Elle... chooses the top 12 Female Guitarists

[MA-Caver]

A while back... (long while back) there was a discussion about the greatest guitarists of all time bla bla bla... after a list of posts was done a lady popped up and said we were all being sexist and haven't named any female guitarists. So the list as added.
Now some time later this article pops up on the internet and is quite interesting. about 10 or 9 of these ladies I've NEVER heard of.
I just listened/watched Orianthi's "According To You" which is not too bad at all (far as guitar playing). Lyrically it's a good song.
http://www.elle.com/Pop-Culture/Movies-TV-Music-Books/12-Greatest-Female-Electric-Guitarists

Some of the descriptions contain links to videos which are worth watching.

 

[Sukerkin]

Well, I'd heard of about half of them and in that half about half have talent enough to be considered as better than competent - Nancy and Lita particularly.

Kat has talent without denial but all that underwear-slut malarkey undermines her terribly.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Orianthi has impressed Steve Vai and Carlos Santana.

Apparently she impressed Carlos Santana so much he said

If I was going to pass the baton to somebody, she would be my first choice - Carlos Santana

 

[Sukerkin]

Praise indeed .

 

[Omar B]

Lists are dumb, basing a list upon nothing quantifiable such as art is silly. But every year at the Guitar World office we have to put together some garbage like this. It's always, a couple who can actually play and a couple popular choices (who really can't) to please idiots.

 

[CoryKS]

Clicked the link for Poison Ivy... left satisfied.

 

[crushing]

I looked at the list and wondered why I didn't see some of my favorites, then I realized that the list was geared towards loud power chord electric guitarists.

I like this lists better, but would add Gabriela to the mix.
http://www.sheplaysmusic.com/she-plays-music-top-10-female-guitarists-of-all-time/

Music is as much math as it is art, and as math it can be quantifiable to a degree. That 'quantifiability' (is that a word?) reminds me of a recent NPR segment that discussed software that may be able to predict the next big hit. Granted, hit songs don't necessarily from the best musicians, but it does show that music can be measured and compared to what people generally find as pleasing.

 

[Omar B]

The list has Jennifer Batten, Marnie Stern (wife of jazz great Mike Stern), The Great Kat (she is such a ***** in person I can't even listen to her playing).

But along with those are Joan Jett, Nancy Wilson, Donita Sparks, people who can play a few chords but are more personalities.

What, Jennifer Batten but no Katrina Johnson, no Lori Linstruth? The list has no credibility if they don't mention Katrina, a Dean Guitars clinician and one of the top technicians out there now.

 

[Carol]

The list has Jennifer Batten, Marnie Stern (wife of jazz great Mike Stern), The Great Kat (she is such a ***** in person I can't even listen to her playing).

Ditto to that about The Great Kat. I met her around 1990 or so and it sounds like she hasn't changed...LOL.

Actually Marnie Stern is no relation to Mike Stern, that I know.

Leni Stern is the wife of Mike Stern and a decent guitarist herself, she tends to go for a more world beat/eclectic sound with her own music.

Mike and Leni are Germans, Marnie is an American.

I agree with the comments though....where the hell was Bonnie Raitt on this list?

 

[Omar B]

Your right Carol on the Stern thing. My mistake assuming it was her because she's a guitar player and has the last name Stern too.

Yeah, Kat's a trip. Bad part is she lives in NY so if you are in the music scene you can't help but bumping into her every couple of weeks. I always wonder, if she hates men so much and thinks ALL music is such garbage, why is she always at every single metal, neo-classical, jazz show that comes through town? And by the way, she's good, but not that good, her playing's buzzy as all hell, she really needs to raise her action and switch her pickup brand too.

 

[CoryKS]

The problem with guitar virtuosos is that, but for a select few, nobody wants to listen to them except other guitar players. Guitar playing skill != musical talent.

 

[Sukerkin]

I have to say that there is a lot of truth in that, Cory. The trick is to actually be a guitar virtuoso but to have learned the lesson that music is more about the spaces between than anything else.

I spent years learning to play as fast and as accurately as I could ... and now I mostly play slow Blues :lol:.

 

[crushing]

I spent years learning to play as fast and as accurately as I could ... and now I mostly play slow Blues :lol:.

I'll take soul over speed anyday. Nasty, dirty, gritty dragged through mud blues is fine by me.

It probably takes talent to play like DragonForce (a group my son likes), but like I ask my boy, "Where is the feeling?"

 

[Xue Sheng]

Nothing against any of the ladies on the list but this is just those who play electric guitar. I'm thinking there are at least a few pretty impressive Classical Guitar players out there that are women as well as multiple other types of guitar and styles of music.

 

[Omar B]

I have to say that there is a lot of truth in that, Cory. The trick is to actually be a guitar virtuoso but to have learned the lesson that music is more about the spaces between than anything else.

I spent years learning to play as fast and as accurately as I could ... and now I mostly play slow Blues :lol:.

I'm all about both speed and feeling, I'm from the Malmsteen, Vai, Moore school. There's room for both if done with taste.

As for Dragonforce, they just plain suck. Pretty much everything wrong with metal today. I was given a copy of one of their albums to review once, gave it one listen and traded it to a friend for a movie ticket (Superman Returns).

 

[MA-Caver]

I'm also not impressed with "speed-guitarists". Even as an electric it's an instrument from which beautiful and melodic sounds can come from in the hands of one who has either the talent or practised for hours/days on end or both.
Speed can be impressive but for me to a point. Some of the fastest guitarists I personally like to listen to (male or female) are slow compared to the speed-demons out there. Being able to play that instrument and make music from it is a lot better than trying to see how many notes per minute you can get.

To each their own I reckon.

 

[HG1]

Here's some smokin' guitar work by Orianthi.