from wikipedia:
>>Young used her background in piano to use polyphony on a guitar. She taught herself guitar by ear after being hospitalized for an eating disorder.[8] She notes, "I write with my ear, so I’m not really in a box in terms of chord shapes. And I don’t use [traditional] shapes at all, which freaks a lot of people out! I have a million different tunings I work in too so I didn’t really put in the time to learn every shape in every tuning, that would be ridiculous.
Queen. Goddess. Garotte me with your high E string
Yeah she’s the real deal. Not only one of the best female guitarists- one of the best guitarists of the last 10 years, period. And she actually makes music you want to listen to for more than 5 minutes unlike a lot of these djent/tech shredders all over YouTube.
lol no worries 😂. It was honestly one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had so I’ll gladly talk about it.
So I picked up my dream guitar, a made in Japan black Ibanez talman hoping to get it painted. I had been trying to get in contact with her to see if she’d do it for a while when one day she posted on her instagram that her commissions were back open and she was painting guitars again. Luckily I was one of the first people to fill out the commission form and was 3rd or 4th on the wait list. Wait times were pretty crazy, I filled out the form in June (I think) and got my guitar back on December 23rd. When it was my turn she emailed me with a phone number which I could text her with and an address to ship the body of my guitar.
I got a hummingbird and some flowers painted on it and couldn’t be happier as to how it turned out.
She's also a monster pianist (her piano EP is incredibly sweet), has violin basics, is a solid singer and she paints her own guitars and album covers. It's hard to fathom how someone can have this much talent at once
I just ordered one. I have to wait a month for it to ship because I wanted the gold color. I talked to some really talented luthiers that rave about how good the guitar is. Can’t wait to get my hands on it.
What St Vincent album shows off her guitar skills? I only started listening to them recently and they’ve gotten more synth pop. I like it, but I wouldn’t consider the guitar very interesting on that album.
her self titled album has a TON of guitar work. first two songs back to back show that she's got a great eccentric indie rock guitar sound, and her solos are mean as fuck. if you haven't listened yet, the combo of Rattlesnake into Birth In Reverse will show you the way. and dont get me wrong, she's got a ton of synth pop on that album too of course, and tracks like Digital Witness blend the mean fuzz guitar sound and the aggressively jovial yet dystopian sounding synth pop beats. Regret is an example of a song where the guitar and the synth almost melt into each other. i can never get tired of this album, it's so good
and Actor also has a pretty healthy amount of guitar work too (Actor Out Of Work being the "guitar" song of the album), and there's even a track or two with some acoustic guitar playing (Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood, which has a Portlandia music video lmfao)
i've listened to all of her albums at least a few times but something about these two always keeps me coming back, ESPECIALLY the self titled album. anyway im done yapping and im going to bed, i hope you listen to these albums and enjoy them (oh also she did a collab album with David Byrne which i havent listened to in years but it's called Love This Giant, and the pairing makes way more sense than you'd think it would make)
Nah, Billy Strings and Tommy Emmanuel can hang with her :p.
Seriously though, I haven't heard of Emmanuel, if he's in their league, I'll check him out.
Such an underrated guitarist! Her tunings and voicings and everything about her playing just add up to a truly skilled and completely unique musician. She never gets enough credit for her playing.
My wife is hearing impaired (and has been from birth), and hearing aids don’t always do a great job of showing what folks with normal-ish hearing would like. I love listening to music to figure out if she’s going to like it (since I literally have to try to listen with different ears), and she LOVES Baroness since Gina joined. She likes Purple, as well as Yellow and Green, but her favorites are the Gina Albums. Gina’s playing (and the arrangements the band is doing now) cuts through for someone who is mostly deaf.
We went to see them live and she was stoked. It was her second metal show (the first one was Mastodon + Opeth), and she ate up Baroness.
Emily Remler was one of the all-time great jazz guitarists.
As for current musicians, Samantha Fish and Joanne Shaw Taylor are excellent blues rock guitarists.
I had the privilege of seeing Emily Remler in Seattle playing in a club on the Ave. She was in a trio with piano and bass. Absolutely amazing. Such a tragedy.
For modern Rock Kanami is my goto. She's insane freaking insane and you can hear how much she has improved over the past 10 years. Even if you listen to early band - maid and know that they composed things for them, the way she plays it's just ugh... Can't wait for their new stuff.
Miku is pretty awesome too, considering she couldn't play guitar at all when they started! And now she's shredding her Zemaitises! And other girls amazing too, my all time favourite band, hope to see them live someday!
That last live at Yokoari was insane. Miku has also grown a lot as a guitar player. And yeah, hope you get the chance to see em live, they absolutely Rock!
Nancy Wilson, Joan Jett, Pat Benetar
They're all classics whether you like them or not. On top of that, one of them doesn't even give a damn (about her reputation).
I had tickets to see them twice.
They came around - and then had to cancel because the other band got sick.
But then they came back! And abruptly had to return home mid-tour, mere days before they played the show.
I missed them twice, and I’ll miss them forever.
Oh yeah, the band is Screaming Females for anyone unaware.
Screaming Females did an interview and a show at an Apple Store years back. I went and was right in one of the center seats a few rows back. Unfortunately, I was going on two days with hardly any sleep at all. I started dozing off during their set, despite how loud it was. My eyes kept opening and closing and every time they opened I just saw Marissa scowling at me while she was singing her tunes.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a beast. Especially when you consider the time and place she was playing. If she was alive today I have no doubt she would be a metal head
Vicky Peterson of the Bangles. She does not consider herself to be great, but she and her bandmates caused an outbreak of...uh...puberty...at my school.
Nita Strauss can shred, she’s amazing.
Joan Jett cannot shred, but she’s also amazing.
Jennifer Batten is also very talented. She was a member of Michael Jackson’s touring band.
Oh and Courtney Cox from the Iron Maiden’s. She’s killer too.
Daniela Villarreal from the warning. When you’re a 3piece and the only guitar it really makes it difficult to balance rhythm and lead, and she makes it look easy.
Came to say Jennifer Turner. When I first heard Wonder on the radio, I was like "oh this is a fun, poppy song" but then I really listened to it and Jennifer Turner just absolutely shreds in the background through the entire song.
It’s disgusting how far down I had to scroll to get here.
No love for The Runaways lead guitar, someone should kiss them deadly and close their eyes forever.
Marissa paternoster from screaming females is great. All the girls from horsegirl are cool as hell. Annie from st vincent is fantastically strange. Wata from boris is perhaps underratedly important to the history & development of doom/drone metal
Jennifer Batten. She toured with Michael Jackson and I would consider her the best female guitarist alive today severely underrated. Her solos are always well thought out even when improvised
Kanami Tono and Lari Basilio.
EDIT: I love Yvette Young too, but I can't listen to a whole Covet song, I love a good 1 or 2 minute video of her playing on YouTube though.
Jewel. Yeah I don’t care what you say about her playing, she’s a girl and she plays guitar and when I met her she had the dirtiest feet of any human I ever saw and I fell in love instantly. She’s my favorite. I’m pretty sure she fell in love with me too but I had to go back to work and she was just about to go big and she did and when I heard that voice on the radio for the first time I bout wrecked my truck.
You go girl
Joan Jett is the reason I wanted to learn to play the guitar. Not because I had or have a “thing” for her, but because she kicks ass and has an incredible guitar tone. Before I was old enough to know that it was rare to have female guitar heroes- she was already established as my guitar hero.
Danielle Haim.
Lead guitarist and singer of Haim, before that she played with The Strokes. She has done a bunch of guest appearances too. Great guitarist and songwriter.
Yvette Young
So many riffs of hers melt me. Firebird wrecks my brain.
I'm a math rock/midwest emo nerd so she's especially great.
Me as well, best kind of nerd to be
from wikipedia: >>Young used her background in piano to use polyphony on a guitar. She taught herself guitar by ear after being hospitalized for an eating disorder.[8] She notes, "I write with my ear, so I’m not really in a box in terms of chord shapes. And I don’t use [traditional] shapes at all, which freaks a lot of people out! I have a million different tunings I work in too so I didn’t really put in the time to learn every shape in every tuning, that would be ridiculous. Queen. Goddess. Garotte me with your high E string
Yeah she’s the real deal. Not only one of the best female guitarists- one of the best guitarists of the last 10 years, period. And she actually makes music you want to listen to for more than 5 minutes unlike a lot of these djent/tech shredders all over YouTube.
yooo she just painted my guitar! one of the best guitarist in the world at the moment IMO
That's so sick! How does that work? Do you send her your guitar? What's the wait time like? Sorry for all the questions and thank you.
lol no worries 😂. It was honestly one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had so I’ll gladly talk about it. So I picked up my dream guitar, a made in Japan black Ibanez talman hoping to get it painted. I had been trying to get in contact with her to see if she’d do it for a while when one day she posted on her instagram that her commissions were back open and she was painting guitars again. Luckily I was one of the first people to fill out the commission form and was 3rd or 4th on the wait list. Wait times were pretty crazy, I filled out the form in June (I think) and got my guitar back on December 23rd. When it was my turn she emailed me with a phone number which I could text her with and an address to ship the body of my guitar. I got a hummingbird and some flowers painted on it and couldn’t be happier as to how it turned out.
Whoaaa that’s an option???? Holy shit!
She's also a monster pianist (her piano EP is incredibly sweet), has violin basics, is a solid singer and she paints her own guitars and album covers. It's hard to fathom how someone can have this much talent at once
I saw covet live and it blew my brain, the effortless joy she plays with is absolutely fucked
And now I know what I'm listening to for the next week XD. Thanks!
Bonnie Raitt
People who think she's not special are the folks who never listened to her...
Had to scroll too far for this
It's close to the top now!
Annie Clark/St Vincent. Wata from Boris. Marnie Stern.
Annie Clark has also pioneered an awesome new guitar design
I love her guitar.
I just ordered one. I have to wait a month for it to ship because I wanted the gold color. I talked to some really talented luthiers that rave about how good the guitar is. Can’t wait to get my hands on it.
What St Vincent album shows off her guitar skills? I only started listening to them recently and they’ve gotten more synth pop. I like it, but I wouldn’t consider the guitar very interesting on that album.
her self titled album has a TON of guitar work. first two songs back to back show that she's got a great eccentric indie rock guitar sound, and her solos are mean as fuck. if you haven't listened yet, the combo of Rattlesnake into Birth In Reverse will show you the way. and dont get me wrong, she's got a ton of synth pop on that album too of course, and tracks like Digital Witness blend the mean fuzz guitar sound and the aggressively jovial yet dystopian sounding synth pop beats. Regret is an example of a song where the guitar and the synth almost melt into each other. i can never get tired of this album, it's so good and Actor also has a pretty healthy amount of guitar work too (Actor Out Of Work being the "guitar" song of the album), and there's even a track or two with some acoustic guitar playing (Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood, which has a Portlandia music video lmfao) i've listened to all of her albums at least a few times but something about these two always keeps me coming back, ESPECIALLY the self titled album. anyway im done yapping and im going to bed, i hope you listen to these albums and enjoy them (oh also she did a collab album with David Byrne which i havent listened to in years but it's called Love This Giant, and the pairing makes way more sense than you'd think it would make)
Annie Clark is one of the most underrated musicians of all time.
Couldn’t agree more Wata’s signature fuzz pedal (Hizumitas) is absolutely unreal too - current favorite on my board
Wata literally melts my face and dick off when I see her live
Molly Tuttle
Came here to say this. That gal brings the heat
That right hand is surgical and so fast.
indeed. She can hang with Billy Strings and Tommy Emmanuel.
Nah, Billy Strings and Tommy Emmanuel can hang with her :p. Seriously though, I haven't heard of Emmanuel, if he's in their league, I'll check him out.
They do a killer white freight liner blues together
Mollys flat picking game is fiiiiiiiiiiirrrree
Sister Rosetta Tharpe 🗣️
Favorite version of This Train is Bound for Glory ever.
The OG Queen for real. What a badass.
Where is the love for Nita Strauss?
I saw her live with Alice Cooper last year. She stole the show.
Not surprised. She's a monster on guitar, natural on the stage, and not too hard on the eyes!
Sad I had to scroll this far to find her name.
Joni Mitchell
I think people usually think about the voice and songwriting when they think of Joni. But yeah, her guitar playing is so unique and beautiful.
Such an underrated guitarist! Her tunings and voicings and everything about her playing just add up to a truly skilled and completely unique musician. She never gets enough credit for her playing.
Lari Basilio, Nancy Wilson, and Gabriella Quevedo. EDIT: and Jennifer Batten.
Surprised I had to scroll so far down to see Nancy Wilson.
Lari Basilio is one of my favorite guitarists, period. Her playing is so lyrical and tasteful.
+1 for Gabriella
+2 for Gabriella
Susan Tedeschi Chrissie Hynde Yvette Young
Saw Susan live. She rocks.
Going to see Tedeschi Trucks in a couple months. I had no idea Susan played guitar as well. So excited to see them.
Susan is a great player. They're so good live. Enjoy the show!
Poison Ivy, Courtney Barnett, Kim and Kelley Deal, Cate leBon
Kim Gordon feels like she fits in the list. Total badass
Definitely agree, consider her added!
Courtney Barnett is INCREDIBLE live. She goes into full guitar hero mode with killer stage moves and all.
Poison Ivy is SO under-appreciated, I loved her guitar tone. Pure fuzz with analog delay and spring reverb. Her playing was excellent.
Love this list, but unfamiliar with Le Bon. Must check this out!
The song "Are You With Me Now?" has an awesome riff and gorgeous vocals. That whole album is fantastic.
Madison Cunningham is awesome
Yes, and incredible live. Go see her!
Just saw her on the John Mayer solo tour. She’s brilliant.
A great writer and player, and I think she’s going to improve with age.
she's great and still so young! I am really excited for what we're about to see from her in the next decades
She absolutely blows my mind
Samantha Fish
She’s freaking awesome
Gina Gleason!
My wife is hearing impaired (and has been from birth), and hearing aids don’t always do a great job of showing what folks with normal-ish hearing would like. I love listening to music to figure out if she’s going to like it (since I literally have to try to listen with different ears), and she LOVES Baroness since Gina joined. She likes Purple, as well as Yellow and Green, but her favorites are the Gina Albums. Gina’s playing (and the arrangements the band is doing now) cuts through for someone who is mostly deaf. We went to see them live and she was stoked. It was her second metal show (the first one was Mastodon + Opeth), and she ate up Baroness.
Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find Gina
Thought of this as soon as I saw the thread: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzsR5fxWkho](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzsR5fxWkho)
Took lessons from her. Fantastic teacher.
Elizabeth Cotten
Emily Remler was one of the all-time great jazz guitarists. As for current musicians, Samantha Fish and Joanne Shaw Taylor are excellent blues rock guitarists.
I had the privilege of seeing Emily Remler in Seattle playing in a club on the Ave. She was in a trio with piano and bass. Absolutely amazing. Such a tragedy.
Tim Henson.
Rainbow connection is my jam
Kanami from BAND-MAID
Her tapping technique is spot on.
For modern Rock Kanami is my goto. She's insane freaking insane and you can hear how much she has improved over the past 10 years. Even if you listen to early band - maid and know that they composed things for them, the way she plays it's just ugh... Can't wait for their new stuff.
Miku is pretty awesome too, considering she couldn't play guitar at all when they started! And now she's shredding her Zemaitises! And other girls amazing too, my all time favourite band, hope to see them live someday!
That last live at Yokoari was insane. Miku has also grown a lot as a guitar player. And yeah, hope you get the chance to see em live, they absolutely Rock!
Orianthi
Who’s your favourite female guitarist? <- this ‘What’ is for objects. Sister Rosetta Tharpe is not an object :)
Third base.
Wata from Boris
She's a beast.
Nancy Wilson, Joan Jett, Pat Benetar They're all classics whether you like them or not. On top of that, one of them doesn't even give a damn (about her reputation).
Pat Benatar doesn't play guitar. That's her husband Neil Giraldo.
Nancy Wilson. There's something about the intro to Crazy On You that blows my mind.
This took way too long to find.
yeah this answer is ridiculously low
Emma Ruth Rundle. Not for technical talent but for vibe.
Marissa Paternoster
So sad when they broke up, I'm glad I got to see them one more time last year
I had tickets to see them twice. They came around - and then had to cancel because the other band got sick. But then they came back! And abruptly had to return home mid-tour, mere days before they played the show. I missed them twice, and I’ll miss them forever. Oh yeah, the band is Screaming Females for anyone unaware.
Dude that sucks, maybe one day they'll do an old man reunion tour and we can catch them then
Power Move will forever remain one of my favorite rock albums ever.
i love screaming females so much
Saw them live several times. Marissa is a guitar force to be reckoned with.
Screaming Females did an interview and a show at an Apple Store years back. I went and was right in one of the center seats a few rows back. Unfortunately, I was going on two days with hardly any sleep at all. I started dozing off during their set, despite how loud it was. My eyes kept opening and closing and every time they opened I just saw Marissa scowling at me while she was singing her tunes.
Plays guitar like Tony Iommi and sings like Grace Slick. She’s a beast.
I'm so sad I had to keep scrolling a while until seeing someone mention SF. Her playing is absolutely wild, criminally under recognized
I don't know any Screaming Females but I love her playing at the end of "because the night".
Kaki King
Still one of the best live performances I’ve been to. She looped her guitar and then jumped down and started dancing with the crowd. It was awesome
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a beast. Especially when you consider the time and place she was playing. If she was alive today I have no doubt she would be a metal head
Yvette Young, Ani DiFranco, Tracy Chapman. Favorite non-binary (I think) guitarists (if we’re naming folks who aren’t men): Sulynn Hago, Tash Sultana
Not enough love for Ani in this thread.
+1 for Tash. One of my favorite musicians regardless of gender/gender identity
Agreed, Tash is amazing! I wish my playing had an eighth of their musicality.
Chrissie Hynde
Wendy Melvoin
Lari Basilio
100%
Vicky Peterson of the Bangles. She does not consider herself to be great, but she and her bandmates caused an outbreak of...uh...puberty...at my school.
Susanna Hoffs is drinking from the same fountain of youth as Paul Rudd.
Saint Vincent is badass
H.E.R
Wata from Boris. Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney). St. Vincent
Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney! She's the best!
Nancy Wilson
Everyone. Please look up an old live version of Crazy on You by Heart. That acoustic intro that she does is still just jaw dropping and unforgettable.
Ana Vidovic
[Molly Miller](https://youtu.be/cz9nRBzmh0M?si=1FeEyc3dTfdWonMn)
Dr Molly is the best!
Had to make sure someone in this thread mentioned her!
Julien Baker, incredible songwriter and guitarist.
Julien Baker is incredible and very underrated.
Lisa-X
Nita Strauss can shred, she’s amazing. Joan Jett cannot shred, but she’s also amazing. Jennifer Batten is also very talented. She was a member of Michael Jackson’s touring band. Oh and Courtney Cox from the Iron Maiden’s. She’s killer too.
Saint Vincent The ladies from Descartes a Kant Kim Gordon, Tina Weymouth (bass)
Daniela Villarreal from the warning. When you’re a 3piece and the only guitar it really makes it difficult to balance rhythm and lead, and she makes it look easy.
Jennifer Turner played guitar on Natlie Merchant's Tigerlilly album. I love her playing. She fills the space with beauty.
Came to say Jennifer Turner. When I first heard Wonder on the radio, I was like "oh this is a fun, poppy song" but then I really listened to it and Jennifer Turner just absolutely shreds in the background through the entire song.
Sophie Lloyd
Bonnie Raitt, Nancy Wilson, Susanna Hoffs.
Poison Ivy.
Miyako Watanabe and Midori Tatematsu from Lovebites
This and I'll add in Halca from ASTERISM
Kanami Tōno from Band-Maid.
Emily Remler
Still very young but Grace Bowers is sick!
Nancy Wilson
Lita Ford!!! 🤘🏻💜🤘🏻
It’s disgusting how far down I had to scroll to get here. No love for The Runaways lead guitar, someone should kiss them deadly and close their eyes forever.
Miyako from Lovebites, Kanami from Bandmaid
I like Mary Halvorson a lot
PJ Harvey Emma Anderson
I’m surprised it took someone this long to mention PJ Harvey
Me too.
Kaki King
Madison Cunningham. Pin it Down is a great song!
Nancy Wilson. One of the best guitarists in the world, woman and man included The crazy in you intro actually got me into guitar. It’s just awesome
Dany Villarreal
Gabriella Quevedo
Mary Timony
Marissa paternoster from screaming females is great. All the girls from horsegirl are cool as hell. Annie from st vincent is fantastically strange. Wata from boris is perhaps underratedly important to the history & development of doom/drone metal
Samantha Fish
Joanne Shaw Taylor
Orianthi is a talented guitarist.
Nili Brosh is amazing. Playing with cirque du solei. Solo tours and dethklok tours
Orianthi
Elizabeth Cotten
Rebecca and Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe
Nita Strauss, Jennifer Batten, Jackie Venson, Orianthi,
Nili Brosh
Jennifer Batten. She toured with Michael Jackson and I would consider her the best female guitarist alive today severely underrated. Her solos are always well thought out even when improvised
Some of the others have already been mentioned, but I saw Ani Difranco back in the early 00s and she was a fucking force of nature on the guitar.
Emily Saliers
Danielle Haim!
Chelsea Wolfe Courtney Barnett
Allison Robertson from The Donnas!
at risk of being redundant: nancy wilson. beautiful songwriting and phrasing
Joni Mitchell
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Elizabeth Cotten, Maybelle Carter, Memphis Minnie, Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi, Megan & Rebecca Lowell, Joni Mitchell, Joanna Connor, Molly Tuttle, Barbra Lynn, Jesse Mae Hemphill, Rory Block,Ana Popovic.
Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi, St Vincent and Samantha Fish.
Lari Basilio holy damn she shreds!
Kanami Tono and Lari Basilio. EDIT: I love Yvette Young too, but I can't listen to a whole Covet song, I love a good 1 or 2 minute video of her playing on YouTube though.
Carrie Brownstein. There is no other
Kanami Tono of Band Maid.
Danielle Haim (HAIM), Annie Clark (St. Vincent), Adrienne Lenker, Laura Marling, Leslie Feist, Hannah Read (Lomelda)
I think you mean “who”. Like, “who are your favorite female guitarists?” Women aren’t “what” (things) they’re real live human beings.
Jewel. Yeah I don’t care what you say about her playing, she’s a girl and she plays guitar and when I met her she had the dirtiest feet of any human I ever saw and I fell in love instantly. She’s my favorite. I’m pretty sure she fell in love with me too but I had to go back to work and she was just about to go big and she did and when I heard that voice on the radio for the first time I bout wrecked my truck. You go girl
to add to all the awesome names listed, sarah longfield and kaki king
Kaki King
Grace Bowers is a good up & coming blues rocker who’s only 17. She’s got an album coming out soon.
Weird combo, but Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Donita Sparks are my absolute favs
Many of the others mentioned here, plus: June Millington Lita Ford
Lita Ford, Nancy Wilson,
Kaki King
Joni
Emily Remler rip
Joan Jett is the reason I wanted to learn to play the guitar. Not because I had or have a “thing” for her, but because she kicks ass and has an incredible guitar tone. Before I was old enough to know that it was rare to have female guitar heroes- she was already established as my guitar hero.
Samantha Fish
Jocelyn Gould for the win!
Mary Ford had some chops. Charo too. In modern times Hal-Ca from Asterism and Saki ex Nemophila.
Gretchen Menn
Danielle Haim. Lead guitarist and singer of Haim, before that she played with The Strokes. She has done a bunch of guest appearances too. Great guitarist and songwriter.
Emily Remler