Spotted via Truth in Shredding, it seems high profile magazines are chipping in these days to present their idea of who is the best in the world of guitar. This time it’s Elle, usually more concerned about catwalks than stadium stages, who’ve come up with their own list of the 12 greatest female electric guitar players. So here it is:
- Joan Jett
- Lita Ford
- Nancy Wilson
- Jennifer Batten
- Donita Sparks (L7)
- Kelley Deal (The Breeders … remember “Canonball”?)
- Carrie Brownstein
- Poison Ivy (The Cramps… not the Batman villain
) - Ruyter Suys
- The Great Kat
- Marnie Stern
- Orianthi (Santana’s protégée and would have played with MJ on his This Is It tour)
So I have to admit, of these 12 I only know 4 by name and add an extra 2 for those whose band I’d heard about. The rest of them are pretty obscure to me, but you know what? I can’t think of anyone else they might have left out.
To me it says there’s a serious lack of truly kick ass female shredders. You don’t need large amounts of testosterone to be a good player so I think it would be awesome if more girls made it out there on stage. Michael Jackson was quite good at giving them a chance (Jennifer Batten and Orianthi), I think there’s definitely room for improvement on the guitar scene!
