Carlos Santana or Al Di Meola?

Kind of hard to compare oranges and apples. DiMeola is flat out one of the fastest guitarists around, on both electric and acoustic. Plus, with Return to Forever, and his own, and as one of the "Three Guitarists," he's written and played some tasty music. A true fusion guitarist.

Carlos Santana, on the other hand, is more like a blues-based guitar player with some latin feel -- much of which is provided by his band.

I like them both for different reasons.

Carlos , no contest....

Both great, but I think Carlos can play anything he wants, plays with both flair and grace, where Al is a great technician, amazingly fast, but lacks originality and true flair.

Speed-picking is okay. Blues-Latin-Psych-Fusion-Pop is rather better.

I voted for Al D. since I think he's been more progressive and has done more to expand the vocabulary of the idiom. 

Al Di Meola is a stellar guitarist.

Both are amazing guitarists, Al D gets my vote.

Santana no doubt, I enjoy every bit of his playing and compositions. Al might be a better technician, but most of his playing does me nothing.

I think Al D. is more progressive than Santana, because he combines a lot of styles including many instruments, but Santana has more feeling IMO and I like that!

Meola is both better AND more consistent. Blending genres doesn't work if you don't do it right.