Firstly the title might be slightly misleading, no electric guitar can claim to be the best and because of the variation in sound that comes from many different electric guitars, it does come a lot down to the opinion of the guitarist and audience as well as choosing a best electric guitar to suit the type of music that particular guitarists play.

But a few guidelines to the choices available and my personal opinion of the best brands.

If your a lead guitarist who plays a lot of solo type guitar with bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs and really hot pick-ups that scream out high pitched tones and harmonies, I would recommend any of the Ibanez prestige range, some great B.C rich guitars and the Dave Mustaine and Dimebag from Pantera signature guitars from Dean. Also, a lesser-known brand called paradise guitars that make a custom Jason Becker shred style guitar. Overall when it comes to lead guitar and the greatest lead guitarists I think the Ibanez guitars are probably the best, the most famous lead guitarists like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, Patrick Ronda, Dragonforce, and many more artists choose these versatile guitars. Not to forget the original fender strats that still play a large role in lead guitar today made most famous by none other than Jimi Hendrix himself, well-known artist John 5(Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie-guitarist) plays custom fender telecasters which sound great with the style lead he plays, so really, in the end, it comes down to your opinion, this is but a brief guide to choosing lead electric guitars.

If you play rhythm guitar the choice is much broader. Usually, a heavier guitar with heavier strings is used to play rhythm on best electric guitar. More well known and proven electric guitars to consider when choosing an electric guitar are the Les-Paul Gibson guitars made famous by Metallica, guns n roses, and many other countless artists are a great crunchy sounding electric rhythm guitar, also the Cadillac type Dean guitars, the Arts by Ibanez, many fenders (think nirvana) and the famous SG Gibson played both rhythmically and with lead by Angus Young from AC/DC, This basic outline is just a guide and there are countless other guitar's that would fit the jobs as well and not to mention that most guitars can now be customized with different pick-ups, etc to sound exactly how you want them to anyway no matter the shape so keep this in mind when choosing an electric guitar.

The best Pick-ups come from Dimarzio in the author’s opinion and cover every sound budding electric guitarist could want or use, so keeping this in mind maybe you already have a guitar that can be your masterpiece. Remember even the greats started with something and making music shouldn't only be for the wealthy so have a good listen to some budget guitars and you might score yourself a bargain when choosing your next electric guitar.