Where are all the women guitar players? And can they even play the guitar? Of course, they can play the guitar! Now the question becomes, will they play the guitar?
But first, we must start with that great, PAT BENATAR, who popularized women playing the guitar more than any woman I know!
Yes, there were other women before her back in the day, women like Joan Jett, The Bangles, The Go Go’s, and more.
And yes, The Runaways, were one of the first all-female rock groups.
But Pat Benatar had extreme success, with huge popularity not seen before. She had men play the instruments but she also held her own and played an instrument also, at least sometimes.
And that instrument was the guitar she played. And she still plays the guitar, as well as sings great, of course!
Every time a song came out by her even men were inspired to play the guitar as well as some women.
It almost felt like women would take over rock music because of her. Of course, the men of the day wouldn’t allow it but they were shaking in their boots, scared a little bit that they would.
You would think that women, by now would have taken over rock music, by now with all the women’s rights movements going on.
With all the protections women have nowadays, they would at least have a handle on rock music by now, as far as making rock bands consisting of women only.
Or at least with men in it, like Pat Benatar did.
Yes, there are women playing rock music today but not where it is straight up rock and roll without all the pop music added to it.
It also is not at an extreme like it was in the 80s.
The State Of The Union
This is the state of the union, so to speak, the state of where women are now, today.
So are there women playing rock music today as a band?
Yes, there are.
And I must first explain that rock music is not dead, but it is just at a number three position right now.
What I mean is Hip Hop is at the number one position. Pop music is at number two, Rock at three, and Country music is at four. [SOURCE: statists.com]
Now you can argue with me about whether it is dead or not, but that’s for another article.
So how many women are playing rock music in a band?
Now in order to have a band, you must have a guitar player, bass player, drummer, and also a keyboard player.
So now, let’s see how many women are playing rock music in a band today.
ST. VINCENT
St. Vincent is a musician, singer, and songwriter. Her band is called “The Polyphonic Spree.”
Her music is complex and has various instruments in them.
Her music falls into rock and pop music which has various influences in them.
She says David Bowie and Kate Bush inspire her as well as Jimi Hendrix and others.
The video below is St. Vincent playing “Los Ageless”
The video below is St. Vincent playing the live version of “Los Ageless”
This live video below shows St. Vincent really getting down and playing “Los Ageless” one minute or so into the video. Click on it to see it!
The next video below is the acoustic version of the song, “Los Ageless”
St. Vincent really rocking out playing various, different songs on the guitar, must see! Video below:
The next video below is St. Vincent performing with Nirvana, playing the song “Lithium.”
COURTNEY BARNETT
Courtney Barnett debuted five years ago, establishing herself as a rock lyricist and singer.
FRANKIE COSMOS
Frankie Cosmo’s voice can be compared to the Cranberries. She has real drums in her music. She’s been putting her music online since she was 16. She balances her music really well, having her musicians chime in at the right time as she’s singing.
JAPANESE BREAKFAST
Japanese Breakfast is a singer and guitarist. Her husband, Peter Bradley also plays the guitar in her band, just like Pat Benatar’s husband did in Pat Benatar’s band.
Having released two studio albums so far. Michelle Zauner who goes by the name Japanese Breakfast used to be in a band called Little Big League for about four years.
She grew up listening to girl groups like Fleetwood Mac.
She says, “fake it ’til you make it.” You don’t have to let anyone know that you don’t know how to do it.
Half of it is just learning and figuring it out, and the more you do it, the more you put in the work and the better that you’ll become. It’s just a slow process.
JULIEN BAKER
Julien Baker is an up-and-coming young female guitarist, age 23. She learned to play her father’s guitar.
Her music is said to be, “a fresh take on folk music.”
To me, she has a mix of alternative rock music, with a little bit of Jewel (Kilcher) from the late 90s in her.
And let’s be honest, has a pop music sound also.
JAY SOM
Jay Som. EVERYONE THAT IS SOMEONE needs to listen to this song right here! It is filled with spectacular sounding guitar, with distorted sounds. GREAT! GREAT! Song.
Just fill the greatness of her song here:
So who plays the guitar in her songs? She does. In fact, she plays all the instruments in her band, She’s like Prince, who also played his own instruments.
Of course, when she’s on stage, she has others play the instruments.
LINDSEY JORDAN
Lindsey Jordan of her band, Snail Mail, sings and also plays guitar.
Snail Mail has been described as having a 90’s sound.
Snail Mail’s Lush was nominated for Breakthrough Artist/Release and Best Rock Album.
MERRILL GARBUS
Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards has been described as a one-of-a-kind musician and very interesting.
They have an unorthodox use of percussion instruments and vocal layering.
HAIM
Haim is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles.
It consists of three sisters, Este Haim, Danielle Haim, and Alana Haim.
They can play several instruments but all of them can play guitar and sing.
Will they bring back that great sound that the 80’s always produced to the women bands of today? Maybe the late 80’s sound they will. But of course, their own sound mixed in also seems to be the direction they are going so far.
Sure they are a pop sounding band but they have a rock flavor to them also.
NATLIE PRASS
Natlie Prass started her career as a keyboardist. Her first album was recognized as one of the Best New Albums.
She also plays guitar. Of course, she’s also currently touring and selling out tickets.
She has a soulful, sophisticated pop style of music.
I don’t think I’m the most talented musician or the best singer, but I work really, really hard, she says.
She’s blessed with a golden voice and universal appeal.
I myself think she sounds like a mixture of Janet Jackson and Maria Carey.
PHOEBE BRIDGERS
Phoebe Bridgers before she became famous, often sang at flea markets across the area, which taught her to relax while performing, since no one there cared as much because it was informal.
She has a commanding voice. She has a folk rock music type. She comes out of Los Angeles, California.
Her debut album, Stranger In The Alps, has the song, Killer. Below is the acoustic version of the song Killer.
So far, I have listed more than ten women playing the guitar now.
So does that mean that very few women play guitar now?
Well before I answer that, we have to know how many men are playing the guitar.
That way, we have a number of how many are playing and get a sense of is very little playing? Or are there a lot of people playing?
So How Many Men Are Playing The Guitar? And How Many Women Are Playing The Guitar?
Don’t worry I’m not going to list all the men playing guitar in this article, there would be too many, anyway.
Because there are over 50 million people playing the guitar now, according to infogram, if we say that half of them are women, it probably is because of this great article written by the INDEPENDENT website in this article, click here to read it. That would make 25 million men play the guitar and 25 million women play the guitar.
But of course, the INDEPENDENT website says half of them are women playing the guitar but I would have to think that it’s about half and half among the genders that are playing the guitar, regardless of new guitar players and those who are not new to playing the guitar but no one has really proven it yet but that’s just my guess.
Up And Coming Girl Bands Straight Up From The Streets
VIXEN VENDETTA
THE ACES
More Girl Guitarists
Some more videos of women who can play the guitar for your entertainment and mine too.
One More Band To List
I’ll leave you with one more woman in this article who can play guitar which is Alice Merton.
Sure, Alice Merton is not playing guitar in any of these videos but she sure can play the guitar in fact, in the very first song she ever wrote, she played the guitar.
How Come Women Can Play The Guitar?
How come women can play the guitar?
Because it’s fun, interesting, and downright pleasant to hear the tones that come out of a guitar, to put it in simple terms.
Women are inspired by hearing songs that they like, which causes them to pick up the instrument.
Sometimes It’s just because they see a guitar lying around the house, which causes them to pick it up in fascination.
Or because they want recognition, meaning they want to be known and noticed.
Or any other number of reasons, but maybe Cyndi Lauper was right when she said, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!”
Girls have fun playing the guitar!
Photo credits:
Joan Jett playing guitar on stage with red pants photo courtesy of JBLM MWR from flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Pat Benatar Precious Time Album photo courtesy of Mary McCoy from flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Pat Benatar singing on stage photo courtesy of Nancy Nally: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/
Pat Benatar Album wearing sunglasses photo courtesy of Christo Drummkopf from flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Joan Jett photo courtesy of Popo.uw23 from flickr.com: public domain: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
The Bangles on the front cover of magazine photo courtesy of Jldickerson: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
The Go Go’s Album photo courtesy of Lawren from flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Cyndi Lauper Rolling Stone magazine cover photo courtesy of Lucascynnogue from Flickr.com: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
