This is a very interesting question and the different perspectives each of you share seems to be based on what on what genre each of you prefer!
But, what guitarist is probably the most influentia,l too all of those great guitarist?
No one has mentioned him yet, So I will throw his name out there,
Django Reinhardt!
Reinhardt is regarded as the greatest and most influential guitar players of all time and yet his career only spanned from 1928 to 1953. In 1928 he suffered extensive burns over half his body and the fourth and fifth fingers of Reinhardt’s left hand were that badly burned and he never regained full movement of these two injured fingers and used them only for chord work.
In a career of just 25 years, His magical guitar play has managed to influenced so many generations. From Jeff Beck, Jerry Garcia, Tony Iommi, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend, Les Paul, Hank Marvin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Derek Trucks; Mark Knopfler; Joe Pass; Peter Frampton; Denny Laine, Jose Feliciano, Bill Nelson; Jon Larsen; Steve Howe; Charlie Christian, Frank Vignola, Barney Kessel, George Benson, Wes Montgomery, Martin Taylor; Michael Angelo Batio, Richard Thompson, Robert Fripp, BB King, René Thomas; Ray Condo, Big John Bates and Jeff Martin, Carlos Santana and Willie Nelson to name but a few!
He died at the age of 43 in 1953 from a brain haemorrhage.