[SteveMacD]

Who's the better guitarist...Blah, blah, blah...

It really doesn't matter. The better question is who's the most appropriate guitarist for a situation. I mean, the Beatles would have sucked, IMO, if Ginger Baker was their drummer, yet Ginger is a much more skilled, dare I say better drummer than Ringo Starr ever dreamed of being. But, Ringo was the more appropriate drummer for that particular situation.

With this in mind, Rick was too much of a sideman in a band that needed a visionary, which they had with Peter Green and Lindsey Buckingham. In terms of lead guitar abilities, Rick Vito was perhaps their best guitarist and could EASILY mop the floor with Lindsey's afro. The fact that Lindsey has opted to use a lead guitarist, really since the OOTC tour, should tell you that even he is aware of his limitations.

Lindsey is a good finger-style guitarist in his own right, though Chet Atkins, Les Paul, almost any major bluegrass guitarist/banjo player, Joe Pass, and Andrés Segovia put Lindsey to shame. Lindsey's playing was the perfect compliment to what his bandmates were playing. Lindsey had the vision of how the band should sound, and knew how to make that happen. Lindsey was able to take songs at their most basic and turn them into modern masterpieces. I'd rank Lindsey's guitar playing at about fourth in terms of the assets he brought into Fleetwood, first being producer, second vocalist, and third songwriter.