professional female instrumental/fingerstyle players?

janeray1940 · Mar 22, 2015

Okay guys and gals, please help me out here - when I think of women who play fingerstyle ukulele, I can think of a grand total of two: Brittni, and Taimane.

Got any others to add to my list? No singers or singer-songwriters please - those are plentiful and well-known. I'm interested in instrumental or mainly-instrumental players only.

Looking forward to learning something new!

ETA: added for clarification - I'm looking for contemporary, current, preferably gigging and recording examples, if possible. Thanks!

And to further clarify - the reason I'm looking for examples is not a gender debate, but simply because I would like to see what sort of strap setup they use, if any, and how they hold their uke when performing. And if I discover some new music while I'm at it - bonus!

Dan Uke · Mar 23, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48E4sS8K-bM

I don't know if she only plays covers but she's great at such a young age.

Below is from her video.
Aloha. My name is Sydney from Thailand. I became the FIRST KoAloha's supported artist in Thailand when I was 10 years old. I play KoAloha ukulele exclusively.

lakesideglenn · Mar 23, 2015

Del Rey is the best I've ever seen or heard. Has a couple Homespun instructional DVDs as well.

janeray1940 · Mar 23, 2015

nongdam said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48E4sS8K-bM

I don't know if she only plays covers but she's great at such a young age.

Below is from her video.
Aloha. My name is Sydney from Thailand. I became the FIRST KoAloha's supported artist in Thailand when I was 10 years old. I play KoAloha ukulele exclusively.

Wow, thanks for that - she is awesome

(And for the purposes of my question - covers only is perfectly fine, as long as they are instrumentals.)

Booli · Mar 23, 2015

Fellow UU sister Sammu (Samantha Muir) is a professional classical guitarist who is also a very accomplished ukulele player and plays lots of classical pieces on ukulele. She has linked many of her videos here. I am not sure if her mainstay has migrated to, or includes ukulele.

Her videos are always very inspiring to me.

Her web site: http://www.samanthamuir.com/

Her youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/sammu5/videos

(when I think of others, I only have Victoria Vox, Sophie Madeline, and Danielle Ate The Sandwich - but they are not quite what you are asking for)

Sorry I can't think of any others at the moment.

EDIT - to include Marcy Marxer, and Cathy Fink. Cathy Fink plays a really awesome claw-hammer style, and there are probaby MORE Marcy Marxer videos on youtube than any other female ukulele player, or female banjo player.

Steveperrywriter · Mar 23, 2015

Zahra Lowzley. Honoka and Azita.

janeray1940 · Mar 23, 2015

lakesideglenn said:
Del Rey is the best I've ever seen or heard. Has a couple Homespun instructional DVDs as well.

Wow - I had no idea. I'd heard her name before but thought she was mainly a singer so never investigated any further.

ksiegel · Mar 23, 2015

janeray1940 said:
Okay guys and gals, please help me out here - when I think of women who play fingerstyle ukulele, I can think of a grand total of two: Brittni, and Taimane.

Got any others to add to my list? No singers or singer-songwriters please - those are plentiful and well-known. I'm interested in instrumental or mainly-instrumental players only.

Looking forward to learning something new!

How about Del Ray, Marci Marxer, and Cathy Fink? Yes, Marci and Cathy sing, but they are great players - and Marci took lessons from Roy Smeck when she was a teenager.

And Del Ray does just about everything.

-Kurt

Hippie Dribble · Mar 23, 2015

lakesideglenn said:
Del Rey is the best I've ever seen or heard. Has a couple Homespun instructional DVDs as well.

Hear! Hear!

janeray1940 · Mar 23, 2015

Booli said:
Fellow UU sister Sammu (Samantha Muir) is a professional classical guitarist who is also a very accomplished ukulele player and plays lots of classical pieces on ukulele. She has linked many of her videos here. I am not sure if her mainstay has migrated to, or includes ukulele.

Her videos are always very inspiring to me.

Her web site: http://www.samanthamuir.com/

Her youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/sammu5/videos

(when I think of others, I only have Victoria Vox, Sophie Madeline, and Danielle Ate The Sandwich - but they are not quite what you are asking for)

Sorry I can't think of any others at the moment.

EDIT - to include Marcy Marxer, and Cathy Fink. Cathy Fink plays a really awesome claw-hammer style, and there are probaby MORE Marcy Marxer videos on youtube than any other female ukulele player, or female banjo player.

ksiegel said:
How about Del Ray, Marci Marxer, and Cathy Fink? Yes, Marci and Cathy sing, but they are great players - and Marci took lessons from Roy Smeck when she was a teenager.

And Del Ray does just about everything.

-Kurt

Didn't know that about Cathy Fink/Marcy Marxer either. So far the responses are making me wonder why their names don't come up with the frequency of the others I mentioned upstream, and the former Marxist-feminist-historian-scholar in me can't help but want to scream ageism...

And yes Booli, VV, SM, Danielle etc are among the first names I thought of as well... Sarah Maisel too, and I could probably think of a few more pretty easily. But it did strike me as odd that I could only think of two who do instrumentals.

Steveperrywriter said:
Zahra Lowzley. Honoka and Azita.

Nice, thanks! I wasn't familiar with any of these.

NewKid · Mar 23, 2015

Sarah Maisel is a great player, singer, and teacher. Plus she's a wonderful person!

janeray1940 · Mar 23, 2015

NewKid said:
Sarah Maisel is a great player, singer, and teacher. Plus she's a wonderful person!

Ha, our posts must have crossed at the same time. I know Sarah and agree with all of the above, but if I remember correctly her recordings are heavy on the vocals. She's got the chops though, that's for sure!

Booli · Mar 23, 2015

janeray1940 said:
...Sarah... She's got the chops though, that's for sure!

:agree: I really LOVE her music.

NatalieS · Mar 23, 2015

I can think of a few more great female soloists, all of whom have YouTube channels. Some do mostly covers.

UkuLise:

NatalieS · Mar 23, 2015

Honoka & Azita:

NatalieS · Mar 23, 2015

Mission Uke:

janeray1940 · Mar 23, 2015

Thanks Natalie - all great but I especially enjoyed MissionUke.

And, side note - I'm puzzling over how she manages to hold her ukes without a strap - a thread addressing straps is what got me to looking for female solo players in the first place, and the vast majority (myself included) appear to use straps (and hold the uke on the low side, as in the first two vids you posted).

ricdoug · Mar 23, 2015

NewKid said:
Sarah Maisel is a great player, singer, and teacher. Plus she's a wonderful person!

http://www.cheemaisel.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHAX6-XV9Vw

janeray1940 · Mar 23, 2015

ricdoug said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHAX6-XV9Vw

That was just downright cool

dalamaricus · Mar 23, 2015

Don't know if they're professional, but here are a few more from YouTube.

Lami Jeon -

professional female instrumental/fingerstyle players?

Well-known member

UU VIP

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Probably unknown member

Hippie Dribble

Guest

Well-known member

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