Well, yes and no.

He and Lennon did some very nice stuff. I just wouldn't overstate it. The Beatles music (not the media phenomenon)was an amalgram of talents and efforts and would've never been the same were it not for the outside influences of what essentially was an older generation of musical literacy.
Say, for example, George Martin.
On the other hand, George Martin takes credit for the Piccolo trumpet solo that the actual player (his name is on the net, I can't remember it now) who showed up for the Penny Lane date wrote when George pointed at him and said, Play here. And Here. And here. And here. They get organizational and inspirational credit, but too many folks think they wrote every note you hear. None of them were that talented.

But there WAS ONE GUITAR PLAYER (amazingly) WHO WAS:

Frank Zappa.

If you actually care about the distinction (and I'm not for a minute thinking most do) you can check out the stuff he did HIMSELF (not hiring somebody to transcribe it from a rock record so he could could cash in) for the London Symphony Orchestra and the Ensemble Modern.

If you like 20th Century Classical, it's the real deal. Not that embarrassing crap Elton John, McCartney and Billy Joel write. The only people in the Pop arena with those kinds of writing chops narrow down to folks like Randy Newman ( know, Faust was a misstep) and Danny Elfman. MMMMMMMAYbe Sting.

Of course the really tricky part of your position is the word "today". If, by today, you mean "new":

You're absolutely correct and I'm sorry I brought it up. Dave Matthews gets an honorable mention, though.


BTW, What's the deal with Bono, anyway? U2 had about three pretty OK tunes. What's everybody so jazzed about?