Guitar Solos by Women Guitarists · #1 of 20
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Strange Things Happening Every Day

Sister Rosetta Tharpe · 1944 · solo by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
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Spotlights · 20 solos

The Greatest Guitar Solos by Women Guitarists

Most lists of great female guitarists rank the players. This one ranks the solos, and every video starts at the solo. It runs from Sister Rosetta Tharpe's 1940s gospel-blues leads, which rock and roll grew out of, through Bonnie Raitt's slide playing and Lita Ford's 80s metal, to modern players like St. Vincent, Nita Strauss, Orianthi, Samantha Fish, Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe and Molly Tuttle. We only list a song when the solo is credited to a woman guitarist.

  1. 1
    Strange Things Happening Every Day
    Sister Rosetta Tharpe · solo by Sister Rosetta Tharpe · 1944
  2. 2
    Didn't It Rain
    Sister Rosetta Tharpe · solo by Sister Rosetta Tharpe · 1948
  3. 3
    Love Me Like a Man
    Bonnie Raitt · solo by Bonnie Raitt · 1972
  4. 4
    Something to Talk About
    Bonnie Raitt · solo by Bonnie Raitt · 1991
  5. 5
    Cherry Bomb
    The Runaways · solo by Lita Ford · 1976
  6. 6
    Kiss Me Deadly
    Lita Ford · solo by Lita Ford · 1988
  7. 7
    Close My Eyes Forever
    Lita Ford · solo by Lita Ford · 1988
  8. 8
    Words and Guitar
    Sleater-Kinney · solo by Carrie Brownstein · 1997
  9. 9
    Let's Call It Love
    Sleater-Kinney · solo by Carrie Brownstein · 2005
  10. 10
    Rattlesnake
    St. Vincent · solo by Annie Clark · 2014
  11. 11
    Surgeon
    St. Vincent · solo by Annie Clark · 2011
  12. 12
    Highly Strung
    Orianthi · solo by Orianthi · 2009
  13. 13
    Learn How to Love
    Tedeschi Trucks Band · solo by Susan Tedeschi · 2011
  14. 14
    Playing with Pink Noise
    Kaki King · solo by Kaki King · 2004
  15. 15
    Jungle
    Tash Sultana · solo by Tash Sultana · 2016
  16. 16
    Bulletproof
    Samantha Fish · solo by Samantha Fish · 2019
  17. 17
    Preachin' Blues
    Larkin Poe · solo by Megan Lovell · 2017
  18. 18
    Pandemonium
    Nita Strauss · solo by Nita Strauss · 2018
  19. 19
    It's a Moot Point
    Melanie Faye · solo by Melanie Faye · 2019
  20. 20
    Crooked Tree
    Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway · solo by Molly Tuttle · 2022

Quick answers

Who is the greatest female guitarist of all time?

No one answer has consensus. Sister Rosetta Tharpe is often named because her electric gospel playing in the 1930s and 40s helped shape rock and roll, and Bonnie Raitt is one of the most respected slide players in any genre. This list ranks individual solos, not careers, and you can vote on any of them in Matchups.

What is the best guitar solo played by a woman?

This page ranks 20 candidates from across the decades. Sister Rosetta Tharpe's 'Strange Things Happening Every Day' is the most important historically. In the site's combined ranking of published lists, Sleater-Kinney's 'Let's Call It Love' ranks highest of the songs here, ahead of St. Vincent's 'Rattlesnake'.

Why are so few solos by women on the big 'greatest solo' lists?

The famous magazine lists mostly draw on classic rock from the 60s to the 80s, when few women were hired as lead guitarists in major bands. That is why this list goes back to 1940s gospel and forward to the 2020s, where many of the strongest picks are.