Who is the best (lead) guitarist alive today?  

try to listen steve vai, joe sariani,yngwie malmstein and michael angelo , and you know who is the greates lead guitar in the world

I would have to go with Jeff Beck.

Slash? what a loser. Brian May is the best Guitarist alive. Mike Bloomfeild is the best guitarist that is not currently alive.

There are so many great guitarists out there it's difficult to determine who is actually the best. I would have to say that Jimi Hendrix was probably the best guitarist who has ever lived, but of course he isn't alive today!

Other suggestions would be David Gilmour from Pink Floyd, Slash, Jeff Beck, Jo Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Angus Young, Joe Perry, Buckethead and many many more!

You can search for them all on Youtube to check them out!

Eric is a guitar god

That's a hard question which deserves "a probably" best answer,...well it's hard to tell who is who,all have different styles,almost all that I will type here are great guitar players,like,Steve Vai,Frank Zappa,Frank marino,John Mclaughlin,Yngwie Malmsteem,Eric johnson,stevie ray & jimmy vaughn,Pat metheny,frank gambale,tom morello,Steve morse,and there are so many more to name them,but one of my favorite and maybe the best guitar player for me ,is Al Dimeola.I've loved his playing when he was with Chick Corea(RTF),to his solo efforts and collaboration with some great guitarists he had played with...happy mylotting :-)

i think it's Ynguie Malmstein.And another more underground one is Bill Tsamis (Warlord-Lordian guard)