# Female guitarists **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2002, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921 "2002-12-31T19:32:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921/41 "2003-01-02T12:18:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eva Luna \* > \*\*And as for women not being encouraged to play guitar: actually, I can think of plenty of other instruments where this is more likely to be the case. There are zillions of female flautists and violinists, but how many female saxophonists are there? Or drummers? \*\* Karen Carpenter ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921/42 "2003-01-02T13:44:17Z")
The Slits, The Switchblade Kittens (even if they do have the rather interesting formation of playing with 3 bass guitars), The Go Go’s, all of these bands had female guitarists or indeed, were all female. ---
**Author:** ![Reuben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@Reuben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reuben)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921/43 "2003-01-02T14:09:26Z")
IIRC Madonna played drums in her first band, and I’ve seen (photos of) her playing guitar. Sheryl Crow is allegedly something of a guitar diva. I’ve seen quite a few guitar girls on the West Oxfordshire folk circuit… for me, the acoustic guitar makes them look very sexy indeed. Dunno why. ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921/44 "2003-01-02T14:37:09Z")
Another vote here for the boobies in the way. I’m an amateur guitarist, and I will say it’s very difficult to keep the guitar at a comfortable angle sometimes with d cups. And another confirmation that a female guitarist is undeniably sexy to men. On New Year’s Eve in a somewhat alcohol-induced moment of boldness I picked up someone’s acoustic and banged out some chords to **Every Rose Has It’s Thorn** by Poison. By the 2nd verse every guy in the room was in a circle around me… and I wasn’t even playing very good! Hee hee… my husband could hardly control himself. ---
**Author:** ![Synthesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@Synthesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Synthesis)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921/45 "2003-01-02T17:48:43Z")
Rider, It took me a bit to get back to this thread. I mentioned that Shawn Colvin played her entire show with just an acoustic guitar because her commerical CDs are not like that. They have full orchestration, mixing, ect. It was notable because she was enough of a musician to essentially do an “unplugged” show alone. I don’t care for her music, and couldn’t evaluate her technical ability. My wife insists that she is good, but her tone (and usage of thumping and picking) is fantastic. Anyhow, thanks for the follow-up question. ---
**Author:** ![Rider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dc4da7/32.png) [@Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rider)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921/46 "2003-01-02T18:04:20Z")
Ok, thank you Synth. I’m feeling my finger-length theory slipping away here… ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921/47 "2003-01-02T23:29:27Z")
I know this is a little way off subject, but for hard rocking I have never heard any group better than Hells Belles (saw them New years eve in San Francisco) and they are an all female AC/DC tribute band. Cheers, Keithy (oh and yes I have seen a “few” male rock bands) ---
**Author:** ![AuntPam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@AuntPam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntPam)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921/48 "2003-01-03T03:26:26Z")
What?? I’m 100% female, I play guitar pretty badly, AND my ring finger is a good 1/2 inch longer than my index finger. Where’d you get this story that relative finger lengths is a sex-determined characteristic? Maybe the reason that there aren’t many female guitarists like [insert name of heavy metal rock god here] is that we generally got better sense than to act that way… ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921/49 "2003-01-03T04:19:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rider \* > \*\*And why do women look so clumsy playing them? \*\* I have a female friend who looks pretty damn hot playing her bass and guitar. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921/50 "2003-01-03T05:17:45Z")
Is nobody going to bring up Poison Ivy of the Cramps?? Geez! Anyway, I think the real question is…if a band has exactly one female member, why is it almost a given she’s the bass player? ---
**Author:** ![Rider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dc4da7/32.png) [@Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rider)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2003, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921/51 "2003-01-03T05:36:49Z")
“Where’d you get this story that relative finger lengths is a sex-determined characteristic?” From a BBC documentary about gender differences. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-guitarists/145921.md?page=2)