(Untitled)

[proteinscollide]

The best friend asked, on our way home from Stars, if I could name any kickass girl guitarists. And I drew a blank, which can't be right.

Can anyone help us out by brainstorming with us?

I think she was talking about shredders, but if guys can name whoever you can think of, please, I'll go looking for the music to make a mixtape for her. :)

Comments

[sinsense]

Rock:
Check out L7 and Sleater-Kinney, maybe. Electrelane, particularly their guitarist Mia Clarke-- I don't know if their recorded stuff will be that wow-worthy, but HOLY FUCK can Clarke shred live. Joan Jett, obvs.

Folk/blues:
Bonnie Raitt should be included in those ranks. I think Ani DiFranco deserves to be in there, though she mostly does acoustic and doesn't shred as such. (Same for the Indigo Girls.) Muriel Anderson is amazing, as is Susan Tedeschi. Deborah Coleman is a solid blues guitarist. I really like Girlyman, who have two female guitarists/banjoists.

I'm thinking off-hand, so these might be better or worse examples, depending. I hope other people are more help!

[proteinscollide]

I have heard very few of these artists - I really should make more of an effort find new music. Thank you for these! :) They look like great examples.

[i_naiad]

Seconding L7, adding the Pixies & Breeders, Veruca Salt, Sahara Hotnights & the Donnas (though am not sure of the guitar prowess as such). Also PJ Harvey.

Does Patience from the Grates play guitar? Janet from Jebediah kicks arse at the bass.

In the country/folk realm there are more I think - Indigo Girls, the Waifs, and Mia Dyson (though she is awesome in general, genre aside).

And of course there's Gabriela of Rodrigo y Gabriela.

[proteinscollide]

Who is this L7 band? That's two recs, and I've never heard of them. Yay, new bands to explore. :)

I had The Breeders and Veruca Salt on my list, and I'm not sure about the Donnas - we mentioned them, but yeah, both of us were not too sure about their expertise.

We could think of heaps of female bassists, actually. It was guitarists, or women who were venerated for being great guitarists, that we couldn't bring to mind straight away. I will check out your recs, thank you! :)

[i_naiad]

I was wrong about Patience; she still rocks though.

L7 are awesome. You really should check them out and in addition to Andre you should try and get Pretend that We're Dead.

I forgot to mention that Mia Dyson is the daughter of a well known guitar maker, so her credentials are great. Watching her pull a crowd of hardened blues snobs at Bluesfest several years ago was awesome.

[proteinscollide]

Thank you for your commitment to sparkle motion! (okay, to great girl guitarist, but the sentiment still stands). I will definitely check all this stuff out - I've only see Mia Dyson on Spicks and Specks, heh, but she seems pretty cool.

[iridescentglow]

KAKI KING.

Sorry. Capslock moment. ;) Kaki King is pretty much amazing. She was the first woman named by Rolling Stone as a "guitar god". (Which, considering this happened TWO YEARS ago, is SUPER depressing. :/ But anyway.)

[proteinscollide]

She is on my list! \o/ But thank you for the link, I'd not seen her play.

[littlerhymes]

L7 OMG YOU NEED TO HEAR ANDRE NOW. I was never seriously into them but their song Andre will always and forever remind me of being 14 and just getting into alternative music.

This is a hard question because there simply aren't that many well-known women guitarists. I started going through my music library and this is what I came up with:

Bikini Kill
Elastica
Bilinda Butcher (My Bloody Valentine)
Kim Deal (The Pixies, The Breeders)
Kelley Deal (The Breeders)
Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth)
Brody Dalle (Distillers, Spinnerette)
Throwing Muses (Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly)
Hole (not exactly renowned for prowess, but Courtney had her moments)
Melissa Auf Der Maur (solo)
Adalita (Magic Dirt)
Charlotte Hatherley (Ash, solo)

Not shredders, but not acoustic/folk either - some notable frontwomen and/or guitarists:
Cat Power
Neko Case
Eisley
Katy Steele (Little Birdy)
Tegan & Sara

Some of these are stretches, I know. Anyway, let me know if you want any uploads.

[i_naiad]

Good God, I can't believe I forgot Kim Gordon and Elastica. *hangs head in shame*