guitarists I would list above White (easily):
John Frusciante: Pretty self explanitory. I mean the sick funk he was playing in the late 80's was cool. He had a way of mixing stuff together: Jazz, funk, tradition alternative rock, metal, etc... But what I like most are his melodic chords.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn88p4vAwHk A bit NSFW (f word and a half of a scrotum)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-oKRJyunz0
The funny part about RHCP is they got prolly the sickest bass player of "our time" as well.
Kirk Hammett: dosnt have the range of Frusciante, but possibly is a more skilled guitarist. I am not really a heavy metal guy (at all), but I love the metal stuff of old school metalica.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbUJilAbPQA
Orion is prolly most underrated metallica song in general. But the guitar work really makes this song. Amazing where the song goes at 3:58. As if Kirk Hammett has a canvas and is doing whatever the eff he wants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4nCy5CITc8
My favorite old school song. Love the main riff. So classic. Four Horsemen is so badass.
love the guitar @ 3:24 - 4:35.
I could list 10 more songs. Each with an exceptional original melody, solo, style, whatever. Most guitarists would be lucky to have one or two songs. Those gems that they will be remembered by. Kirk, realistically, is prolly the #1 guitarest of "our time", even though he is a bit b4 my time.
not so easily:
Cobain: now, I am not saying this guy is 100% better, but part of White's awesomeness is his he original. Kurt Cobain was very original. I hate grunge for the most part, but he squeezed some sick stuff out and I love it. The solo in In Bloom is great. I hate his live performances though, so I would look at studio tracks. Maybe he was too high, or maybe he juust liked to take grunge to the extreme (to far for my taste).
And I might get loled at for this, but John Mayer is an excellent guitar player. Though not very original. I think his much more skilled in terms of playing than White. I like this vid of him horsing around:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlMKFTEBx84
Though I prefer his rich clean style over this solo.
And I am trying to be as objective as I can here. I have prolly 4-10 other modern(ish) guitarists I prefer over White. But, I try my hardest not to penalize White for not playing to my preference.