Any genre, just the preformer who makes your jaws drop the best.
Mine would be Hendrix.
Tom Morello!!! 
There are too many brilliant, unrecognized rock guitarist to pick just one. Here are my candidates:
Mick Ronson
Phil Manzanera
Jeff Beck
But if you had to pick just one guitarist, there is no doubt that the most skilled guitarist who ever lived was:
Andres Segovia
I would second the vote for Hendrix. I’d also cast one for James Hetfield (I love pre-Black Album Metallica.)
- Rob
Well, at this moment, Chet Atkins is high on my list.
Trivia: Many many guitarists claim Hendrix as their favorite guitarist. Who was Hendrix’s favorite guitarist?
On the tonight show with Johnny Carson, Hendrix named as his fave Billy Gibbons, now of ZZ Top, but at the time in the Moving Sidewalks.
Jeff Healy.
Ry Cooder.
Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Robert Johnson.
Feynn wrote
Not to get critical on a judgement call, but… Great choices until Mssr. Johnson. He was a great songwriter and a total pioneer, but I don’t think he was really a very good guitar player. In fact he had terrible rhythm. You didn’t mean Eric Johnson, did you?
good morning friends
chet atkins was the master.
also submitted:
alvin lee (of ten years after)
brian may (of queen)
mark knophler (of dire straights)
My top 5 in no particular order:
Brian May
Nuno Bettencourt
Slash
Vito Bratta
Sasha (KMFDM)
2 guesses which musical era I grew up in(!)
I don’t have a vote for a single greatest, but here are some that I think are quite good:
El Hefe [NOFX]
Dick Dale
Billy Corgan [Smashing Pumpkins]
Robert Smith [The Cure]
The two Chrises from Lagwagon
Adam Jones [Tool]
Tanya Donnelly [Belly]
and while I’m not a Metallica fan, James Hetfield is pretty good.
Adrian Legg, who plays an Ovation acoustic in ways that made my jaw drop so painfully that years later the only thing I can eat is soup, and even that’s messy.
Of all time?
Grindenbock Szabo, who was a shoemaker by trade, lived in Hungary in the 12th century, and jammed with various bands of roving gypsies. Man, nobody before or since could touch him. I have his tee shirt and everything.
{insert rolling-eyes smiley here}
Django Reinhardt’s right up there, in my opinion.
Also, I really like Les Paul’s work.
Rock-and-roll-wise, I’d go with Hendrix.
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned mentioned Eric Clapton yet. Clapton is God.
I’ll second Mark Knopfler, and James Hetfield, too.
Chet Atkins is high on my list as well. And not just because he died this week.
Others: Mark Knopfler, David Gilmoure, Alex Lifeson, Steve Rothery, Brian May, Eric Clapton (plugged, please!), Chris Oliva, Andrew Latimer.
The greatest of all time? I couldn’t say for sure, but while he’s certainly not the most technical of the lot, Gilmoure is the one that can really make that thing weep like no one else.
STEVE HOWE. Rocks my universe.
Tom Morello is THE rock guitarist of the 90’s (and the 00’s!). The noises he could get out of a guitar are amazing.
I enjoy debates like this as much as anybody, but…
Years ago, I read a column in which a critic noted that, if you judged them purely as musicians, George Harrison was a mediocre guitarist, Ringo Starr was a sub-par drummer, and John Lennon’s guitar technique was hopelessly flawed. The critic then asked a good question: would the Beatles have been ANY better if they’d replaced Ringo with Simon Phillips and George Harrison with virtuoso John McLaughlin?
I bring this up because I can think of MANY guitarists whose dexterity and skills blow me away, but whose music leaves me cold. Allan Holdsworth is a breathtakingly talented guitarist who’s NEVER (in my opinion, at least) made a single great record. The jazz world is filled with guitarists whose technique is superb, but whose performances are unbearably boring (listening, Pat Metheny? How about you, Al DiMeola?).
I’ll stick to a handful of guitarists who have a distinctive sound, and whose work has been (to me, at least) most interesting, innovative and/or emotionally affecting:
David Gilmour
Mark Knopfler
Robert Fripp
Roger McGuinn
Jeff Beck
Jimi Hendrix
I know there are some haters out there but I’m gonna say it any way.
I think Eddie Van Halen is pretty damn good. Especially the early stuff, BV(before Valerie). The stuuf after Valerie didn’t have the same edge, I think being in love did that. DAMN WIMMIN!!!
“Eruption”, on the first album, was a perfect leadin to “You really Got Me”. The solo on “Hot for Teacher”, had some great licks.
I like Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Hetfield, Morello, Joe Perry, the Edge and Brian May too, I thought that Eddie should be mentioned also.
As should Nancy Wilson.
I don’t get The Edge, though. He’s the George Harrison of today. An OK guitarist, but certainly not a String God.
IMHO 