Name your top 3 guitarists

impmann

I've rewritten this *A LOT*... today it is mostly...

Gilmour

Nels Cline

Graham Coxon

But that may change by the time I've sent this...

Lexie1

1. Laurie Wisefield

2. Mike Casswell

3. Andy Latimer

usedtobe

Paul Gilbert

Rory Gallagher

Isaac Guillory

Honorable mention for Page - more for what he's done, more than his actual playing, which is pretty messy, tbh...!

mudslide73

Page

Clapton

Beck

meltedbuzzbox

impmann said:

I've rewritten this *A LOT*... today it is mostly...

Gilmour

Nels Cline

Graham Coxon

But that may change by the time I've sent this...

Coxon is a very good guitarist. No one seems to give him any kudos

HoraceB

1. Mr David Gilmore

2. Mr David Evans

3. Mr Adrian Belew  (ran out of Davids)

And now for my next three ........

Fortheloveofguitar

1. Steve vai
2. Slash
3. Joe perry

bigjon

1. Allan Holdsworth
2. Stevie Ray Vaughan
3. Phil Keaggy

DannyP

Ooh today it's

Bernard Butler
Richard Thompson
George Harrison.

I may revisit this later...

Neil

1. Hendrix

2 Jimmy Page

3. Richie Blackmore

I must admit I am not a guitar player worshipper per se but the above have all been involved in wonderful music which their playing is a fine adjunct to. 

kelvinburn

Today it would be;

3. Stephen Carpenter - deftones

2 Brian May

1 Joshua Homme

kaisos

Marr
Coxon
Butler

viz

1) Steve Vai
2) Al di Meola
3) Ritchie Blackmore

ESBlonde

Very difficult to select 3

today's options might include but not necessarily in this order:

Nile Rogers
Ric Formosa
Jeff (Skunk) Baxter

Rigid_Digits

Steve Jones
Mick Jones
Wilko Johnson

keithf

1.Michael Schenker,amazing phrasing and incredible tone.

2. george Lynch,insane note choice and peril in his solo endings

3. Gilmour, spaces and melody second to none in my book.

Bucket

Difficult to narrow it down to three... here's my best shot. Ask me tomorrow and I'll probably give you a different answer entirely. 

Not in order, that'd be even harder.

Guthrie Govan - technically head and shoulders above almost everyone else who has ever picked up a guitar, but somehow still manages to play the perfect thing for the song, and rarely overplays. Absolutely amazing tone, feel, technique, imagination, superb improvisational skills, not to mention the ability to play pretty much anything. He can quite convincingly imitate loads of other guitarists, but when he's playing his own stuff you just KNOW it's him - he has a very distinctive style and sound that is all his. Seems like a lovely chap as well, not to mention funny - I love watching the Lick Library and Guitarist videos with him in them.

Marco Sfogli - a slightly lesser-known Italian chap. I'm listening to him right now, and he's one of the best in the whole instrumental rock guitar scene, IMO. He has a very Petrucci-esque feel to his playing a lot of the time, but he doesn't shred quite as much - mind you, he's very impressive when he does. He comes out with some impossible licks. Great phrasing and note choice, plus a stunning tone and technique to die for. He makes me really, really wish I was better at playing this sort of music.

Having to choose between my final two is difficult - it was either going to be John Petrucci or Jakub Zytecki. However, I've waxed lyrical about JP several times in the past, and I don't know what I can say about him that hasn't already been said. So:

Jakub Zytecki - the guitarist for Polish progressive rock/metal band Disperse, and one hell of an incredible player. He's only about 20, so a couple of years older than me, but his playing is really mature-sounding, if that makes sense. He can shred like a demon but doesn't do so as often as you might expect, and his phrasing and tone are wonderful. The trump card, though, is that he writes all of the Disperse material pretty much single-handedly - programmes all the drums and keyboard parts, and writes all the guitar and bass parts. And it's brilliant stuff. I wish I could write like that. Colour me envious

Right, that's three... now I'm gonna need to create a sock-puppet account to talk about John Petrucci, Nuno Bettencourt and Paul Gilbert. Then another for Brian May, Gary Moore and Brad Paisley.

Oh fuck, and what about Shawn Lane?

Misty

Robben Ford.....taste, tone, and his ability to play interesting stuff without having to play loads of notes. He fuses blues and jazz effortlessly.

SRV.....for me he redefined the modern blues Strat tone, and had almost unworldly taste and feel, particularly on his moodier stuff like Lenny, Tin Pan Alley, and Texas Flood.

Matt Schofield.....again great tone and feel, and he knows how to build a solo while still leaving space to create atmosphere. 

Comparing his earlier albums to the latest stuff shows a noticeable progression in his playing.

Cliches maybe, but who cares. Of course there are more, but they're my three. For now.

drwiddly

Like previous posters, it's almost impossible to pick just three but .....

Michael Schenker
Andy Latimer
Andy Powell

Are today's choices.

koneguitarist

James Burton, sheer class and heard on literally thousands of songs from Suzie Q to Hello Mary Lou.

Played for just about every major star, and influenced countless uk guitarist such as Jeff Beck, Hank Marvin, Jimmy Page, etc etc etc

Scotty Moore, a legend , enough said. 

Gary Moore, taste feel rawness, he had it all.