I have a friend in a fairly successful touring band and she constantly gets asked if she is a girlfriend of the band and people constantly trying to explain gear to her.

IvanP wrote:
It seems obvious the right answer is : none of us know.

Perhaps that's because we are men?

Wherever you go, there you are

http://rogerfowles.co.uk/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKUsTNis44w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKauwombaC8

As a female who actually does like surf music it does sometimes feel like if you're a woman that wants to be in a surf band you're only allowed to play bass and have to wear a leopard skin bikini. It's not exactly encouraging.

My feeling is that overall in the music industry, not just surf, women don't seem to be taken seriously unless they're singers. Female guitarists/musicians aren't respected, even though there are some amazing ones out there. So that cuts out the instro surf genre all together.

A friend mentioned the other day that her management were scoping out a festival for her, but the festival wasn't sure because "there's another chick on the bill that also plays piano". She was wondering if they also applied that criteria to the bands on the bill with male guitarists?

Overall I've found the people in the surf genre are extremely inclusive and would welcome more women in if they tried. But it does seem like a closed shop from the outside.

It would help to get more recognition from the industry. Maybe if SG101 and Surfer Joe (and other surf festivals) made an effort to book some female led bands it might make a difference?

I think it could really create a lot anxiety for a woman to go into a situation like joining a band and win the alpha position in a band. Like some of the previous posts, guys aren't going to care what they look like when they audition. Surf seems to a lot more inclusive, compared to metal though.

On Topic- The thread is about why so few female guitarist, not why no female surf musicians. When you add bass players, keyboardists, drummers, the percentage goes up a couple points. It's a big question; hopefully improving. Unfortunately, my daughter hates surf music, too much time in the reverb Skinner box.

Off topic- I think the solution to the off putting Go-Go Girl phenom is to have male dancers onstage as well. Might remind the boys club to move their asses a little. I believe surf music was intended to be dance music, not stand with your arms folded across your chest music

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It is sad to see women pushed out of the soloist spotlight in American music. It seems the Japanese do not have that problem as they can draw on the geisha tradition of awesome female instro performance.

Squink Out!

I know the goal isn't to make a list, but I did not see her cited while she was the first coming to my mind. Or maybe I missed it ? Anyway Yolanda from Los Twang Marvels !

Yannick

Lead Guitar in Blackball Bandits : https://blackballbandits.bandcamp.com/
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It's about the same as all rock & roll. There are some, though not large numbers, and they get widely ignored, to their considerable annoyance and depression. Women tend to be channeled into subordinate roles unless the band is all women, and even then management (if any) tends to be male. Women are more common as bassists and drummers than guitarists or keyboardists. The leopardskin bikini syndrome is fairly common, though to be honest there's a degree of that sort of thing applied to men, too. If you want things to change, notice the exceptions and encourage them.

Mary O and the Pink Flamingos is a band from Brazil with a lead guitar player/singer that puts a great live show. More on the Link Wray side of things, but lots of surf influences. Still have to do proper recordings, but you can get an idea from their bandcamp.

There is also an all girl band called As Aventuras down here, but I believe they play mostly covers. Never saw them live, but there are some youtube videos.

Orestes Prezza also had a female guitar player that would do some leads.

And, of course, we have a lot of girls on bass, drums and keyboards down here.

I was talking about this whole go go girl thing with my with this week. Sometimes I think it is cool that some of them are not girls that follow beauty standards, but sometimes I fell like this gets women only in a decorative role in the band. And I think there can be less appeal to the whole female crowd for the band.

Last edited: Aug 27, 2016 20:27:35

Gilette wrote:

DoNtFearTheReverbBass wrote:

While this is instrumental guitar and not specifically surf - found this in my inbox today ... If she had a surf group going she could rake in gobs of bucks ...right?

17 years old ... Needs coaching ... Right!

https://youtu.be/o6rBK0BqL2w

—

Tomorrow I'll burn my guitar... on the barbecue... in the garden. I now see I have no business in music.

Frank :
Please don't burn your guitar on the barbi-- though no amount of time forward (or backwards for that matter) would put me in a position to look as lovely as this young lass ... I tend to get better the more time I spend practicing and playing on the instrument . Time well spent.

She does burn the guitar without a barbi though doesn't she.
I started noticing these like her and Orianthi several years ago on u toob. Some especially great bands could be formed by hand picking players from u Toob. Weird thing is I keep getting older and they just keep getting younger. Look up nine year old (name the instrument) - prodigy sells (mostly in classical music though - pop industry still wants pap)
Plenty of young jazzers and metal chicks burning but they have not caught the surf bug yet. Let's Manage girl surf bands!

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Last edited: Aug 28, 2016 15:46:22