Top 10 Female Guitarists of All Time

talented innovative or just plain entertaining these six stringers of the female variety know how to get the party rolling [Music] 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 all's finite 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 [Music] number 10 Annie Clark [Music] performing a st. vincent's since 2006 Annie Clark has made a name for herself as a source of unshakable and buzz filled hooks [Music] 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 [Applause] [Music] a Berklee College of Music dropout Clark was a self-styled jazzy finger picker before joining coral rock band The Polyphonic Spree [Applause] [Music] noted for her unique approach Clark has said that she writes many of her songs while trying to fall asleep [Music] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] [Music] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] as a slack tuning innovator and writer of the classics both sides now Joni Mitchell may be fogey but don't call her folk leave 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 [Music] number six Sister Rosetta Tharpe [Music] 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 [Music] number five Orianthi [Music] 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 [Music] in addition to our own revered solo career Orianthi is played with Alice Cooper Michael Bolton James Durbin and Dave Stewart of the arrhythmias [Music] 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 [Music] number four Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Raitt's plans to be a folk singer fizzled out soon after the redhead discovered slide or bottleneck guitar [Music] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] 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 [Music] beginning her career with the runaways jet co-wrote the band's signature track cherry bombs [Music] and eventually took over vocal duties when singer cherry curry left the group following the band's breakup Jeff recorded a solo album but was rejected by 23 different labels so she started her own [Applause] 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 [Music] [Applause] [Music] number two Nancy Wilson [Music] although no slouch at playing electric it was Nancy Wilson's mission when she joined her sister and band heart to add more acoustic guitars to the group [Music] with results like the timeless and wrote to crazy on you you could argue with her [Music] 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 [Music] [Applause] [Music] before we unveil our top pick here are a few honorable mentions [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] number one Lita Ford [Music] 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 [Music] once engaged to Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and having recorded with frontman Ozzy Osbourne Ford wears heavy metal like a bat [Music] 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 [Music] for more hard-rocking top 10s published every day be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com [Music]

Channel: WatchMojo.com

Views: 11,277,652

Rating: 4.5890946 out of 5

Keywords: female guitarist, guitarist, guitar, music, musician, lita ford, the runaways, nancy wilson, heart, joan jett, the blackhearts, bonnie raitt, orianthi, michael jackson, sister rosetta tharpe, joni mitchell, kaki king, mother maybelle carter, annie carter

Id: 8ywolhltzVA

Length: 14min 16sec (856 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 06 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/CHEtheKONG]

Skip to ~11:30 in.

I remember watching this a long time ago and a watch mojo vid popped up in my recommended so I decided to revisit it. Most of their lists are very mainstream so it's cool to have some indie artists like Marissa sneak in back in 2014, even if it's just some intern making the lists. Just thought it was funny that she is in a video with almost 10 million views.