1. Glenn Tipton
2. Danny (sorry, Dan!:[)
3. Dave Murray
4. KK Downing
5. Dave Mustaine
6. Yngwie Malmsteen
7. Gus G
8. Zakk Wylde; admit it. The pinches get so OLD after awhile.
9. James Hetfield
10. Kirk Hammett
I agree with the other Crow when he said Danny's the best this generation. However, there are others from the previous that have him outmatched by a longshot. However, Danny's one of the best writers out there. His solos aren't just "let's see how fast and I play while keeping it sounding cool". He actually puts some emotion to them and gives them a melody that fits the mood of the song. Imo, he kinda lost that in Asylum but on a technical spectrum; it's his best guitar-work yet.
Glenn and a few others may be better guitarists skill-wise, but let's look at something.
It's a well-known fact that the longer you play guitar, the better you get. Glenn was in the "Flying Hat" band before Judas Priest and he was a founding member of that band in 1969. So he was playing before 1969 and if he started at age 21 and was born in 1947....
1947 + 21 == 1968 is when he started playing guitar.
Let's subtract that from the current year and....
2010 - 1968 == 42 years he's been playing.
Let's compare to Dan(and this is ALL in our man's defense :]).
I can't find the exact year he began playing but it said his teenage years. He was born in 1968 though and joined Vandal sometime in the 80's.
1968 + 13(first teen year) == 1981 is the earliest he could've started playing.
2010 - 1981 == 29 is the least amount of years he could've been playing.
Add 6 to the 13 for 19(last teen year) or just 6 to 29 and you got 35 years.
Dan couldn't have played for less than 29 years and for more than 35.
So at BEST, that's 7 years of experience that Glenn's got on Danny and possibly an entire decade. 7 years may not seem much in comparison to the other numbers, but just imagine 7 years of practice on it's own.
Glenn and a few others are just in an entirely different league; end of story.