There are many styles of music and many amazing guitarists. If I do not include your favorite one then please accept my apology there are far too many greats for me to include them all. Instead I wanted to mold an adventure in music all of my own...
It likely started with Tanburs
Harps and Tanburs likely inspired the creation of the guitar.
Eventually we had the Lute
Eventually we had the Lute or as the Metalocalypse cartoon characters call them. "Old people guitars" Here is some lute work for the famous anonymous tune Greensleeves (yes, you are correct I said anonymous... they do not know who composed it).
Here is some Metalocalypse humor for you to back up the part I said above.
Guitar
There were historically the Tar, 4 string guitars, early 5 string Stradivarius guitars (yes the guy that is famous for violins), and eventually the 6 string guitar became quite popular. It was typically in the format we see for classical, or flamenco music initially.
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Segovia - 1893 to 1987
Here is Andrés Segovia performing Leyenda by Albeniz. I play parts of this song myself, but not in it's entirety.
Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson - 1911 to 1938
Then we have the famous/infamous Robert Johnson who was an early Blues Guitarist who inspired many guitarists after him. He was the background story for the movie Crossroads. Here he is audio only.
Before the 1960s
There were some great guitarists before the 60s. I'd like to highlight a few of them here...
Les Paul
Les Paul - 1915 to 2009 - pretty famous guitarist. Many people still love his signature guitars.
Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins - 1924 to 2001
B.B. King
B.B. King - 1925 to 2015
An interesting thing about B.B. King I once heard him say is that he doesn't actually know chords. That explains quite a bit about his style.
Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry - 1926 -
Johnny B Goode is a song that I think many people have heard.
Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian - 1916 to 1942
The 1960s explosion of guitarists
In the late 1950s and 1960s a new generation of guitarists exploded onto the world. Those I listed above influenced them. There were so many great guitarists during this era that I am only going to list some of the greats.
Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck - 1944-
Here he is with the Yardbirds.
Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton - 1945-
Though he also started his career in the Yardbirds like Jeff Beck here he is with Cream.
Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page - 1944-
Another person who started in the Yardbirds but here performing with Led Zepplin.
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix - 1942 to 1970
Jimi Hendrix in my opinion took the instrument to the next level and I'm not quite sure how far he would have taken it had he not died. I think there were great guitarists at the time, and then there was Jimi Hendrix hanging out in some realm all of his own that was either to the side of, or above the others. I imagine an alternate reality where he lived, and it makes me have curious imaginings of what might have happened with music.
Enter the 1970s
I was born in 1970 so all of the previous music I have learned about, listened to, and in some cases studied. Now we enter the time where the music started springing forth from the ether around me.
Ritchie Blackmore
Ritchie Blackmore - 1945-
A member of Rainbow and Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore was experimental and a progressive rock guitarist.
Tony Iommi
Tony Iommi - 1948-
Interesting thing about Tony is he is missing the tip of one of his fingers and has his own prosthetic that he made that he plays guitar with. He was one of the instrumental people in the Black Sabbath sound and I mostly credit them for what became the sound known as heavy metal.
Angus Young
Angus Young - 1955-
The Young brothers blasted out of Australia in a band named AC/DC.
Brian May
Brian May - 1947-
As the lead guitarist of Queen it is also interesting to note he is also an astrophysicist.
Gary Moore
Gary Moore - 1952 to 2011
He was a member of early Irish bands Skidrow and Thin Lizzy.
Billy Gibbons
Billy Gibbons - 1949-
Interestingly enough my father was in a band called the No Names in Texas at the time there was a band down there called American Blues. Billy Gibbons is one of the main members of that band which changed it's name to ZZ Top.
Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana - 1947-
Alex Lifeson
Alex Lifeson - 1953-
Another Progressive Rock guitarist of the band Rush.
Michael Schenker
Michael Schenker - 1955-
As the lead guitarist of the band UFO he still has quite a few fans to this day.
Conclusion
I am going to stop here for this blog post. It is quite long already. If there are votes and interest I will continue where I left off and do another post starting with the 1980s.
EDIT: I wanted to include some Hendrix Clapton related videos...
Yes out of those above Hendrix is my favorite... what might this guy have done if he had lived?
Do you want to see part two?
EDIT: Part two has been posted HERE