Your Top 5 Guitarists

Kill ILM.

It's forcing me to, like, actually focus on my work and stuff... >:|

mick turner
taku sugimoto
loren connors
david grubbs
nels cline

Jerry Garcia
John Fahey
Joe Walsh
Sonny Sharrock
Chuck Schuldiner

Big & Rich
Big Kenny
John Rich
Big
Rich

Ctrl+F Clapton LOL. Tough being a fallen god.

if only he'd had the decency to die in 1970 this thread could have looked very different

Jimi Hendrix
Pete Townshend
Phil Manzanera
Marc Bolan
Keith Richards

Clapton was always pretty unremarkable, though. He was only good when he was in the company of good musicians.

i want to add Syd Barrett to my list. truly one of a kind as a songwriter and as a lead/rhythm guitarist. "Interstellar Overdrive" is a voyage and i have always deeply loved the spy surf lead in "Lucifer Sam" as well.

his solo albums really highlight his unique guitar. "Long Gone" has a really nice descending waltz thing going on (with a Floydian "I stood very still by the window sill" line not far from DSOTM).

recently discovering the early PF track "Walk With Me Sydney" was a lot of fun. it's this silly rock n roll pop song about a character who is like a teenage idol but there is something wrong w him. the rhythm guitar alternate between a Merseybeat/60s pop swing and Syd's unique bizarrely twangy solos that seem to twist into existence like a stretched spring. despite being mad or otherwise mentally impaired he has incredible mastery over his instrument, bending notes with precision, slinking up and down the fretboard like a snake or possibly a strange fod.

fog

love walk with me sydney!

syd was an incredibly original guitarist whether acoustic or electric. if only there were more recordings of him taking off live.

Boring and off the top of my head:

D Boon
Robbie Basho
Sonny Sharrock
Daniel Fichelscher
Neil Young

post-punk division since someone else did it and it's interesting:

d boon
curt kirkwood
craig scanlon
andy from the ex and dog faced hermans
richard bishop

Craig Scanlon! <3

James Honeyman-Scott. One of the saddest rock casualties, died at 25 after making two (incredible) records with the Pretenders. that first LP is just fucking perfect, and his guitar work is a big part of it.

syd was an incredibly original guitarist whether acoustic or electric.

Wolfpack ftw

Still waiting on imago to come back with some guy who plays a microtonal 33 string electric lute.

Mick Taylor was damn good on his Stones run, especially on “knockin” obviously and “time waits”

and with Mayall. Blues from Laurel Canyon is all-time.

Wata
Carrie Brownstein
PJ Harvey
Cat Power*
Michael and/or John Gibbons**

* I guess more for a songwriting standpoint -- her songs aren't complex but man they sound so good.
** I don't know which one does what on Bardo records.

Not a top 5 but I'd add:

Mike Bloomfield
Terje Rypdal
Ralph Towner
Julian Bream
John Abercrombie