John McGeoch, one of the most innovative rock guitarists of the past 30 years, has died in his sleep aged 48. The Scotsman - once described by the Smiths' drummer Mike Joyce as "one of the true good guys" - unleashed his unmistakable, dextrous guitar sounds within some of the most revered bands of the post-punk era.

He was in Howard Devoto's massively influential Magazine; he spent an enormously productive three years in Siouxsie and the Banshees before going on to join ex-Sex Pistol John Lydon in PIL.

While McGeoch's back catalogue is matched by few British guitarists of his generation, his influence continues to reverberate. A host of young bands - from The Strokes to The Rapture - owes something to the myriad of sounds McGeoch pioneered.

Equally, he has been credited as an inspiration by U2 and most of the world's biggest rock bands. The Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante recently said that he taught himself to play "learning all John McGeoch's stuff in Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees".

McGeoch was born in Greenock, Strathclyde, but moved in his teens to Manchester, where he immersed himself into the fledgling punk scene. In April 1977, an advert led to a meeting with Devoto, who had just left Buzzocks and was looking to explore new forms of music beyond three-chord punk.

McGeoch proved the perfect foil. The young guitarist's memorable riff - a sound like an elastic band building to snap - fuelled the band's classic debut single, Shot By Both Sides, an outsider anthem which reached Number 41 in January 1978 and ushered in the post-punk era.

McGeoch featured on the band's first three classic albums, Real Life (1978), Secondhand Daylight (1979) and The Correct Use Of Soap (1980), developing his trade mark of getting guitars to make unusual but powerful sounds. However, he quit the band in 1980, disappointed by the lack of commercial success to match critical acclaim.

McGeoch had already guested with bands such as the Skids and Generation X, but now began moonlighting with Magazine colleagues, the bass player Barry Adamson and the keyboard player Dave Formula in clubland guru Steve Strange's synthesiser band, Visage, formed with members of Ultravox.

Although McGeoch saw the band as a joke, smash hits such as Fade To Grey signposted the era of Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. His next projects would prove equally creatively and commercially rewarding.

After being asked to join the Banshees, McGeoch featured on, arguably, their most enduring albums, Kaleidoscope (1980), JuJu (1981) and A Kiss In The Dreamhouse (1982). The hit singles of the period - particularly 1980s Happy House and Israel - featured some of McGeoch's most spellbinding work, hypnotic circular rhythms conjured from icy guitar notes and echo. However, eventually the stresses of touring and drinking led to a nervous breakdown, and McGeoch found himself in hospital and out of the band.

An unsuccessful tie-in with Skids' Richard Jobson (1984-86) in The Armoury Show was followed by another largely glorious spell with Lydon's PIL, a band he admired greatly - largely because of Lydon's lyrics - and was reputed to have been first asked to join in 1984.

Eventually clambering onboard in 1986, he transformed PIL from a left-field, experimental outfit into a provocative, marauding rock band. McGeoch moved to Los Angeles and went on to become PIL's longest-serving member bar Lydon, staying until the band dissipated in 1992.

After his return to England, work on more dance-oriented material with Heaven 17's Glenn Gregory and a projected band, Pacific, with Spandau Ballet's John Keeble, came to nothing.

For the first time, the pioneer found himself stranded in another era. He qualified as a nurse in 1995, but had lately been writing music for television as subsequent generations of guitarists hailed him. Siouxsie Sioux once described McGeoch as "my favourite guitarist of all time". He is survived by his partner Sophie and daughter Emily.

· John McGeoch, guitarist, born May 28 1955; died March 4 2004