The following guitarists are also influences of mine, but probably in a more indirect way.  By inderect, I mean that they were more the guys who influenced the players who directly influenced me.  That's not to say that I feel these guys are distant from the way I play, or try to play.  I just think of them as more legenedary in the overall guitar world, and that more than likely, they've influenced every person who plays any form of rock guitar.  I enjoy and admire their work and contributions to the music I love.

BANDS:  Deep Purple, Rainbow

COMMENTS:  Ritchie is a major influence of Yngwie Malmsteen's.  Most of his great guitar work was before I was 10 years old, so I didn't learn to appreciate it at that time.  But now, I see that he was one of the first players who knew you didn't have to make the guitar "scream" to make it heavy.  He was a master at the melodic type solo, and his leads always fit in perfectly with the song.  Deep Purple was one of the first "heavy metal" bands, even though the tern didn't really come about until the early 80s.

BANDS:  Jimi Hendrix Experience

COMMENTS:  What can I say about Jimi that hasn't already been said.  Clearly the most innovative guitarist EVER!  In a time (1960s) where other players were just barely beginning to learn new things on the guitar, Jimi was light years ahead of them.  In fact, I think he is light years ahead of any player since then as well.  Plus, it was cool to see a black dude playing the guitar the way he did, instead of just being another "blues man".  He made the guitar do things no one ever imagined, and his actual guitar playing is impossible to describe.  His songwriting was just as brilliant, and I truly believe that his music holds up to this day, over 30 years later, and will for many years to come.  By the way, I mean it holds up to the styles/standards of good music, not mainstream crap.  It doesn't hold up to that, it totally blows it away!
Unfortunately, Jimi died before I was even born, thanks to drugs and booze.  To all you fuckin' druggies out there, thanks for condoning Jimi's death, you bastards!

BANDS:  Black Sabbath

COMMENTS:  No doubt in my mind, that Sabbath are the kings of heavy metal.  The music scene in the late 60s was all about peace, love, happiness, drugs, and sex.  Then Sabbath came along and blew all that shit out of the water!  Say hello to gloom, doom, evil and destruction.  While I don't consider Tony to be one of the greatest lead players ever (his solos are too bluesy for my tastes), he is in my Hall Of Fame because he is the original riffmaster.  His songwriting is what made Sabbath great, and what more or less created heavy metal.  Slow, pounding, trudging (but never boring) riffs were Tony's trademark, and he really knows how to set a mood with a few chords or riffs.

BANDS:  (original) Quiet Riot;  Ozzy Osbourne band

COMMENTS:  I hold Randy up as the King of heavy metal guitar playing, partiularly his leads.  Take everything I said about Hendrix being a ground-breaker, and apply that to Randy in the metal genre.  His stlye was totally unique and innovative, and he was brilliant at combining his many classical guitar influences with his metal playing.  He was a genius when it came to music theory.  He tragically died in a plane crash in 1982.  He was only with Ozzy for 2 records.  A total of about 80 minutes of music.  He has had such an impact on every metal guitarist over the last 15 years, and that's based on just those 80 minutes.  I honestly believe that if Randy had not died, he would be regarded as the best gutiar player to ever live, and the whoever would be in second place, would be nowhere in sight.

BANDS:  Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble

COMMENTS:  Stevie Ray is probably the only guitarist that I truly love, that wasn't a hard rock/metal player.  I'm not a huge blues fan, other than some of the pure blues guitar, like Robert Johnson or something, and I don't really like it when rock bands/guitarists say "my soloing is really bluesy".  I think that's a bunch of boring bullshit.  Playing some blues chords/leads over a distorted rhythm guitar has been done to death, and it puts me to sleep.  However!, Stevie was a fucking master at combinig blues and hard drivin' rock and roll.  Whether the song was up tempo, or a slower blues/rock tune, he had a way of making every note say something.  It never got boring with him, and watching him play is amazing.  It looks so damn effortless for Stevie, but then you sit down and try to play one of his songs, and you can't believe this guy was human!  Beyond his amazing playing and songwriting, his gutiar tone was one of the richest, fattest sounding things you'll ever hear.  Another tragic loss to the world, when his helicopter crashed after a concert in the early 90s.  He was coming back from a concert where a few different bands played, including Eric Clapton (other than some of his stuff in Cream, old slowhand is BORING!).  All I know, is that I wouldn't be upset one bit if that had been Eric's helicopter, instead of Stevie's.