And from the same era, John McGeoch. I think he actually might win this thread, because so few people outside of muso circles know his name.
It’s not just about technical skill, though. Joe Satriani, for instance, is technically immaculate, from what I gather, but writes basically horrible crap that only other guitarists are impressed with. Johnny Marr may not be Segovia in terms of aptitude, but he manages to express a song’s feeling perfectly while playing stuff that sounds cool and is tasteful in a way that most rock guitarists aren’t. If “great guitarist” meant merely “level of technical proficiency”, this thread would be full of boring noodlers.
Also, wanted to agree on Andy Gill. One of the last players in rock to come up with an actual original sound, IMO.
Okay, I’m gonna put my money where my mouth is. Here is Bruce Cockburn playing Foxglove.
If you can honestly tell me that he’s a guitarist that nobody should have ever heard of, that you want that 1 minute and 33 seconds taken out of your life back, that he’s all technique and no soul, I will eat a live bug of your choosing when we meet face to face.
No need; I know Cockburn. I was responding to Princhester’s claim that most of the guitarists named in this thread aren’t good enough to be mentioned in the same breath as him.
I’ll go easy on you and select Witchetty Grub. I hear it tastes like chicken.
Just kidding, that was a lovely piece. Love the open D.
Actually, I believe it’s in Open C, though when I learned it I heard it in Drop D. Explains why I couldn’t find all the notes.
And I know the OP said rock guitarists but I wanted to throw out some love for Lenny Breau. I think the best finger picker I’ve ever heard.
Well, and just to set the record straight on my part, I’m not quibbling the talent over anybody mentioned thus far - I might question whether they’re ‘underrated’ or not, but not the playing ability. I’m maybe a third of the way through checking ones that I haven’t heard before. Man, iTunes and Amazon must do alright everytime one of these kinda threads comes up.
Alan Bird, Johanna - curiously, you’re both right. The tuning is an open C - CGCGCE bottom to top, but he’s capo’d at the second fret, putting the piece in D.
Alan Bird Couldn’t agree with you more about Lenny Breau. Not to sidetrack this into a jazz thread, but growing up west of Winnipeg, we got to hear him a lot before things started to go sour for him. Incredible.
My guitar teacher moved to Toronto in the mid-70s, and heard his first rock and jazz music here, which meant he heard a lot of Lenny Breau and Ed Bickert. It kinda spoiled him - he had no idea how special they were, he was just really disappointed in everyone else he heard. Took him transcribing some of it to realize “Holy Crap, that’s HARD!” They just made it sound so easy.
Just out of curiosity, which ones hadn’t you heard before? I’d be happy to recommend songs if they’re any that I know.
Please pardon the hijack, but I didn’t think this needed it’s own thread. Did any of you see the 9-year old kid on America’s Got Talent? I didn’t watch the show, but I saw this video. I don’t play myself, so I have no way of knowing if he’s really any good, but for 9? For all you players out there, were you playing this early?
You, sir, have cleared up a long-standing mystery for me. Many thanks.
I watched him play for a minute or two - he’s fine for a kid. He’s play back minor-pentatonic (5-note) blues scales and trying to sell them a la Stevie Ray Vaughn - I am suprised he was not playing a Stratocaster…he was doing nothing super fancy but looked like he was having fun.
I’ll nominate Neil Schon of Journey and Jorma Kaukonen.
I understand where you are coming from and there is a lot in it. However, the reason I can’t take threads like this seriously is that once you start getting into the highly subjective stuff, it become impossible for people to separate out their liking for the band, the song, the guitar part (which may not even have been written by the guitarist) and so on from the talent of the guitarist in isolation.
Well - you have to decide what this type of thread should care about more: the ends - hammering out a definitive list, dammit! 
- or the means, i.e., discussing the very subjectivity you find you can’t take seriously. I go in assuming that there is no such thing as a definitive list and that a message board is ideally suited to exploring the subjectivity. It’s the stuff that rubs up against one another that’s interesting.
And we all have our own relationship with the guitar - some listen to it from afar as a piece of the puzzle; others play enough to know what they respect and others are active players with their own biases towards what’s “good.” I feel very comfortable dismissing Yngwie and holding up Johnny Ramone - technique is nothing more than a ticket to get entry to your sound. It’s your sound that defines you. Johnny Ramone had more than enough technique to express his sound - and its one I’d rather hear vs. Mr. Unleash the Fury. YMMV, my $.02, etc.
Having grown up in the 1960s and '70s, it was my impression that Jorma was widely renowned, celebrated, and admired for his guitarmanship. At least among all the guitar players I hung out with in those days, Jorma was frickin legendary. If you count him as underrated now, maybe it’s only the passage of time that has faded his fame. Has anyone under 40 even heard of him? You kids get off my lawn!
I thought of one at work today. George Lynch of 80s hair band Dokken. I always thought he was way better than a lot of his contemporaries.
An observation - the most interesting threads turn up when I’m too busy to formulate intelligent responses.
woodstockbirdybird: Thank you for the kind offer, and I’m hoping this thread will still be going when I’ve got some time to write the list after Monday. Quick overview from this page:
George Lynch of 80s hair band Dokken.
Jorma
Andy Gill
John McGeoch
Please, don’t mock me - part of it is that I may not have heard these people lately (it’s been about 20 since I listened to any Gang of Four, and I need to remind myself what they sounded like.) and often in these kind of threads, I hear something that I know of, but never really listened to. Anyway, it’s no biggie - it’s just that I enjoy wading through the recommendations that I get from this message board. Even when someone suggests something that I don’t like, it’s invariably an interesting something I don’t like.
Off to practice… (Bugger, I hate recording something without a set of performances before we get in the studio!)
A bit late to the party, but I just gotta nominate Bruce Springsteen. He’s definitely not the greatest guitar player in the world, but in my experience he’s incredibly underrated. Most people I’ve talked to don’t even know that it’s Bruce, and not Little Stephen, who plays the vast majority of the solos and lead guitar lines in the E-Street Band. Listen to a bootleg from the '78 Darkness tour, particularly the 4-odd minute intro to ‘Prove it All Night’, and tell me that while he might not be a technical virtuoso, that guy can rock hard on the guitar.
No argument from me - he’s a solid player. Kinda like Bonnie Raitt or other “front men” who have real chops but market themselves based on being a singer, songwriter, personality, etc. I remember when Susan Tedeschi was coming up, there was a point where she had to choose whether to “brand” herself as a guitar player or a singer/frontwoman/bandleader - she went with bandleader since that pays the bills more consistently over time…
Country players like Keith Urban and Vince Gill are somewhat like this, too - they have carved a name for themselves as Personalities but have killer chops - Vince Gill had to get out from behind his own shadow as a top session guy in order to re-brand himself as a star himself, a la Glen Campbell…
Mr. Randy Bachman. Forgive him for TCB, already. His best stuff was with The Guess Who, anyway.