Great female guitarists

More, please.

*talking about, not walking, Jesus Christ—forgive the typo

Nancy Wilson?

Barbara Lynn?

Bonnie Raitt?

Nancy is another for sure, R3

Lita Ford

Nancy Fucking Wilson!

Bonnie Raitt for sure.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe?

Charo is actually a great guitar player.

R11 You are correct! Charo was a student of Segovia's. Some of her early CDs are still floating around.

Elizabeth Cotton

Don't ya'll forget little ol' me!

Guitar is a man’s instrument. Women should stick the tambourine and dance in the background.

Brandi Carlile

Charo could wipe the floor with any of these females.

The Singing Nun

Melissa Etheridge

Okay, how about great straight female guitarists?

Hmm? R20, I got nothin'.

Kat Dyson

Orianthi

Sue Foley

Susan Tedeschi , if you're into the blues

r10 gets it....r15 can fuck right off with their misogynistic bullshit

THE GODDESS THAT IS SISTER ROSETTA THARPE...

Joan Jett rocks on guitar.

So you can eat shit while you get a load of Nancy Wilson on “Barracuda.”

Always loved Michelle Meldrum's tone on Phantom Blue's Built to Perform. (RIP Michelle)

Joni Mitchell was a thing back in her day.

More Sister Rosetta Tharpe....REMEMBER PEOPLE....THIS WAS BEFORE ROCK AND ROLL WAS A THING

Our first Ford will be Lita:

Jennifer Batten was good enough for Michael Jackson's touring band

And then there’s Mary Ford:

Yeah, but can Nancy eat a bag of Doritos in 98 seconds?

Courtney Love could tear it up.

Kim Gordon is a rock goddess.

And so is Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club.

Another fan of Charo, here.

Corny gays would like Charo.

Though she’s more famous for her vocals, Janis Joplin could play guitar.

r40....your comment shows what an idiot you are....Charo is a world renowned guitarist....she more than good...shes exceptional

R42, Charo is one of the few female guitarists who could be considered almost a peer to her male counterparts. I say almost because she herself admits the size of her hands inhibits her as opposed to the larger male hands. I like many of the female guitarists listed on this thread, but whether it's sexism or not, they are not well regarded by their male peers. Charo is.

Tracy Chapman

It shouldn’t have taken you guys this long to get to Chrissie Hynde, either.

How come DL elderqueens don’t like anyone cool?

Because OP asked for shredders, not rhythm guitar players. Chrissy is fucking amazin, but not a great guitar player by any means.

Janice from the Electric Mayhem.

Carol Kaye. She is mostly a bass player -- that's still a guitar, right? -- but also played guitar as part of the LA group The Wrecking Crew. She played on much of the huge hits of the 60s and 70s, including Fifth Dimension, Glen Campbell (also a Wrecking Crew member), Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys. It is remarkable that she was able to be so lauded back then, when women guitarists were taken less seriously than they are now.

Carol Kaye

Kat Bjelland of Babes in Toyland is pretty skilled. It doesn't always show in their songs because she's the only guitar player, so she's playing a combination of rhythm and lead, but she knows her way around the fretboard—certainly leaps and bounds ahead of her peer Courtney Love (who I also adore, but she's not even 1/10th the guitar player).

Sister Rosetta is the GOAT.

Tossing in yet another vote for Orianthi. She’s only in her early-mid thirties and she’s been a force on the guitar since she was a teen. I wish her career had taken off more.

Hooking up with Richie Sambora seems to have derailed Orianthi's career. Dunno if she'll recover from it.

50 replies deep and no-one has mentioned Melanie Safka, Dot Wiggin, Wendy Melvoin, Maria McKee, Vickie Peterson, Janet Gardner (RIP), Johnette Napolitano, Cat Power, Jo Johnson, Miki Berenyi, Megan Gilbert or Corin Tucker. Where are my elder Uncles, usually such arbiters of good taste?

I don’t expect anyone here to know Meinir Gwilym, but she’s very good and seems to be gay (and I have a bit of a crush on her).

Was Norma Tanega fleet of finger?

R54 I absolutely adore Cat Power—especially her first several records—but she is by no means a "shredder." She's very much a rhythm guitarist. Same with Corin Tucker.

Also, as unbearably pretentious as she is, St. Vincent (Annie Clark) is also very skilled guitarist who deserves mention here.

Lol R20 you may have a point. Melissa Etheridge, Anna Calvi, and St Vincent—each great guitarists—are lesbians.

Suzi Quatro also rocks. She’s much more famous and important than the increasingly obscure people being mentioned.

Emily Saliers is amazing.

Sharon Isbin!

Nita Strauss!!

There’s a difference in being able to play some chords and actually shred a guitar solo across the fretboard.

If you have to tell us someone's important...

The Duchess.

Bonnie Raitt can more than hold her own with her male gee-tar peers.

And her titanic ego aside, ditto Joni M.

R37 Kim Gordon is a bassist, bruh

Shredding refers to boring, over the top heavy metal soloing. If that's what op meant, then probably almost none of the ladies mentioned

Shredding doesn't just refer to metal solos, R68—it's simply being able to play lead guitar (i.e. individual notes played fast and rhythmically). Many of the women mentioned so far do/can in fact play lead, but others mentioned cannot. It seems many people don't know the difference between rhythm guitar and lead guitar.