What is a great guitarist?

I'm still pissed that Frank Zappa wasn't on that list. Fuck Rolling Stone.

Me too. Or to expand, a great guitarist is one who can draw from a sonic pallette and create sounds that 100% accentuate the entirety of the piece. This is exactly why I love Buckethead; because he'll go to all different reaches of the guitar spectrum depending on the context. And yeah I know a lot of folks consider Buckethead one of those all-about-playing-shit-fast types, but if you'd heard a pretty wide variety of his work (from subtle acoustic to slappitty pappity funk to droney ambient to broken computer chaos to thick longing sustains and on and on) you might understand why I see him as this kinda player. Even if you don't like him.

His name is Steve Hackett btw. :-)

Here's my personal list -- since it's personal, your list will vary. I'd like to see your list too!

1) a great guitarist is someone who _usually_ bows to the needs of the song, and gives the song whatever is appropriate, but -- who on occasion runs riot over a song in order to take it to a level that it wouldn't have otherwise reached without that act of musical vandalism (I'm thinking here of Mark Hollis on "Spirit of Eden", Nick McCabe on "Storm In Heaven", Jimmy Page on just about any Led Z. album, and John McGeoch on "JuJu" -- especially "Spellbound")

2) likewise, a great guitarist does what you want him/her to do to a song, but also not quite what you'd expect. In other words, gives you the satisfaction of seeing your hopes for the song realized, but also the added joy of sending you in a direction you weren't planning on going. (thinking here of Graham Sutton on "Hex", Tom Morello on various albums with his various bands, Jimmy Page again, and Robin Guthrie on early Cocteau Twin albums)

3) a great guitarist is not afraid to use feedback, distortion, and volume but at the same time, knows that it must be melodic to be memorable and that there must be some payoff in the song as reward for making people plow through "unlistenable" bits (thinking here of Kevin Shields on "Loveless", just about any Jimi Hendrix album, and Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation")

4) a great guitarist understands texture, looping, sampling, delay, flanging, etc, and -- even more important -- knows how to strike a balance between these manipulations and between straightforward playing, so that the song sounds neither too mechanical/refined nor too rough-drafty (thinking here of Robert Hampson and Scott Dawson on "Motion Pool", Vini Reilly on "Vini Reilly", McCabe again -- on "the Verve ep")

5) a great guitarist has an emotional stake in the outcome of his/her music. It's not just something that is done to pay the bills. It's something that's done because there's a compelling urge to do it, and likewise, there's a feeling that this person could never NOT do it. That is, even when they are away from the recording industry and out of the public eye, and "retired" for whatever reason, they are still making music and experimenting, if only for their own, and their family's enjoyment. (Thinking of everyone from Robert Fripp to Vini Reilly to Neil Young here, but also younger "retirees" like Johnny Marr and Bernard Butler).

And you?
What's your criteria for guitar goodness?
And which guitarists made you think that way?