I respect all reasonable answers, jim - all those who are actually candidates for being in, say, the top 10 of all time! A few of the guitarists mentioned (eg Synyster Gates, Angus Young) are quite simply not even candidates for that title.
And I am keen to know who people think is the best guitarist - I am also keen to point out that some of the people mentioned are most certainly not the most skilled guitarists of all time. For example, when someone mentioned Buckethead, i hadn't even considered him. People have also mentioned Carlos Santana, whom I need to look into.
Furthermore, if I have been rude to anyone, then I humbly apologise and ask for forgiveness. This is a very passionate subject for me - I can get a bit caught up. Once again, sorry.
Also, I believe that the question can be answered - based solely upon skill in a huge array of fields, not whom the your rfavorite guitarist is.
And as to the last question of whom my favourite guitarist is, I'd have to say....um....I'm not sure. Steve Vai certainly comes up there, although I'm not too keen on some of his songs......Jon Gomm is just incredible and I havn't heard anything by him I don't like or wish i could do.....also the guitarist from Pink Floyd, oh waht's his name - ah, Dave Gilmour! is incredibly tasteful and expressional in his playing. So those are some of my favourite guitarists.
