You've all named my personal favs. For fun, and just to be different, I'm going to name a few names from ancient history that some of those names named above would cite as inspirations:
Django Reinhardt
Mario Maccaferri
Andrés Segovia
And a few session guitarists that, between them, probably accounted for half of all the 50s and 60s Rock, Motown and R&B hit singles you've probably never heard unless you:
1) are older than me, or
2) saw The Blues Brothers
Steve Cropper, Joe Messina, and Rob White.
And three more.. that perhaps fits in a bit better with the original topic's list - I offer "surf guitar" legends such as
Dick Dale (Del-Tones), and
Wilson and Bogle (from The Ventures)
You've caught them or their impact if you've heard the Hawaii 5-0 theme, the Batman TV series theme from the 60's, watched Pulp Fiction, or wondered how on earth The Beach Boys came up with their Pet Sounds sound.
But if cornered, and forced to pick just one name, it would be David Gilmour. Or maybe Mark Knopfler. Or perhaps Eric Clapton. Or Steve Vai. Or Eddie Van Halen. Or... yeah. You get it.
