Top 5 influential rock guitarists ever. According to me

[Bluzmann57]

and me alone.In no particular order.
Duane Allman. Educating the masses about how Blues and Rock should be melded together.
Jimmy Page. Innovative, with orchestral stuff mixed into heavy metal and Blues
Randy Rhodes. Not a huge metal fan, but this guy had it going on. Good metal guitarist.
Eddie Van Halen. Very influential in "metal" and what I consider to be extreme commercial Rock. Talented as hell.
And finally, without a doubt, the most influential guitarist in Rock and Roll History...Jimi Hendrix. Everybody and their brother tries to do at least one Hendrix tune. And that's not a bad thing. Rock on Jimi.

[hippywife]

1. I would have to say,

in no particular order, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page.

[Bennyboy]

2. Almost every one on your list was influenced by

Albert King.
And in the jam band world Jerry Garcia is very influential.Lets not forget, he played the single most recognizeable steel guitar lick in history, had 3 of the top 5 selling bluegrss albums of all time, had a really good side project or two and had a regular band that some people kind of liked.(also influenced by Albert and Freddie King)

[Bluzmann57]

3. If you want to talk about Blues, lets do so

Albert King was indeed a great and influential guitar player, but who had more impact, him or Robert Johnson? We could debate this endlessly so let's just say that HEY HEY DA BLUES IS ALL RIGHT. As I said in an earlier thread and will continue to say, The Blues is where all Rock and Roll came from.
One more guy to add- Chuck Berry. I mean, c'mon, he certainly had an impact, especially on the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Hell, even Judas Priest did "Johnny B.Goode" for a movie soundtrack.

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Albert King, Django Reinhardt, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker