noodle and what came out of his guitar was masterful.
I best love his work on Roger Water’s Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking.