Beyoncé scored more Grammy nominations than any other woman in history and made the entire world fall in love with her voice, but does she also have a knack for playing different instruments – such as guitar?
Beyoncé doesn’t play guitar and she relies on her all-female group the ‘Suga Mamas’ during her live performances. The former Destiny’s Child singer isn’t a highly-skilled instrumentalist, but she used to take piano lessons in school, and can still play this instrument.
Beyoncé and Piano
Beyoncé isn’t highly-skilled at playing any instruments, but she’s no stranger to the piano. Parker Elementary School that she attended put a strong focus on music, and she studied piano and chorus two to three days a week. Her piano teacher, Theola Booker, recalled she was a focused and cooperative child, but she was more interested in “making up her own songs” than practicing the scales.
The 2004 Grammy Awards were a huge milestone for Beyoncé, because she got to share the stage with Prince. The “Purple Rain” singer was renowned as a multi-instrumentalist, so he was interested to find out how much she knew musically, and advised her to give piano another shot.
“I was just trying to show her some chords on the piano and help her to respect the fact that if she learns piano ala Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles and things like that I mean it’s, the sky’s the limit as to what she can do because she’s so very talented,”
Seeing Beyoncé behind a piano is still a rarity, but she enjoys playing this instrument every once in a while. She shared an acoustic version of the song titled “Die with You” in 2015, and was also spotted playing the piano in the documentary Making the Gift, which chronicled her journey of working on The Lion King soundtrack.
Beyoncé’s All-Female Band
Beyoncé may not be a great instrumentalist, but she’s surrounded herself with people who are. Back in 2006, she dropped her sophomore album B’Day, and decided she wanted to perform it alongside an all-female band. The Suga Mamas was formed, and they’ve been by her side ever since.
“When I was younger I wish I had more females who played instruments to look up to. I played piano for like a second but then I stopped. I just wanted to do something which would inspire other young females to get involved in music so I put together an all-woman band,” explained Beyoncé.
Guitar player Bibi McGill had a chance to meet Beyoncé before auditioning for her band, and the singer immediately recognized her as Pink’s guitar player. She entrusted McGill with taking charge of the Suga Mamas and serving as their musical director. Supporting one of the world’s biggest pop stars wasn’t an easy task, but McGill said it feels good because they “empowered so many people.”
A-List Guitar Players
Beyoncé may not be a talented guitar player, but many of the world’s biggest pop divas happen to be very skilled with this instrument. Shakira, who recorded the smash hit “Beautiful Liar” by Queen Bey’s side, can play several instruments – including guitar, harmonica, and drums.
Taylor Swift is another famous multi-instrumentalist, who can play piano and several different string instruments, such as the guitar, banjo, and ukulele. She’s been credited for inspiring many young women to pick up the guitar – Fender reported that girls and women drew 50% of their sales in 2016, calling this the “Taylor Swift factor”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUAMTP-pbM0Swift may have been one person who inspired girls to give this instrument a shot, but she certainly wasn’t the only one. Miley Cyrus, who also became a worldwide sensation during the mid and late 2000s, was another pop diva that young girls looked up to. Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, and Demi Lovato built a strong fan base around the same time, but guitar was more prominent in Swift’s early country songs than in any of theirs.