So you knew it had to come.  Who is it?  I felt you had to count Gary Rossington and Allen Collins as one since Skynnyrd wouldn't be anything without either.  My personal choice is a tie between Eric Clapton and Chuck Berry...

...and what about Segovia, for classical guitarists...?
...or John Dowland...?

Cheers all...
Paul....(13 course Baroque Lute player).
(England)

To this day, I will not listen to just one song on Dire Straits first album.  I have to sit and listen to the whole thing.  There are not that many albums like that for me.  Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon',Rush '2112', and Stevie Ray's 'Live Alive', just to name a few.

That reminds me.

Alex Lifeson

He'll have a hard time collecting it Fozzer he's going from German to the Czech Rep!
How about Brian May, or Nuno Bettencourt?
Personally I voted for Hendrix, he was a guitar god!

Ozzy

Kirk Hammet! 

Are We forgetting Randy Rhoades who was on Ozzy's first 3 albums.?
Even though his life was cut short in that little plane mis-hap,...what an incredible genius. No sex, drugs and rock n roll for him after the shows...
went back to his room to study and practice.
It would have been amazing to see and hear what he would have been doing today. 

Dave   8)

  I have always thought of these types of polls as very unfair, even in magazines or on TV.

  Each guitarist has a different style and is the best at what he does. There are so many different ways to judge a guitarists abilities, who's the fastest? who plays the most complicated solo's? who has the most diverse technique?

  All of the names I've seen listed here are those of great guitarists. Instead of a poll called 'who's the greatest guitar player ever' maybe it would have been better to just have started a thread titled "Who is your favorite guitarist".
  Everyone has a different opinion of what makes a great guitar player, depending on what style of music the individual prefers.

  However, if I had only the choices given in the poll to choose from, I would have to choose Eddie Van Halen as my personal favorite, with Joe Satriani as an equal choice.
Two great guitarists with two different styles.

Don't forget Steve Vai, and another of my all time favorites was Frank Zappa, although Zappa was more known for his sense of humor, he was an extremely talented Guitarist and composer.

Quote:


Yes!!  And so what if St. Anger sucked.  You gotta look at there old stuff.  The solos off of Blackened, Creeping Death, and Sad But True are amazing!  But since he's not on the list, I'll go with Hendrix.