I'd say Izzy Stradlin' was to GnR what Malcolm was to AC/DC.
Best guitarist I ever heard/saw was some Turkish dude. Apparently he grew up in a fairly remote part of Turkey where noone else played guitar.
So not only did this guy not have lessons, he had never really seen anyone play a guitar, at least not before he left his home town. So he had to learn with noone to tell him that many of the things he was doing on the guitar were physically impossible and therefore he should stop doing them right away.
Poor guy. A freakish talent, and a humble guy.
His music wasn't understanded, and he didn't sound anything like Izzy Stradlin, though.