Playing like a girl shouldn’t

Chantel McGregor brings her band to The Grand in Clitheroe on Saturday, March 1.

Chantel holds a first in the history of the British Blues Awards, being the only woman to be was voted Guitarist of the Year.

Jamming on stage with Joe Bonamassa on two of his tours so far, Chantel is a formidable guitar player and talented singer-songwriter.

Nightshift, Oxford’s music magazine, said: “Chantel McGregor deserves to be held up as a messiah of blues-rock and given her own mountain, she doesn’t strum or pick her guitar but almost bends and distorts it, as if she’s channelling the ghost of Hendrix through her fingers.”

Her work includes a stripped-back version of Bruno Mars’ Grenade.

Tickets are £12 advance or £14 on the door.

At the age of eight Chantel became the youngest person in the country to pass a Rock school exam and at 12 was jamming in her native Bradford.

Described as a prodigy, at 14 Chantel was told by major labels “great voice, but girls don’t play guitar like that”.

Ignoring that advice, she enrolled at the world-renowned Leeds College of Music and became the first student in the college’s history, to achieve a 100% pass mark, with 18 distinctions.

Chantel left with a First Class Honours degree in Popular Music and a coveted prize, for outstanding musicianship.

In 2013, Chantel was voted Guitarist of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year.