There are some extremely talented guitar players, ones that when other guitar players are asked who is really good, surprise people like us and mention someone we would not expect, and those guitarists aren't getting much, if any, mention. Usually it's because of the style of music they play or the era they are/were from, but when it comes to pure talent, many of the players that have been listed so far would mention these players if asked who is good.
B.B. King
Chuck Berry
Albert King
Freddie King
Les Paul
Bo Diddley
Billy Gibbons
John Lee Hooker
Steve Cropper
Stephen Stills
Muddy Waters
Albert Collins
Robbie Robertson
Dickey Betts
Johnny Winter
Robbie Krieger
Lou Reed
Dave Davies
Alex Lifeson
All better than most here would rank them, or guess where to rank them if they don't even know who the heck they are. All made Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time, a good number of them in the top 50.
The voters for the top 100 were:
Trey Anastasio, Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), Brian Bell (Weezer), Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple), Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket), James Burton, Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Gary Clark Jr., Billy Corgan, Steve Cropper, Dave Davies (The Kinks), Anthony DeCurtis (Contributing editor,
Rolling Stone), Tom DeLonge (Blink-182), Rick Derringer, Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Melissa Etheridge, Don Felder (The Eagles), David Fricke (Senior writer,
Rolling Stone), Peter Guralnick (Author), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes), Warren Haynes (The Allman Brothers Band), Brian Hiatt (Senior writer,
Rolling Stone), David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Lenny Kravitz, Robby Krieger (The Doors), Jon Landau (Manager), Alex Lifeson (Rush), Nils Lofgren (The E Street Band), Mick Mars (Mötley Crüe), Doug Martsch (Built to Spill), J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.), Brian May, Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Roger McGuinn (The Byrds), Scotty Moore, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Tom Morello, Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Brendan O’Brien (Producer), Joe Perry, Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Robbie Robertson, Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes), Carlos Santana, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Marnie Stern, Stephen Stills, Andy Summers, Mick Taylor, Susan Tedeschi, Vieux Farka Touré, Derek Trucks, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Walsh, Nancy Wilson (Heart)
Sort of like I said above. When you ask some of the very best who they believe are the very best, you will get a number of replies that would surprise many who hear or read them.