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Let's first say this is for the SONG not the artist as a whole. You coulda hit one song and be called the greatest by the standards of this question/survey. That being said...this is not the case. Greatest guitar player of all time is too broad. My list would read, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Page, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Ted Nugent, Johnnie Winter..... "Stairway" is still the top of every greatest rock song of all time list. Year after year, decade after decade. Think about it...every minute around the world somewhere a Led Zeppelin song is playing...for 35 years going....says it at. Robert Plant, Jimi Page , John Paul Jones and John Bonham were/are the greatest rock musicians/group of all time.

Most of the melody of Staiway To Heaven was stolen from an instrumental song called "Taurus" by the band Spirit (who toured with Zeppelin on part of one of their earliest US tours). If you read Hammer Of The Gods, you know that Page says due to his excesses he cannot remember what went on at the time. He may still believe he did not steal the melody.
In the very early 70s, Page was being interviewed by a Rock journalist who told Page that he was the greatest rock guitarist in the world. Page replied that Randy California of Spirit was the greatest rock guitarist in the world. If you saw any live concerts of Spirit in the early 70s you might agree. Their LPs were rather tightly produced and did not display the guitar prowess of California that could be heard in a live concert. California drowned off of a beach in Hawaii a few years ago.

"If you saw any live concerts of Spirit in the early 70s you might agree.

I saw them around '68 or so and I enjoyed it very much, always did like their music but I was surprised how much recorded stuff they used in their live show. Still like them.

Also had forgotten about Harvey Mandell from that same era, always enjoyed his instrumentals (can't say much for his vocals...).