Favorite Guitarist and the reason why....
Since this is favorite guitarist, I am going with Jerry Garcia.
Jerry certainly isn’t the most technically sound guitarist ever, but he has one of the most recognizable and unique sounds ever.
Moreover, his ability to cross genres seamlessly - even in the same song at times - while being completely improvisational on stage. The Dead would only know the first song and the last for each two set show and the rest they made up as they went). For 30 years.
His ability to change the mood, tempo and style of a song on the fly; while “talking” to the rest of the band. Communicating musically through progression cues what seemed like endless, meandering noodling (they were that too) were discussions as to which song to play next.
All while singing the lyrics to a catalogue of songs that reached over 2000 originals and covers without practicing the set each night.