It’s hard finding footage of Elvis playing the guitar. I found these two clips.
Electric
playing acoustic
From what I recall he played guitar and sang frequently in the early Rockabilly years. Was he ever considered a really good guitarist?
Skip to 1 hour 10 on that second link. He’s back on the Electric and playing solo.
That informal jam session is really fun to watch. He’s playing with the original guys from his Rockabilly days.
Yeah, I know he’s no Eric Clapton.
But, for a Lead singer who played 2nd guitar in a quartet was he better than most singers that accompanied themselves on guitar?
Some vocalists I’ve seen seemed to use the guitar as a prop. Maybe strum a few open chords.
When I’ve watched him play, I’ve never come away with any impression other that he was a singer who could accompany himself decently. Hard not think of it as much a prop. No disrespect intended.
I know two people who were associates of Elvis in the years before his recordings at Sun. He played out with small outfits (at most, string bass, drums and piano, once in a while a lead electric guitar), in which every additional instrument counted. Elvis’s rhythm guitar playing (he didn’t play lead) was good enough to add something under these conditions, so it wasn’t a prop.
But once things exploded, they could hire whatever musicians they needed, and Elvis could concentrate 100% on singing and performing. At that point, his guitar could be thought of as mostly a prop, but not because he couldn’t play it.
It’s also worth noting that Elvis learned to sing and play by spending many hours alone with his guitar, and often performed solo. His playing was perfectly adequate for this, but it was in support of his singing. So flashy leads and fingerpicking weren’t needed.
Agreed. But when you have Scotty Moore, followed by James Burton, backing you, you really don’t have to worry if the guitar is getting covered 
According to the old Sun Records crew I’ve run into over the years, Elvis was a decent Boogie pianist. The story goes that he wanted to play some piano on recordings and in his act, but the Powers That Be felt like one Jerry Lee Lewis was enough.
I always thought of Elvis as a guitar strummer who developed into a prop wearer.
He looked cool when he sported that double-necked Gibson. I think in real life it would’ve been more guitar than he could handle.
It was a prop.
The rehearsal footage in my OP’s 2nd link was the only time I’ve actually seen him play for real. He even swapped his acoustic for Scotty Moore’s electric. But even then, it was a rehearsal and they stopped/started a lot.
F. U. Shakespeare nailed it with his comment. Elvis (the big star) could hire practically any session musician he needed. He just didn’t need to spend the time improving his guitar skills.
The Sun Records release Million Dollar Quartet shows Elvis at the piano playing. Jerry Lee Lewis is behind him singing. What a moment. Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis jamming together. Can you imagine them performing together for a special concert? Wow.
Elvis definitely could adequately play the guitar. He also could adequately play piano. He was not brilliantly skilled on either, but it was as good as you would expect from somebody who learned how to play with minimal instruction. And who just wanted to play so he could accompany himself onstage. I’m guessing he probably learned piano growing up in church.
Wow! Elvis on electric guitar.
Then, Elvis on acoustic guitar.
It’s rather difficult to decide which one’s worse.
They are both kind of turrible.
For years, I thought Elvis was faking it on guitar, just because he always SEEMED to be faking it in his movies.
Eventually, I saw him playing guitar in actual live performances, and he was a decent rhythm guitarist. Also a competent bassist and pianist.
But he’d never have made a living as a musician alone. He made his fortune with his voice.