Best blues guitarist, Clapton or Green

Shubertmaniac makes a good point about Muddy Waters. He was the real thing. I saw him twice in Chicagos' South side in the mid 60s.
I had the opportunity to meet and get to know Jeff Beck for awhile in 1969. What was interesting was getting to know him in a non musical way. He was in Detroit at the time recording with Stevie Wonder at Motown and during his off time, he was haunting hot rod and speed shops to repair his collection. I was working at such a shop and immediately recognized him when he came in. I eagerly began talking to him and ended up punching out the clock and taking him around town the next few days to visit speed shops and car museums, etc. He showed me how to play his version of Greensleeves on a black Les Paul he was carrying at the time. I'll never forget those times, very special. I would add that of the guitarists that Shubertmaniac mentions, Green struck me the most as the one trying to interpret the blues from a more traditional perspective. It became even more obvious from his recent acoustic work and exhaustive interpretation of the Robert Johnson catalogue. I find it difficult to tell that he is white when I listen to his vocals of late. Still, Clapton brought more immediacy to the blacker blues when he was with Mayall, very nice stuff.Just my opinion and I certainly respect the other comments being written for this thread.

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Bobgates,

Green was the founder/cofounder of the original Fleetwood Mac. He wrote Black Magic Woman (which Santana took even higher) and many other memorable pieces like the Green Manalishi and Albatross (hello Santo and Johnnie). There is something of a mystique around Mr.green due to the fact that he went from a mediocre guitar player to a wunderkind in a remarkably short period of time. Some people because of his interest in Robert Johnson, compared him to the Johnson myth that he had sold his soul to the devil in return for skill and fame. Whatever, he could make a guitar cry like nobody else. He had a distinctive style as did Clapton and a few others in those early years of English white blues players. You can learn a lot more about him from the liner notes in the many CD compilations out there like "The Vaudeville years" and "Showbiz Blues". Also check out Mick Fleetwoods book about the early Mac years (How do you spell decadent?) Hope this fills him out a little.
One last thing, Peter still tours occasionally. Go the distance to hear him if you want to hear the closest possible interpretation of Robert Johnsons' acoustic blues left on our planet. It can make the hair on your arms start to curl.

IMHO, Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

For you blues afficionados, how does Roy Rogers rate in the scheme of things?

I see a lot of names tossed out here, but I wonder what standards people are using to pick their favorites. The biggest factor will always probably be "goosebumps" -- or who *moves* you the most?

Maybe we can fine-tune (or broaden) the question with some more specific questions, like:

Who's the "smartest" blues player (twists up chords and scales)?
Who's consistently best over a broad range of styles?
Who's got the best tone?
Who's got the best technique?
Who's the most soulful?
Who's broken the most ground, or is the most innovative?
Who plays it best like it "should" be?
Who can play with the most subtlety?
Who can play with the most ooomph?
Who's king of the telecaster/stratocaster/les paul/acoustic?

The list could go on, but for me I think it would take many, many names to cover the bases above. No one takes the gold medal in my book!