there are really different realms of "great" guitar players.
there are the popular music greats, like hendrix, srv, page, and so. then there are the purely esoteric greats like satriani, vai, eric johnson, steve morse, et al.
the former play music that is consumed by the public at large, whereas the latter are essentially only listened to by musicians.
technically, guys like vai and morse are almost untouchable by the popular players. i know that's blasphemy, but it's true. but on the flip side, a lot of their music (most) is not even listenable...even for guitar heads. you might put on some of their music to learn techniques or simply say "how in the world is he doing that?", but pretty much nobody listens to that stuff for pure enjoyment. it's almost like watching the world's strongest man contest or something...being awed by something only a handful of people on the planet can do.
that's why van halen is so unique. he's a technical freak like vai and the rest, but he was able to bridge the gap between esoteric playing and music that average people actually want to listen to.
as for being underrated or unappreciated, billy gibbons may be the greatest guitar player who is never mentioned as one of the greatest guitar players by average people. as for blues, he's better than srv ever was, and more unique too. in fact, lots have said that hendrix considered gibbons to be the best guitar player he'd ever seen, and this was when absolutely no one knew who gibbons was.
but there are so many great ones out there that ranking them is impossible. what about metheny? dimeola? although he's not all that difficult to play, how unique is david gilmore's style? does anyone blow out the hard rock jams better than gary moore? has there ever been a better speed metal/thrash jammer than the dimebag? has anyone ever rocked harder than angus young?
bottom line is there are tons of great ones in their own way, and they're all a billion times better than i could ever imagine being.
rock on folks!!!
