The Best Female Guitarists Of All Time Ranked

A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar by singing or playing the harmonica, or both. The guitarist may employ any of several methods for sounding the guitar, including finger picking, depending on the type of strings used (either nylon or steel), and including strumming with the fingers, or a guitar pick made of bone, horn, plastic, metal, felt, leather, or paper, and melodic flatpicking and finger-picking. The guitarist may also employ various methods for selecting notes and chords, including fingering, thumbing, the barre (a finger lying across many or all strings at a particular fret), and guitar slides, usually made of glass or metal. These left- and right-hand techniques may be intermixed in performance. Here are all of the best Female Guitarists of all time ranked.

See more: The Best Punk Singers Of All Time Ranked

See more: The Best Punk Guitarists Of All Time Ranked

20. Becky Barksdale

“With Becky’s amazing Strat playing and heartfelt vocals and many amazing talents, is no wonder she was recently inducted into the Music Hall of Fame in Texas. Her concert following her induction was validation why she was personally had picked by Michael Jackson for his historical Dangerous Tour.”

19. Michelle Malone

“Here is a woman who not only blisters her fingers but basically could seperate amp cones on any given live performance. She has the nic name Moanin Malone. She plays a mean slide and has a voice you won’t forget. Probably the only reason we don’t hear more of this talented guitarist is likely because she is an Indie artist. Check her out live if you get the chance.”

18. Peggy Jones

“One of the first female lead guitarists in rock & roll, Peggy Jones is most notable for her work in Bo Diddley’s backing band, for which she earned the affectionate — and appropriate — nickname Lady Bo. However, her musical resume is much longer, boasting stints as a doo wop singer and an R&B/soul bandleader.”

17. Nita Strauss

“A versatile and virtuosic American guitarist — her father’s side of the family claims beloved Austrian composer Johann Strauss as an ancestor — Nita Strauss (born Vinita Sandhya Strauss) first caught the metal scene’s attention playing in the all-female Iron Maiden tribute band the Iron Maidens and the popular West Coast hard rock/glam metal outfit Femme Fatale.”

16. Melissa Etheridge

“She came onto the scene and quickly was heard all over the radio. Another woman who can take the guitar to another level. Who else have you heard or seen make the guitar practically scream aggression. Then Melissa can take you to a slow 2 miles per hour when she picks her strings from her heart.”

15. Chrissie Hynde

“Probably one of the biggest influences for any female guitarist starting out in the 80’s- 90’s. She is raw, real and what you see is what you get. On stage her guitar is as much a part of her as is the lyrics she sings. The Pretenders paved a wider freeway for women to travel.”

14. Taylor Swift

“Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. She was born on December 13, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania. She is best known for writing personal songs and for having won 11 Grammys. She became interested in country music when she was around 9 years old, and after watching a documentary about Faith Hill, Swift felt that she should go to Nashville to begin a country music career.”

13. Liona Boyd

“Billed by her promoters as the “First Lady of the Guitar,” Liona Boyd has fully lived up to that accolade and more. Since the early ’80s, she has been one of the most popular classical guitarists, male or female. She also performs music in other genres, placing several of her recordings in the crossover and pop realms.”

12. Emily Remler

“Remler began playing guitar when she was ten, attended Berklee (1976-1979), and recorded as a leader for the first time in 1980. She played with the L.A. version of the show Sophisticated Ladies (1981-1982) and in 1985 had a duo with Larry Coryell, but otherwise mostly worked as a leader with her own small groups”

11. Joni Mitchell

“Roberta Joan Mitchell, professionally known as Joni Mitchell, is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Drawing from folk, pop, rock, and jazz, Mitchell’s songs often reflect social and environmental ideals as well as her feelings about romance, confusion, disillusionment, and joy. Joni’s tuning and technique of playing was ground breaking.”

10. Memphis Minnie

“Excluding contemporary artists, the most notable exception to this pattern was Memphis Minnie. The most popular and prolific blueswoman outside the vaudeville tradition, she earned the respect of critics, the support of record-buying fans, and the unqualified praise of the blues artists she worked with throughout her long career.”

9. Elizabeth Cotten

“Elizabeth Cotten was among the most influential guitarists to surface during the roots music revival era, her wonderfully expressive and dexterous fingerpicking style a major inspiration to the generations of players who followed in her wake.”

8. Avril Lavigne

“Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian–French singer-songwriter and actress. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more than $2 million.”

7. Lita Ford

“Lita Rossana Ford is an English-born American rock guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, who was the lead guitarist for The Runaways in the late 1970s, an all-female rock band formed by Joan Jett and Sandy West. In the 1980s Lita Ford embarked on a solo career.”

6. Bonnie Raitt

“The one and only woman on slide blues guitar is Bonnie Raitt. She’s got the sound that many women try to capture and emulate. Many of blues men have hailed her as one of the finest voices and guitar players out there. She always gives us something to talk about.”

5. Maybelle Carter

“This woman is one of the best guitarist’s I’ve ever seen, if you understand what she’s doing you’ll know, picking melodies and strumming chords at the same time!! She’s one of the best pickers in music history, and she is self taught”

4. Sister Rosetta Tharpe

“Alongside Willie Mae Ford Smith, Sister Rosetta Tharpe is widely acclaimed among the greatest Sanctified gospel singers of her generation; a flamboyant performer whose music often flirted with the blues and swing, she was also one of the most controversial talents of her day, shocking purists with her leap into the secular market — by playing nightclubs and theaters, she not only pushed spiritual music into the mainstream, but in the process also helped pioneer the rise of pop-gospel.”

3. Joan Jett

“The rowdiest, raunchiest (in a good way) rawest rock guitar player in the studio and on stage. Her chops and chord approach were probably what helped the big boys in thrash metal gain some confidence in their early playing. All attitude and loud guitar – that’s Joan Jett!”

2. Orianthi

“Australian-born guitarist and singer Orianthi Panagaris, aka Orianthi, is a virtuoso performer whose sound is steeped in hard rock traditions. She first began wowing audiences in her teens, opening for Steve Vai and jamming with Carlos Santana. “

1. Nancy Wilson

“When Nancy Wilson picks up her guitar… You know you’re going to be blown away by her dynamic aggressive acoustic playing or her raunchy rock rhythms on the electric or her amazing picking styles. She’s a dynamic persona on stage the ultimate guitar queen. Her song writing and magical voice make her a complete artist. She’s been rocking and creating music for a good 40 years.”