Him and David Gilmour. I think Gilmour is way more awesome...
Yes.
I was thinking the same thing earlier when I was posting.
Gilmour plays in the same style, though I agree, he's more technical and can depart from the pure melodic playing and do some abstract stuff too (no surprise being in PF).
You can hear them "singing" out the melodies with their playing....rather than just running through licks and repetitive patterns.
In my early years, I was way more into the melodic stuff...which is rarely "flashy". Then of course, you start to develop a desire to add some "flash" and speed, so you end up doing more licks and runs and pattern stuff. So lately I've been getting back to more of the melodic, having gotten bored with licks and runs...but I try to blend the two as much as I can.
Anyway, I get where Santana and Gilmour and those kind of players are coming from...just as I get the guys who basically just "riff through".
I'm also very fond of guys like Page, who are somewhere in the middle of all that, but add another dimension that's very raw and full of focused intent, and it works even when their playing is sloppy. Neil Young is like that too...nothing to WOW! you with...but man, he really knows how to drive it home no matter how ragged it is...and they both got some serious tone.
I'll take tone and raw playing intent over perfectly executed technical playing that comes off more as a gymnastic competition....of course, the guys who like that stuff will say that it's full of emotion, etc...but I just never hear it.
I remember an interview eons ago where he said he tried to emulate Diana Ross' singing style.
I didn't know that!
That's nice to know, because that's how I always heard his playing, like someone singing through the guitar.