Why are there so few well-known female guitarists and drummers, compared to bassists?

Cafe Society
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I’m sure it’s a mix of things, but one thing is that there are fewer women in music in general.

From the day this article was published:

There could be a lot of reasons, like some women were intimidated before they even started, or some started to play guitar but were discouraged from playing more. Also very possible that with two equally good bands, one of all women and one with just a woman on bass, that the mostly male group could have an easier time getting gigs and had an easier time growing in popularity and success.

I’ve seen and heard comments from guys about how St. Vincent isn’t that great at guitar, not just that she’s not to their taste but sounding confused how anyone could think she was great. I’m sure that’s a minority of men saying things like that, but if she gets those comments, I’m sure women starting out on the guitar get a lot worse.

WordMan’s theory about why women are more often the bass players rather than being equally in other roles makes sense.

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I think St. Vincent is more known as a multi-instrumentalist and singer, but she’s all around badass to the max.

Taylor Swift, no comment.

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I wondered if being a bassist yourself might have made you more aware of bass players.

We’ve had threads before (here, here about female band members. I’m not sure whether there are more bassists than guitarists and drummers listed (though not all the women listed are “well-known”).

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I was friends with a girl in high school who played drums for some local garage bands. She later got a four year degree in music and moved to Boston. She is now the drummer for an all-female Judas Priest tribute band. Here are a couple of her drum solos.

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nm

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Freda Love was the kick ass drummer for the Blake Babies.

Come to think of it, Julianna Hatfield has been a guitarist and bassist for the Lemonheads too.

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Thank You!

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Not so well-known and a cover band, but…

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I’ll add Orianthi and Bonnie Raitt to the list.

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Maybelle Carter was one of the all-time greatest guitarists, period.

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She’s toured with Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band.

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Certainly one of the most influential. Her picking style is one of the core techniques in folk and country for sure.

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With a little more time to think:

Sue Foley

Debbie Davies

Joanna Connor

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I don’t know why it slipped my mind because she’s like the latter day Mo Tucker, but Georgia Hubbly is the drummer for Yo La Tengo, a great band.

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Strangely (or maybe not so strangely), there is an entire genre of Youtube videos of women playing some kick-ass guitar and drums.

Sina Playing The Who

Sina Playing Rush

She’s kind of a prodigy, it seems to me. She was somewhere between 13 and 16 when she recorded many of these. When she plays drums, she actually seems to take on the body movements of the original drummer.

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Guitarists? Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females, who ought to be huge: here’s Marissa vs “Cortez the Killer”.

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Here she is covering the aforementioned Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off”:

And covering “If It Makes You Happy” by Sheryl Crow:

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First name that came to mind for me. Thanks.

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Two great old-time blues guitarists were Libba Cotten and Memphis Minnie. The latter was a pioneer of single-string lead guitar, which was enabled by the louder resophonic guitars she played before electric guitars were commonly available.

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Different instruments do seem to attract/require/favour different personalities. It’s partly tradition, but also partly true. It’s partly reasonable that guitarists have an “egotistical show-off” reputation, and fewer women cultivate that side.