Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

[Evan Skopp]

During NAMM last month, this topic came up at the annual Guitar and Accessories Marketing Association meeting.

This is from today's GAMA newsletter.

During the GAMA Membership Meeting on January 21 a considerable amount of time was given over to talking about how to get more females playing guitar. It seems as if ours is not the only industry that is concerned about diversity.

According to the New York Times, Intel has established a $300 million fund to make the tech industry more appealing for women and minority workers. The money will be used over the next three years to fund scholarships. In the exit surveys from the GAMA meeting, people pointed out that there were no women on the GAMA Panel.

At companies like Apple, 70% of the workers are male. Several of the largest tech companies have reported that Whites and Asians make up 90% of their staffs. However, as one of GAMA's meeting attendees commented, there is no firm data about women and guitars (there's hardly any data on most things related to guitar).

There are a couple of problems to be solved:
1. The Guitar Industry needs a reliable way of measuring the diversity of its customers.
2. If there is a problem, how should it be addressed?

At the GAMA meeting, there were lots of theories for the disparity. I wonder, what's yours?

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

The stereotypical guitar role model is usually male, leading to an instant perception of the guitar being a masculine instrument.

Maybe it's just really difficult to make it as a female guitarist in a field dominated by men, like suddenly you have to really really prove you can play very well to avoid being seen as the band's token eye-candy.

Maybe we just need to thrust some more really talented female guitarists into the spotlight. Like really talented, and younger women who are more likely to be embraced by these younger generations. Let them have creative control. Let them inspire young girls the way for example Hendrix inspired a lot of us guys. Blow some people's minds.

In fact, just find a Rule 63 version of all the guitar legends and then problem solved.


there have certainly been some guitar-wielding front women but I think we need like a lot more before it starts to chip away at that masculine image of the guitar god and we need to be able to say "guitar goddess" while speaking of someone from the younger generations. Kids need to grow up hearing some kick-butt female guitarists that they can say speak for their generation.


Maybe It's like the question "why don't more women play football (excuse me, "hand-egg")?" Cuz maybe its just been a bunch of guys playing it and when guys play it no one asks "why does he play it?" but if a girl wants to play hand egg then suddenly there are a bunch of men asking "why does she want to play hand egg?". It's just kinda "been a guy thing".
.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

Because women dont need props to attract the other sex....

 

[DreX]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

I think most guys get into guitar as teenagers to be like their musical heroes, and then go on to make something more of it later on, so there's not a lot of female rock stars to model after, and those who exist often seem to use their guitar in a passive way, or as a fashion accessory. Then there's the fact that electric guitars and amps are both technical in nature, and geared towards expressing aggression. At the end of the day, you can talk a few women into playing guitars with some targeted marketing, but it's not going to last due to the nature of things.

On the acoustic side, I'd bet women would be a lot more willing to play nylon stringed guitars if there were more options aside from the old "classic guitar" look, which when you see a women hold one brings up thoughts of Julie Andrews playing a meadow, I think designs more along these lines with tapered necks and more modern appearance would be a big hit with women guitarists, if they were marketed properly:

 

[Aasinsilta]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

Can't make a horse drink water. If women wanted to play guitar, they by all means will. If they don't want to, there's no need to engage on some massive social engineering project to try to squeeze more females into the mix.

 

[LLL]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

Can't make a horse drink water. If women wanted to play guitar, they by all means will. If they don't want to, there's no need to engage on some massive social engineering project to try to squeeze more females into the mix.

+1000

Exactly. Enough with the g-d social engineering already.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

There's more female electric guitarists & bassists than there used to be, and some are very good players. I think it's great. As in many other fields, the change is happening, but at a modest pace. In a decade or two, the landscape will be different.

What got most of us playing was listening to out heroes when we were young (look at how many were inspired by Hendrix, and how many Strats he sold). The more female guitarists there are, the more girls will be influenced.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

+1000

Exactly. Enough with the g-d social engineering already.

Ah, so you take the intellectual approach then.

 

[Silver]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

It's because when you hear of Orianthi, you hear first about her hotness and secondly about her musical ability. Same with the women from Iron Maidens. There was even a thread the other day about the women from the Iron Maidens, that was all about looking at their breasts.

There aren't many guitar playing role models for women, and the ones that are there are over-sexualised. Their objectification is for men, and therefore does nothing to appeal to other women.

Men haven't had to deal with this at all. Male guitar legends always look a mess anyway, and the discussion is always about their technique, tone or music.

The solution? I don't know. Maybe promote some female guitarists because they are good, and not because they are hot. I reckon there are some talented female guitarists out there struggling to 'make it' because they're a bit ugly, and that's a shame.

 

[Silver]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

Furthermore, it seems to me that that for female guitarists to get major endorsements and signature products... they either have to be REALLY talented or REALLY famous/hot. Jennifer Batten comes under the former category, Avril Lavigne comes under the latter.

It just seems that the bar is set a lot higher for them. Loads of male guitarists have gotten signature gear because they are very talented (but not especially famous) or very famous (but no especially talented)... but i just get the impression that it's doled out to male guitarists a lot more readily. Probably because of the perception that it's a male instrument.

So maybe more endorsements for worthy female guitarists?

 

[Securb]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

Because women are smarter then men and have better things to do with their time and money.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

I think there will be more and more female players soon.

I disagree with this non-sense about women being objectified as being the reason. Listen, women are just as guilty of this as men. Women go to see a movie or boy bands or Bieber or whomever it might be if the men are "hot" whereas the fat or not so good looking guys struggle in the very same industries. This has nothing to do with the number of men that try to play guitar, act, sing or whatever it might be. Interests are interests. Look at the hip-hop and pop industries full of objectifying women and it doesn't seem to deter young women from wanting to get into that business.

IF women want to play, they will play. We are seeing that more and more these days with youtube videos of women that could play circles around most of us that play. It's not a talent or objectification issue, it's an interests issue. If electric guitar appeals to a young woman then she will play an electric guitar. If rapping or singing sexually and dressing like a tramp while shaking what her momma gave her appeals to her while twerking then that's what she will do.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

I would argue that there are a lot of women who play guitar and electric guitar in particular. However I believe they aren't in commercially successful bands, so their recognition is limited. I also believe there's also plenty of sexism to contend with.

 

[Silver]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

SnakeAces... then why do you suppose more men like playing guitar than women? Is it just co-incidence?

I would say that we are socialised from a young age to think of things in a gendered way. Girls play with dolls, boys play with toy cars. Etc. When 30 years later the woman is a stay at home mom, and the guy is a mechanic, to say that's just because that's what each wanted to do and either could have chosen otherwise, is a little simplistic IMO.

People are influenced by role models. Young kids take up all sorts of interests based on observing role models.

For me it was Brian May and then Slash. I wanted to be just like those guys. I was able to identify with them because they looked fairly normal and the focus was on their playing. If the only role models out there for women are photos of super attractive women with pro makeup artists, who are then photoshopped/airbrushed, and then most of the comments are about the way they look, then I imagine it would be harder for them to find a guitarist they relate to.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

It's complicated and wierd. Weird, too.

I think we too often overlook the reasons why or why not people are drawn to certain things. I'm male, and I'm not into sports. Possibly for some of the same reasons many women and girls aren't into sports. People have to get into things like sports or music for their own reasons; people have to find a way to make something like that their own. We all know there are barriers to certain people doing certain things, and it's all about how one group has already made that thing theirs, and about how society is uncomfortable with anyone outside that group being involved. Sometimes it's about the brain-dead, knee-jerk reactions that some people have to a girl playing football, or a man working in child care.

People are idiots. Screw 'em.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

SnakeAces... then why do you suppose more men like playing guitar than women? Is it just co-incidence?

I would say that we are socialised from a young age to think of things in a gendered way. Girls play with dolls, boys play with toy cars. Etc. When 30 years later the woman is a stay at home mom, and the guy is a mechanic, to say that's just because that's what each wanted to do and either could have chosen otherwise, is a little simplistic IMO.

People are influenced by role models. Young kids take up all sorts of interests based on observing role models.

For me it was Brian May and then Slash. I wanted to be just like those guys. I was able to identify with them because they looked fairly normal and the focus was on their playing. If the only role models out there for women are photos of super attractive women with pro makeup artists, who are then photoshopped/airbrushed, and then most of the comments are about the way they look, then I imagine it would be harder for them to find a guitarist they relate to.

Why are you turning this thread into a discussion about sociology?

It's really not my fault if some girl's parents won't buy her an electric guitar. Boo-hoo. Neither did mine, I had to work to buy my first just like most people. It's not my fault if society is the way it is or if parents force roles onto their children. Let's try our best to not de-rail this thread out of respect for Evan's question.

I stand by what I said, if the interest is there and the desire/will to play is there then a person will find a way. Male, female and everything in-between.

 

[Archer250]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

The stereotypical guitar role model is usually male, leading to an instant perception of the guitar being a masculine instrument.

Maybe it's just really difficult to make it as a female guitarist in a field dominated by men, like suddenly you have to really really prove you can play very well to avoid being seen as the band's token eye-candy.

Maybe we just need to thrust some more really talented female guitarists into the spotlight. Like really talented, and younger women who are more likely to be embraced by these younger generations. Let them have creative control. Let them inspire young girls the way for example Hendrix inspired a lot of us guys. Blow some people's minds.

In fact, just find a Rule 63 version of all the guitar legends and then problem solved.


there have certainly been some guitar-wielding front women but I think we need like a lot more before it starts to chip away at that masculine image of the guitar god and we need to be able to say "guitar goddess" while speaking of someone from the younger generations. Kids need to grow up hearing some kick-butt female guitarists that they can say speak for their generation.


Maybe It's like the question "why don't more women play football (excuse me, "hand-egg")?" Cuz maybe its just been a bunch of guys playing it and when guys play it no one asks "why does he play it?" but if a girl wants to play hand egg then suddenly there are a bunch of men asking "why does she want to play hand egg?". It's just kinda "been a guy thing".
.

That's my take, too.

 

[Silver]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

The thread is about why one class (women) are not as interested in guitars as another (men). It's a sociological question.

Nobody said this is any of your fault, by the way.

And of course, "if the interest is there" then a person will find a way... but this thread is about why the interest is NOT there in women.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

great guitar players are homely dudes with nothing better to do on Saturday night

there are no women with nothing better to do on Saturday night
no matter what they look like

women are simply too busy being women to learn guitar

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Why Aren't there More Female Guitar Players, Especially Electric?

The thread is about why one class (women) are not as interested in guitars as another (men). It's a sociological question.

Nobody said this is any of your fault, by the way.

And of course, "if the interest is there" then a person will find a way... but this thread is about why the interest is NOT there in women.

I give up dude, you win. The thread and floor is all yours. I respectfully digress.