Where are the Female Guitar Legends?

[Yog Sothoth]

Well, I was going to tell Eggo why he's wrong, but I see that the rest of you beat me to it. And I also see why he's on probation...

The classical guitar pieces he posted, while very pretty, are not examples of legends. I do think however, that those two women have every right to be recognized as legends due to their skill, but alas they're not...

As far as classical guitar versus rock goes, I like both, but something about the primal nature of classic rock really appeals to me. It's wild and cathartic, unlike the ordered and regimented classical works... but in some ways you could say that the classical stuff is just as legendary as the greats like Hendrix, since it's endured for so many generations...

But I have no tolerance for musical snobbery... saying that one genre is better than another is ignorant and narrow-minded... Angus Young of AC/DC said something to the effect that the coolest riffs are in many cases very easy to play, but writing them is exceedingly difficult and few people give credit for that...

Lastly, I wanted to posit that perhaps men seek out power, fortune and fame more readily than women do, and this may have something to do with the absence of female shredders as well...

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Where are the male vocalist legends? It's been said earlier, but the majority of females in rock bands get relegated to singing, even if they are the focus of the band. Ann Wilson of Heart, Lita Ford, Pat Benatar, Debbie Harry of Blondie...all are a major part of their bands, if not the major part, but all are vocalists.

 

[ThaBenMan]

Judy Nails, Pandora, and Casey Lynch

 

[Yog Sothoth]

Judy Nails, Pandora, and Casey Lynch

haha, if only....

 

[jim_doki]

Where are the male vocalist legends? It's been said earlier, but the majority of females in rock bands get relegated to singing, even if they are the focus of the band. Ann Wilson of Heart, Lita Ford, Pat Benatar, Debbie Harry of Blondie...all are a major part of their bands, if not the major part, but all are vocalists.

Freddie Mercury...

moving on, There is no reason there can't be any guitar legends that are female. Hell I've seen a lot of women outshred me.

 

[Yog Sothoth]

Where are the male vocalist legends? It's been said earlier, but the majority of females in rock bands get relegated to singing, even if they are the focus of the band. Ann Wilson of Heart, Lita Ford, Pat Benatar, Debbie Harry of Blondie...all are a major part of their bands, if not the major part, but all are vocalists.

Freddie Mercury...

and Robert Plant...

 

[TheDeadman]

There aren't many female guitar legends because there aren't many female guitarists. Don't ask me why, I guess girls just don't want to play the guitar.

Well this is not true.I bet that there as many female guitar players as male.
The difference may be that the female bands aren't that famous.

Back in the old days (80's), there were a lot of female punk bands.


@ topic:
Are we talking about realy super duper guitar gods? Or just girls, which can play guitar very well?
If you go on Youtube or Myspace you'll find a lot of girls, which can play guitar. There just not playing in bands

blablabla...

 

[Yog Sothoth]

There aren't many female guitar legends because there aren't many female guitarists. Don't ask me why, I guess girls just don't want to play the guitar.

Well this is not true.I bet that there as many female guitar players as male.
The difference may be that the female bands aren't that famous.

Back in the old days (80's), there were a lot of female punk bands.


@ topic:
Are we talking about realy super duper guitar gods? Or just girls, which can play guitar very well?
If you go on Youtube or Myspace you'll find a lot of girls, which can play guitar. There just not playing in bands

blablabla...

What I was asking is why there aren't any women who's names come up when you start talking about people like Hendrix and Clapton.... so yeah, I'm asking about real rock legends, not YouTube celebrities...

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Technically difficult riffs is a narrow way to view musicianship. It's music not cup stacking or the Olympics.

it is tho, being a mediocre player who can't do much of anything won't get you called great, it means you have some good technical skill. the simpsons episode comes to mind with the female nba "oh we're not as flashy as the guys but we have good fundamentals"

Nonethless, I think you are misunderstanding me... look at how long the feminist movement has been around and how long rock has been around. It becomes very obvious as why there a few legendary (aka.. well known, top selling, difficult to emulate) female guitarists. When taking all of music into account "legendary rock" is a narrow focus.

ok let's see rock music, almost 60 years, feminist movement over 100 years, yes i can see how there would be few of them, considering feminism has been around longer than rock music has been

And I was not implying that hard rock guitar playing was chauvanistic (i think you misunderstood me there).. the lifestyle was. Why would a 15 year old girl be drawn to a groupie lifestyle and be incentized towards excelling at guitar?

As for the technical merit of rock music... many top tier guitarists refer to spanish guitar and folk music in order to expand their technique and style, so the selection of rock from the 60's and 70's is arbitrary.

This is straying off topic though since the OP wasn't wondering WHY there were so few female guitarists just asking if we knew of any.

as for the rock lifestyle and women i think it's more of an issue of ppl saying "oh this is what women want and this is how they should act" and not actually ASKING them what they want. this is even after the "liberated" female movement. it's not so they have to go do something it's so they have the CHOICE to do it

Well, I was going to tell Eggo why he's wrong, but I see that the rest of you beat me to it. And I also see why he's on probation...

come now no can prove him wrong he's always right /sarcasm

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

Technically difficult riffs is a narrow way to view musicianship. It's music not cup stacking or the Olympics.

it is tho, being a mediocre player who can't do much of anything won't get you called great, it means you have some good technical skill. the simpsons episode comes to mind with the female nba "oh we're not as flashy as the guys but we have good fundamentals"

Maybe in your eyes but for many music critics and those who enjoy genres outside of rock the entire basis of Punk Rock music, No Wave music and the work of John Cage was to shatter those constructs... and they did so in a major way.

Sensibilities and taste can make up for a lot when one lacks skill and experience.

Comparing music to the NBA is a bad analogy as well because again, it's art not competition. It's like saying that Kandinsky was a shitty painter because he couldn't paint realistic kitty cats.

 

[kaiZie]

the donnas are cool...

 

[LiquidForce]

Aaaaahh... Every thread gets so much better with Eggo

More OT: Who knows... The theory about guitar legends doing it to get laid sounds good.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Where are the male vocalist legends? It's been said earlier, but the majority of females in rock bands get relegated to singing, even if they are the focus of the band. Ann Wilson of Heart, Lita Ford, Pat Benatar, Debbie Harry of Blondie...all are a major part of their bands, if not the major part, but all are vocalists.

Freddie Mercury...

and Robert Plant...

True. I wasn't saying there weren't any male vocalist legends, or at least I wasn't trying to. I was just saying that the female ones outnumber the males. Except in metal.

 

[Jumpman]

who knows. there are some pretty sweet female rock vocalists from the seventies and eighties, but I cant really think of any well known guitarists. This is not to say by any means that girls are incapable of rock, though I do feel like stabbing my eyes out when Brittany Spears or Hanna Montana refer to what they do as rock & roll. god save us.

 

[Jumpman]

Oh yeah, Heart is awesome. In my opinion Magic Man can stand up to anything Led Zeppelin could dish out.

 

[Dapsen]

because no female has ever left the phone and mirror long enough to gain such high skill at an instrument that requires dexterity

 

[Yog Sothoth]

because no female has ever left the phone and mirror long enough to gain such high skill at an instrument that requires dexterity

That was almost funny...

 

[Shivari]

I conquor all!

We won't lose. We'll sabotage all food not in jars and then the lot of you will be screwed. You'll starve!

God knows, they've only just noticed [http://www.brunel.ac.uk/news/pressoffice/pressreleases/press2004/cdata/september/chromosome090904] this.

No! Why did we not invest in that "Enough Jars to Foil an Attack by the Males" insurance plan?

We shall figure out how to destroy the Y chromosome first!

 

[Dapsen]

because no female has ever left the phone and mirror long enough to gain such high skill at an instrument that requires dexterity

That was almost funny...

Damn right!

 

[atv_chic_18]

Well she's not a legend but Meg from Meg and Dia is pretty talented on a guitar. She's the only woman I've seen in a band live that knew how to really play the guitar.