Jennifer Batten (sp?) is definitely someone who is known primarily for her playing. She’s a damn good player too.
Well I think we should include bass players (Suzi Quattro was already mentioned).
Carol Kaye - a studio bass player - among other things she is playing on “Good Vibrations” by the Beach Boys - 1966.
I had asked this question some time ago. There was a group in the UK in 1964, The Applejacks, that had a female bass player, Megan Davies. They had a few UK hits, but none in the US.
While we’re at it, the Honeycombs (also 1964) had a female drummer, Honey Lantree.
Thank you for mentioning Memphis Minnie, Loopydude – she was a real pioneer, one of a handful of guitarists who started figuring out that single-string leads were the way to go. (FWIW, her use of a metal-bodied resophonic guitar (a National Tricone) provided the added volume for her to play single notes over a strumming guitarist before electricity and still be heard. Other pioneers of lead guitar (Tampa Red, Scrapper Blackwell, etc.) also played these instruments).
Her 1941 song “Me and My Chauffeur” is incredibly modern-sounding – my band plays it every week. (We also play the masterpiece you quote, “Bumble Bee”, the duoble-entendre of which still slips under the radar). I would love to play “Black Rat Swing”, but I think that one is still a little too much for today’s audiences – maybe another sixty years from now?
I can’t believe no one else has mentioned Jackie DeShannon yet. While she’s certainly better known as a singer and songwriter, she is credited with playing guitar on most of her records, and surely anyone who came up with the guitar riff in “When You Walk in the Room” has to get some props in this conversation. In fact, in a lot of ways, she fits the bill in my opinion better than most of the others mentioned so far, who either aren’t really rock (taking nothing away from blues, R&B, or folk musicians), or weren’t as early (“Needles and Pins” was a hit in 1963, “When You Walk in the Room” in late 1964).
Carol Kaye was also a well-respected studio guitarist before becoming the first-call session bass player in L.A. in the 1960s.
I’m also surprised that no one has mentioned The Shaggs yet 
.
While not the vintage of some mentioned here, I believe note should be made of killer slide guitarist Ellen McIlwaine who has been performing since 1966 and recording since 1969.
She did - and does - give that guitar of hers hell. I once heard her say on stage “When I started, groups had names like It’s A Beautiful Day and Nice. I called mine Fear Itself”.
Cordell Jackson is absolutely insane! I love her!
A friend of mine got to go up to her house and hang out with her for a day (she’s a guitarist too and wanted to learn a little). She showed me a video Cordell made and she is just beyond words.
She definitely ROCKS!!!
Alice Stuart. Went pro in 1961, first album out in 1964. She perfomed with the Mothers of Invention for a time, and Bonnie Raitt considers her a major influence. Stuart’s acoustic version of “Statesboro Blues” is right up there with the Allman Brothers.
Back atcha! I’m psyched to see another M.M. fan!
OK, I found “Bumble Bee” and “Me and My Chauffer” (skipped “Me and My Chauffer Blues,” assuming it to be the same). No “Black Rat Swing” on iTunes, however–might it go by a different name? (There is a “Black Cat Blues.”)
You non-Memphis-Minnie-educated (count me among them) might be interested to know that M. Minnie also does “When the Levee Breaks”–yeah, THAT one–a slightly different interpretation than most of us are used to. 
I couldn’t exactly tell from your post if you knew this, but she didn’t just “do” the song; she wrote it. Her interpretation is the original version.
She sort of wrote it. She arrnged it in the first recording we have of it, but it’s always been my understanding that it’s one of those songs that have always been around in Southern black culture.
Also, excellent call on Sister Rosetta Tharp. She’s the woman who invented rock n’ roll guitar decades before anyone else.
Which Sister R. T. tunes should I grab? Just a couple, please–I have 7 kids and very little time for listening.
Hello.
This may be way too late, but just in case you don’t know them.
Even though she recorder many great tunes, this 7 tunes are by far her best songs and she perfectly rocking them:
Strange things happening evereday:This 1944 record has been credited by some as being the first rock and roll record.
Down by the riverside.
Up above my head.
Didn’t it rain.
That’s all:1940s, which has been cited as an influence on Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley.[2] Other musicians, including Aretha Franklin, Jerry Lee Lewis,[7] and Isaac Hayes, have identified her singing, guitar playing, and showmanship as an important influence on them.
Rock Me which influenced many rock-and- roll singers, such as Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis and many more.
Gospel Train.
Precious memory.
I think these are the songs that identify her the most. I Hope you find this useful and share them.
That’s because the OP specified that the female must actually PLAY the guitar.
Sister Rosetta is it
First all female rock band in Australia was the Vamps, who had a high member rotation, was formed in 1965, so just beaten by Goldie and the Gingerbreads.
Not altogether clear who was playing what in evolving line-up. They did tour in military entertainment tours in Vietnam, so one or more of the members probably counts as the first female rock guitarist in Oceania, then Southeast Asia, and possibly the Southern Hemisphere [I wait to hear corrections from our South African and South American friends].
And thanks to those who noted Memphis Minnie. I was aware of Cordell Jackson and fan of Genya Ravan’s solo career but ahppily being educated here.
Heh…this thread marked my posting debut at Straight Dope.
Welcome to the Dope! Tons of musical knowledge here, lots of good discussions!