Didn’t get a chance to link to this at work Elephant Talk
King Crimson w/ Bruford, Fripp, Belew (the fellow in pink), and Tony Levin on stick. Awesome lineup!
plus Theta Hun Ginjeet
In terms of pure skill and ability to push the envelope, who are the greatest guitarist of all time?
I don’t know enough to argue either way, but why not Jimmy Page?
Oh man, no one is gonna take me up on Frusciante or Morello
In terms of present day, post-1990 guitarists, I think you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone doing more innovative or interesting work than Morello or Frusciante and I mean that will all my heart. While they won’t be the best EVER, they certainly deserve to be in the conversation.
This isn’t fret shredding by all means, but I still absolutely love this intro: Red Hot Chili Peppers- Live At Slane Castle- Intro & By the Way - YouTube
Nitpick: “Thela Hun Ginjeet”. It’s an anagram.
Interesting! I never knew any of that. Hardly a nitpick, say I.
No argument - I’d add Jack White and Derek Trucks to the list of current heroes.
I like these types of discussions - any guitar geeking is okay in my book - but “in terms of pure skill and ability to push the envelope” can mean something different to different people, so these threads become lists of “who do you think is great and why?”
1972 
John Fahey
Doc Watson
John Renbourn
Well, any rock and roll guitarist is really just playing variations on licks from either Robert Johnson or Chuck Berry (well, except for the ones playing note for note copies of Hendrix), so I kinda think they should start the list. I mean, the guys who define the envelope come first, right?
I think Johnny Marr (of the Smiths) is right up there: very skillful and also very original.
hahaha. The good 'ol “Every song is just a play on a Sabbath riff” argument
As was said before, there’s no objective measure, and guitarists who had their heyday between 1965-1980 are over appreciated in these arguments. So, here’s my current faves. If you think I’m wrong, try to burn down my idols for me.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe. That video was done in the 60’s, but she was apparently playing that way in the 40’s.
Duane (punk rock slide guitar!) Denison from The Jesus Lizard.
Thurston Moore has already been mentioned, but he deserves another. His bandmate Lee Renaldo is his equal.
But, for me, the guy who redefined the guitar after 1980 is Steve Albini. He would probably finish in the back half of the field if guitar playing were the Olympics, so he may not match the OP’s criteria. Fortunately for Steve, it’s more like painting. His playing is mostly defined by his unorthodox guitar tone, I don’t know of anyone else who can pull it off.
Focusing on envelope-pushing for the moment… there are various guitarists who are highly experimental in the “let’s see how many bizarre sounds I can get out of this thing” sense… not sure how many of these may have been mentioned already, but:
Came into the thread to see if Doc Watson, John Fahey and Thurston Moore were mentioned and of course they all have been. I was lucky enough to see Doc a few times and I’ve seen Thurston with Sonic Youth a few times.
I’d also mention that Maybelle Carter influenced a whole bunch of people although she didn’t actually invent Carter style playing it turns out.
Tony Rice and Bryan Sutton are worth a mention for bluegrass players too.