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We promised at the beginning of this auspicious and celebratory 50th-anniversary year of Guitar Player
TOP PHOTO: Rob Loud (Orianthi) | Getty Images.
We promised at the beginning of this auspicious and celebratory 50th-anniversary year of Guitar Player that the staff would use the magazine’s “elder statesperson” role to dream about the possible future of the guitar and to honor its past. As part of that mission, we are recognizing 50 female guitarists who have made—or who are making—tremendous contributions to guitarcraft and guitar culture.
Our initial list expanded to more than 100 players—all of them excellent and worthy—and the editorial crew of myself, Art Thompson, Kevin Owens, Jude Gold, Jimmy Leslie, Michael Ross, and Dave Hunter (with some consulting from Women’s International Music Network founder Laura Whitmore) were thrown into “Heavy Debate Mode” to reduce the number to 50. (We’ve had the same slugfests of subjective opinions with similar issues in the past, such as “The 50 Greatest Guitar Tones of All Time[1],” “The 40 Most Influential Rock Solos Ever[2],” and “50 Rhythm Guitar Gods[3].”)
BELOW: The May 2017 cover of GUITAR PLAYER with Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
These discussions are always fraught with danger. Favorites get left out. Readers get cranky. And yet, arguing with the editors over their choices is part of the fun, and we all learn even more valuable information from the shared discourse. (Please send your criticisms and comments about this special cover feature to
Well, the staff arguments are now over, and the artists have been selected, so let’s salute 50 truly remarkable guitar players.
Muriel Anderson
Anderson weaves fantastic spells with her evocative phrasing, stunning technique, and melodic sensibility, and everything is wrapped in a style that almost simultaneously embraces classical, country, flamenco, jazz, and world music.