Does being a girl make you good?

In answer to first question,

Nope.

Olympics!

Steve W.

Being female is still a novelty. Since I'm the only female teacher around I get more female students. A lot of them just seem more comfortable with me. That's the only time gender is relevant.
10 or 15 years ago people told me that females had to play better to get the same respect. That might have been true then, and I noticed a bit of it in high school, but I haven't noticed it at all in a few years. I think bands like the Dixie Chicks have helped break stereotypes I guess, plus guys just aren't sexist anymore. It's an even playing field now.

Hi Caitedid,
   No. Being a girl does not automatically make you a better musician.               8)

My daughter just pointed this out to me.  She is a middle-school wrestler, and she says that the other parents are "so impressed" that she is out there wrestling the boys.  She knows that she is not as good as they are saying.

As I see it, people will give girls extra encouragement for crossing into a traditionally male role (wrestler, lead guitarist), at least at the beginning.  I think it's mostly a supportive gesture,"Yes you are doing something special - don't give up!".

Thus it may appear that these girls are being given more credit than they have earned.

However, when you get to be skilled in your art (say you have an album), then the playing field comes back to level, and even tilted back against you.

Great obsevation!

-Laz

If I had to chose to watch or play with a guy or gal guitarist I'd always choose the female.  Because I'm a guy?  Likely.  Yet more likely because I see way, way too few female guitarists.  When I see them I'm totally intrigued.  But that is only my opinion.  I suppose that goes, too, with lefty guitarists.  They are rare so I'm drawn to them.

i think at the end of the day, you can argue back an forth, what gender is better, but, surely how good you are comes down teh the guitarist themselves?

I mean, you couldnt fight Dave Grohl against Steve Vai could you?

Ywengie Malsteen vs Robert Johnson?

Kurt Cobain vs John 5?

Gender i dont think comes into it.

If your a good player, your a good player.

If some guy is trying to give you kudos for being a girl, and that "automatically" makes you a better player than the same level guy player, hes hitting on you.

Give it up, go on a date, and make happy music til your strings wear out.

Good luck  ;)

Chalmodo

There are plenty of female guitarists, and many of them are very good technically, but they just don't seem to want to do Jimi Hendrix impersonations.

I don't think we should criticise them for that, and it certainly doesn't make for them being better or worse musicians.

A :-)

If you like what you hear - great. Gender doesn't come into it.

Sorry, guess I should have specified, the musician in question was Meg White of the White Stripes, who is not a guitarist, but the question is still the same.  I really appreciate every one who has taken the time to reply to this, as it has start several good conversations about what makes music "good" in general, and has brought up the names of many good musicians, both female and male.

If it makes you feel any better, I think she's crap.

As far as playing abilities goes, gender doesn't matter one bit. The difference is mainly in ambition and drive. The male brain works differently than the female brain. Women guitarists generally are not interested in becoming Hendrix or Malmsteen.

HOWEVER: The great Cat (if you click on "Reviews" I've a review of her somewhere which will also give you links to her site", a classically-trained violinist who turned to guitar because the violin was too limited, could kick most male guitarists asses. Not only is she incredibly fast, but she's also good. Yet... Being a woman in a male-dominated area, she has the low-skirts short tops, etc. Does she need them? No. But, as a male, do I like them? Absolutely and I thank her for dressing up (or rather down) like that. It sounds chauvenistic, but it's simple male nature which has always been and will always be.

If Britney or Beyoncé wore more clothes, would they be as popular? No. You'll argue that Celine doesn't dress down like that, but point number one: she plays in a different genre, point 2: you don't want to see her dressed-down (I don't think I could ever sleep again without having terrible nightmares...).

Anyway, the answer is no, being a woman doesn't make you a better guitarist, but it does give you a different feel for the instrument.

As men, we will always enjoy seeing a woman with a guitar. But, I've been told often by women that nothing is sexier than a guy with a guitar.

i agree with you its great to see so many young ladies buying guitars and taking lessons its about time ive played for over 20 years and its great to have more female company around and i respect you all women or man you do good ill tell you you do bad same thing thats how we grow as musicions peace all jimmy k

The simple answer to the question is no. I do think though that females that are intrested in one thing seen as "male" tend to be interested in other similar things. For example I play guitar and used to play a lot of football.

I'd say no as well, and also I happen to hate the White Strips to some degree too so ...(a 2 person band just scares me...plus I don't like their music)

And especially now I think like a lot more girls are taking up guitar and stuff, you could even notice it around the boards, how there's a lot more female posters here than when I firsted signed up which was a while ago...

And "As men, we will always enjoy seeing a woman with a guitar. But, I've been told often by women that nothing is sexier than a guy with a guitar. "

Heh, yeah, and I think there's 2 reasons for that: 1 being the fact that knowing some guys play something so cool as a guitar in a band just makes them feel so cool as well, and 2 it's just so romantic to think of a guy with a guitar singing songs to you. Or at least, for me it is...;)

AND......"Yet... Being a woman in a male-dominated area, she has the low-skirts short tops, etc. Does she need them? No. But, as a male, do I like them? Absolutely and I thank her for dressing up (or rather down) like that. It sounds chauvenistic, but it's simple male nature which has always been and will always be.

If Britney or Beyoncé wore more clothes, would they be as popular? No. You'll argue that Celine doesn't dress down like that, but point number one: she plays in a different genre, point 2: you don't want to see her dressed-down (I don't think I could ever sleep again without having terrible nightmares...). "

By low, you mean short, right? Or just the opposite? But anyway...you know, I think one of the main reasons girls wear short skirts and shirts is because they like it, and it's fashionable, and they wouldn't really be dressing up for anyone unless it's like on a date or something, in which case it would be a whole other matter  8). So, there's my 2 cents on that, and yeah.  ;D