talented innovative or just plain
entertaining these six stringers of the
female variety know how to get the party
rolling
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top ten
female guitarists of all time
for this list we’ve picked female
guitarists based on a mixture of
innovation talent notoriety and public
esteem I will thank you since owls by
night they don’t necessarily have to be
virtuosos or the best guitar players
ever but they’re certainly known for
possessing some skill on the instrument
number 10 Annie Clark
performing a st. vincent’s since 2006
Annie Clark has made a name for herself
as a source of unshakable and buzz
filled hooks
raised in Dallas Texas on bands like
pavement and Pink Floyd the guitarist
also draws on yes Led Zeppelin and Sonic
Youth in her plane and songwriting
a Berklee College of Music dropout Clark
was a self-styled jazzy finger picker
before joining coral rock band The
Polyphonic Spree
noted for her unique approach Clark has
said that she writes many of her songs
while trying to fall asleep
number nine Mother Maybelle Carter while
not as well known today as her
son-in-law Johnny Cash
Maybelle Carter’s contribution to the
art of guitar should not be overlooked
using a large body Gibson l5 guitar
Carter pioneered a thumb and finger
picking style known as Carter family
picking or the Carter scratch using her
thumb to pluck out face and melody lines
Carter would simultaneously strum the
treble strings with her finger this
style of playing later became the basis
for Bill Monroe’s bluegrass style and
helped establish the guitar as a lead
instrument he’s go
number eight kaki king although she
began playing guitar at age four kaki
king switched to drums at an early age
and did not return to the guitar until
she was 19
King more than made up for lost time and
has developed a unique blend of flamenco
percussion fret tapping Fanning and bass
style slaps on both conventional and
unconventional guitars known for her use
of altered tunings King is also noted
for playing her guitar koto hybrid
instrument
in this style king will insert a second
bridge saddle under the strings which
creates two sets of notes and
mind-blowing results number seven Joni
Mitchell
as a slack tuning innovator and writer
of the classics both sides now Joni
Mitchell may be fogey but don’t call her
folk the last night I heard although her
career grew out of the 60s folk scene
and she quite literally learned from the
Pete Seeger book of guitar playing
Mitchell happily went electric in the
late 70s and typically recorded with
jazz based musicians as no one else was
willing to give her the sound she wanted
with a scant handful of songs and
standard tuning Joni uses or developed
51 different guitar tunings which today
she accesses through a roland vg8 guitar
processor
number six Sister Rosetta Tharpe
if you were gonna give rock-and-roll
another name you might call it rosetta
tharpe a rocker before Rock existed dark
blended folk blues and gospel into a
sound that was a major influence on
Little Richard Elvis and Chuck Berry her
recording of strange things happening
every day was a proto rocker and reached
the second spot of what is now the
Billboard R&B charts in 1944 in 1947
Thorpe switched to electric guitars
mostly from Gibson
she is even rumored to have been buried
with her 1961 Les Paul SG custom
number five Orianthi
appearing to come out of nowhere this
Wonder from Down Under is one of the
leading names in hired hands
Orianthi was playing guitar with Carrie
Underwood when she was drafted by
Michael Jackson for what would have been
his final tour
in addition to her own revered solo
career Orianthi is played with Alice
Cooper Michael Bolton
James Durbin and Dave Stewart of the
arrhythmias
formerly a classical guitarist she
switched to lead blues based rock guitar
at age 11 after seeing Carlos Santana in
concert and as rarely looked back
number four Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Raitt’s
plans to be a folk singer fizzled out
soon after the redhead discovered slide
or bottleneck guitar
given her slide stylings rate typically
plays in open a or open G tuning and has
a preference for glass slides originally
using actual bottles to play
while rate does use acoustic guitars on
occasion she prefers electric guitars
for their increased sustain and
expressiveness long associated with her
Fender Strat brownie she has since been
honored by the company with a signature
model becoming the first female artist
to have one
number three joan jett a rock star in
her teens Joan Jett made her name by
doing just what the establishment said
she couldn’t do rock
beginning her career with the runaways
jet co-wrote the band’s signature track
cherry bombs
and eventually took over vocal duties
when singer cherry curry left the group
following the band’s breakup jet
recorded a solo album but was rejected
by 23 different labels so she started
her own
still active today with the Blackhearts
jet is a cult icon in rock and punk and
still plays her signature Gibson melody
maker guitars at crotch level
number two Nancy Wilson
although no slouch at playing electric
it was Nancy Wilson’s mission when she
joined her sister and Banhart to add
more acoustic guitars to the group
with results like the timeless and wrote
to crazy on you you could argue with her
Wilson’s role as guitarist in the group
continued to grow however her playing
really came to the forefront when
guitarist Roger Fisher left the group a
vacancy she had no trouble filling
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions
number one Lita Ford
like Joan Jett Lita Ford first rose to
fame in The Runaways
however Joan followed a more Punk
direction while Lita went down a harder
rockier path
once engaged to Black Sabbath guitarist
Tony Iommi and having recorded with
frontman Ozzy Osbourne Ford wears heavy
metal like a bat
uninterested in effects she uses a basic
rig of a bc rich warlock plugged into a
Marshall stack firing off thick crunchy
rhythm parts and tears into leads with
abandoned do you agree with our list
who’s your favorite female guitarist
for more hard-rocking top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
entertaining these six stringers of the
female variety know how to get the party
rolling
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top ten
female guitarists of all time
for this list we’ve picked female
guitarists based on a mixture of
innovation talent notoriety and public
esteem I will thank you since owls by
night they don’t necessarily have to be
virtuosos or the best guitar players
ever but they’re certainly known for
possessing some skill on the instrument
number 10 Annie Clark
performing a st. vincent’s since 2006
Annie Clark has made a name for herself
as a source of unshakable and buzz
filled hooks
raised in Dallas Texas on bands like
pavement and Pink Floyd the guitarist
also draws on yes Led Zeppelin and Sonic
Youth in her plane and songwriting
a Berklee College of Music dropout Clark
was a self-styled jazzy finger picker
before joining coral rock band The
Polyphonic Spree
noted for her unique approach Clark has
said that she writes many of her songs
while trying to fall asleep
number nine Mother Maybelle Carter while
not as well known today as her
son-in-law Johnny Cash
Maybelle Carter’s contribution to the
art of guitar should not be overlooked
using a large body Gibson l5 guitar
Carter pioneered a thumb and finger
picking style known as Carter family
picking or the Carter scratch using her
thumb to pluck out face and melody lines
Carter would simultaneously strum the
treble strings with her finger this
style of playing later became the basis
for Bill Monroe’s bluegrass style and
helped establish the guitar as a lead
instrument he’s go
number eight kaki king although she
began playing guitar at age four kaki
king switched to drums at an early age
and did not return to the guitar until
she was 19
King more than made up for lost time and
has developed a unique blend of flamenco
percussion fret tapping Fanning and bass
style slaps on both conventional and
unconventional guitars known for her use
of altered tunings King is also noted
for playing her guitar koto hybrid
instrument
in this style king will insert a second
bridge saddle under the strings which
creates two sets of notes and
mind-blowing results number seven Joni
Mitchell
as a slack tuning innovator and writer
of the classics both sides now Joni
Mitchell may be fogey but don’t call her
folk the last night I heard although her
career grew out of the 60s folk scene
and she quite literally learned from the
Pete Seeger book of guitar playing
Mitchell happily went electric in the
late 70s and typically recorded with
jazz based musicians as no one else was
willing to give her the sound she wanted
with a scant handful of songs and
standard tuning Joni uses or developed
51 different guitar tunings which today
she accesses through a roland vg8 guitar
processor
number six Sister Rosetta Tharpe
if you were gonna give rock-and-roll
another name you might call it rosetta
tharpe a rocker before Rock existed dark
blended folk blues and gospel into a
sound that was a major influence on
Little Richard Elvis and Chuck Berry her
recording of strange things happening
every day was a proto rocker and reached
the second spot of what is now the
Billboard R&B charts in 1944 in 1947
Thorpe switched to electric guitars
mostly from Gibson
she is even rumored to have been buried
with her 1961 Les Paul SG custom
number five Orianthi
appearing to come out of nowhere this
Wonder from Down Under is one of the
leading names in hired hands
Orianthi was playing guitar with Carrie
Underwood when she was drafted by
Michael Jackson for what would have been
his final tour
in addition to her own revered solo
career Orianthi is played with Alice
Cooper Michael Bolton
James Durbin and Dave Stewart of the
arrhythmias
formerly a classical guitarist she
switched to lead blues based rock guitar
at age 11 after seeing Carlos Santana in
concert and as rarely looked back
number four Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Raitt’s
plans to be a folk singer fizzled out
soon after the redhead discovered slide
or bottleneck guitar
given her slide stylings rate typically
plays in open a or open G tuning and has
a preference for glass slides originally
using actual bottles to play
while rate does use acoustic guitars on
occasion she prefers electric guitars
for their increased sustain and
expressiveness long associated with her
Fender Strat brownie she has since been
honored by the company with a signature
model becoming the first female artist
to have one
number three joan jett a rock star in
her teens Joan Jett made her name by
doing just what the establishment said
she couldn’t do rock
beginning her career with the runaways
jet co-wrote the band’s signature track
cherry bombs
and eventually took over vocal duties
when singer cherry curry left the group
following the band’s breakup jet
recorded a solo album but was rejected
by 23 different labels so she started
her own
still active today with the Blackhearts
jet is a cult icon in rock and punk and
still plays her signature Gibson melody
maker guitars at crotch level
number two Nancy Wilson
although no slouch at playing electric
it was Nancy Wilson’s mission when she
joined her sister and Banhart to add
more acoustic guitars to the group
with results like the timeless and wrote
to crazy on you you could argue with her
Wilson’s role as guitarist in the group
continued to grow however her playing
really came to the forefront when
guitarist Roger Fisher left the group a
vacancy she had no trouble filling
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions
number one Lita Ford
like Joan Jett Lita Ford first rose to
fame in The Runaways
however Joan followed a more Punk
direction while Lita went down a harder
rockier path
once engaged to Black Sabbath guitarist
Tony Iommi and having recorded with
frontman Ozzy Osbourne Ford wears heavy
metal like a bat
uninterested in effects she uses a basic
rig of a bc rich warlock plugged into a
Marshall stack firing off thick crunchy
rhythm parts and tears into leads with
abandoned do you agree with our list
who’s your favorite female guitarist
for more hard-rocking top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
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