Guitar Testosterone

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (60 of them)

i agree in that case, yeah.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 1 September 2003 10:06 (twenty years ago) link

I (i is a gal, by the way we do produce testosterone as well, if that matters, in case some people don't know) remember a book I had as a young (13 year old) gtr learner, "Play Rock Guitar" I think had only two females in it: Susanna Hoffs, and Prince's guitarist whose name I've forgotten.

An example of a very drivenstyle gtr-ist who I don't know why doesn't get mentioned for her gtr-ing more is Kristen Hersh. Also what about the Band of Susans, I don't really know about them myself - barely heard them. Locally Maxine from the Snares springs to mind.

I used to play along to a Jeff Beck guitar licks cassette!
Surely there's some energetic/hard/(whatever) F gtrists in the metal realms (wish I knew more about it)...

Oh there's Leslie Q, she has a very distinctive and usually "hard" guitar style...dunno if anyone would associate it with "testerone" g'n'r-style etc...

― cuspidorian (cuspidorian), Monday, 1 September 2003 10:13 (twenty years ago) link

Tara Key!!

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 1 September 2003 10:18 (twenty years ago) link

there is a band of susans thread on ILM: search and read it, and get their 1991 alb (whose name i forget right now).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 1 September 2003 10:19 (twenty years ago) link

'rock heads' like Lita Ford? Ronan I fear the Steven Wells article has made you deranged

― dave q, Monday, 1 September 2003 10:35 (twenty years ago) link

i travel the earth impaling people on a drum machine

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 1 September 2003 10:36 (twenty years ago) link

I used to play PJ Harvey's 'Rid of Me' at work, it made all the dance music heads scream and writhe and cry in agony! (See also 'Pretty on the Inside')

― dave q, Monday, 1 September 2003 10:38 (twenty years ago) link

Poison Ivy Rorschach! OK can we admit this thread is well-meaning but misconceived and go home now

― dave q, Monday, 1 September 2003 10:39 (twenty years ago) link

Brix Smith! (insert frat-ILM "Lay of the Land" joke here)

― dave q, Monday, 1 September 2003 10:39 (twenty years ago) link

fuck yeah to pj and ivy yeah!

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Monday, 1 September 2003 10:46 (twenty years ago) link

(Sorry, 'misconceived' is a nasty word. There is something to this. Chicks in general don't help tho. They always make excuses, like "well rather than spend hours practicing we chicks learn to socialise!" etc., like 'socialising' is a 'good' thing. People even put that on CVs now as a legitimate 'interest' for fuck's sake. Unfortunately, this orthodoxy has now infected the whole culture to the point where it's now a given that perfecting a skill means exile from humanity for the crime of not assiduously learning the art of schmoozing and being the hostess with the mostest. But then, that's my irrational hatred for anybody with any social skills whatever showing. Like if you spent your adolescence having fun and friends rather than sitting in your basement noodling then you can eat my fuc)

― dave q, Monday, 1 September 2003 10:53 (twenty years ago) link

dave steven wells has that effect on ppl!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 1 September 2003 10:55 (twenty years ago) link

Motley Crue had a chick drummer for about 3 weeks, I can't believe this event wasn't more highly publicised. Guitars are 'feminine' instruments anyway. Those soft curves, those angel-hair strings. Chicks playing like Eddie Van Halen would be Aunt Toms. But DRUMS? in MOTLEY CRUE? Seriously that is Hall-of-Fame shit on any planet!

― dave q, Monday, 1 September 2003 11:06 (twenty years ago) link

It is still worth noting that, except maybe for Joni Mitchell, none of these women are traditional 'guitar heros' in the sense of traditional melodic/harmonic virtuosity. Which is totally fine - I'd be the last person to have a problem with that. But it is still an interesting question to wonder why.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 1 September 2003 18:50 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe they're all doing classical music? Some of those women can really rip on those violin, piano and nylon-string scales and arpegs and flourishes. Seriously, some of these chicks could bury any Shrapnel Records player ever born. Whoever mentioned the Great Kat upthread, word! Maybe there's loads of women in chamber orchestras who briefly contemplated shredding w/distortion, then heard the GK and thought "ah forget it"! (Katia Lebeque duelled with John Motherfuckin' McLaughlin)

― dave q, Monday, 1 September 2003 18:57 (twenty years ago) link

(plus classical music is more rockist than rock ever could be. one of my office co-workers was an aspiring DJ and I'd needle him constantly, "well you don't actually 'play' music so what do you know", and then one of the female co-workers said to me "oh cool you know music theory, I've been doing some intense voice-leading stuff lately" and it turned out she was a fuckin' opera singer and I'm like "uh, what's a mode, is that ice cream" etc., they look at us Rush fans like *we* would chuckle at U2 or somebody)

― dave q, Monday, 1 September 2003 19:02 (twenty years ago) link

But how many female classical guitar virtuosi can you name? Liona Boyd is the only major player I can think of and I don't think anyone would think of putting her in the same class as Julian Bream or Eliot Fisk or Andre Segovia. There's tons of female virtuosi on other instruments. Don't know Katia Lebeque or 'the Great Kat' but will look up the former right now.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 1 September 2003 19:03 (twenty years ago) link

Don't know The Great Kat? You're about to embark on a voyage on the good ship Event Horizon!

― dave q, Monday, 1 September 2003 19:07 (twenty years ago) link

OK, just looked up KL on AMG. I will also comment that judging by the photo accompanying her All Classical Guide entry, both she and Boyd have v trad 'sex symbol' image thing going as well.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 1 September 2003 19:07 (twenty years ago) link

Just looked up the Great Kat on AMG. I am speechless.

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 1 September 2003 19:08 (twenty years ago) link

Worship Me or Die - are we sure that she's not just Yngwie in drag?

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 1 September 2003 19:12 (twenty years ago) link

Yngwie in drag = Divine, by this point. He's been hitting the smorgasbord a bit too much

― dave q, Monday, 1 September 2003 19:15 (twenty years ago) link

I can't imagine why women would WANT to be going weedly-weedly-wee for hours like a rock virtuoso. I sure don't. Chords and simple leads are way more fun to play. Hell, these days I'd rather be playing bass. I dig repitition and groove.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 1 September 2003 19:40 (twenty years ago) link

Oh c'mon I bet you've never even tried!

― dave q, Monday, 1 September 2003 19:48 (twenty years ago) link

geetar = phallic symbol

if ya hadn't noticed

(I bet this helps not at all.)

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 04:15 (twenty years ago) link

i'm with anthony. i'm FAR from being a guitar virtuoso but i like the challenge of finding something subtly (is that a word?) clever to play rather than being a show pony. not that theres anything intrinsically wrong with being a showpony, i just think a lot of people don't do it inventively cos they're too busy going wa-hey! look at me go!

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Tuesday, 2 September 2003 05:32 (twenty years ago) link

fourteen years pass...

SG or Rick bass?

― calstars, Saturday, 25 November 2017 01:53 (six years ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.