i dont know why the media is every 5 minutes doing any kind of classification of everything,really don`t like that,or ,at least in the subjectiveness of anyone in the music community ,isnt the first,wont be the last.
i mean all is done for the money.it really matters?.
i agree with completely with the first three ,jimy,eric,jimmy,but after,there are millions of possibilities depending on tastes.
im not telling everyone is wrong or right about the "top ten of all time of the last week",my opinion is that you cant thing of classified guitarists exactly as i could scientifically "portionize" and "numberize" the emotions they cause me when i listen to them,like a numerical calculate test,maybe just calculating with a extremely complex machine that tell how much endorphine and/or serotonine are release in the brain a at the moment the guitar solo is played.even the unique emotional state play a major role of what music effect can produce at any singular moment.
then there is the question of who is the best guitarist regarding the talent or technical abilities,and the again there is no magic formula,there are many genres of unpopular music worldwide that have guitarist with extremely high capacities but their are not so famous,for example:
-the greatest spanish acoustic guitarist,technically they are equal to the god of rock`n`roll,but the music industry are not making any investment to sell their work on the most supermarket shells.but they are extremely skilled ,they really blow me about how can they do with a sigle guitar,paco de lucia to cite one.
-one the youtube there are plenty of videos and comment about who`s the best metal drummer ever,but their just ignore, that on an overall view ,jazz,blues,and groove drummers are far away more skilled and have more abilities that metal-drummers.
for example,imo, the great dennis chambers,the best of all,even i am a metal head and there are a drummer called george kollias that can achieve almost 300bpm with the double kickdrum with his own technique!
but ,anyway,after a few beer and a rage-against-the-media (sorry,BTW,haha) comment there is my quick top ten,about who i thing did good -ROCK AN ROLL- track and not about i think is the best 10 technical god (not in a exaxt order):
jimi hendrix (What)
jimmy page
tom morello
angus young
kerry king and jeff hanneman
Yngwie Malmsteen
david gilmour
bob dylan
kirk hammet
robert johnson
i am starting to forget names.....