She first picked up a guitar as a toddler, played her first gig as a teenager and broke through the glass ceiling by becoming the first woman ever to be named Guitarist of the Year at the British Blues Awards 2013, winning the accolade again this year- but Chantel McGregor still has to face critics who are more focused on her sex then her skill.

"I have had everything from 'she shouldn't wear a dress, she should be in leather' to 'she shouldn't be playing guitar at all'," the 28-year-old says, with more than hint of frustration colouring her Bradford accent.

"It's bonkers. We had a review last week which raised the image thing and said it should be rockier and the sad thing is that it was a woman reviewer."

Chantel's tone grows increasingly passionate as she talks about music executives 'shrivelling up' at the idea of a young female guitarist wearing pretty dresses on stage and playing rock music.

"It's crazy but it is a male dominated industry even now. You are never going to get away from that because it's the nature of the beast."

Fortunately she seems undiminished by the sexism that is thrown at her, saying she found strength from chatting to other female guitarist such as Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Nicks, and dreams one day of playing Wembley and 'world domination'.

Her love of music started at home with one of her earliest memories being her dad, an accountant by day, playing guitar while she danced around. By aged three she wanted to have a go herself.

"He played in a few bands and I used to go and mess around and put dents in them. He gave me a guitar and I wasn't very good, I just bashed it and tried to make as much noise as possible. Then when I was seven he got me lessons. I remember getting my first Yamaha when I was eight."

She adds: "When I was about 12 I started going to jam sessions which was a real buzz and really exciting. Then when I was 12 I decided it was what I wanted to do."

Thankfully her parents backed her music dream "100 per cent" and let her do gigs in between studying at school and then Leeds College of Music.

By 14 she was being described as a "prodigy" and a visit from a major label soon followed, along with the start of her battle against out-dated attitudes. She was told "great voice, but girls don't play guitar like that" by the head of their A&R and advised to change styles because boys would be intimidated.

This was met with an attitude of "That's their problem. I'm not changing!" and she hasn't looked back since, gigging tirelessly up and down the country, winning Young Artist of the Year at the British Blues Awards in 2011, Best Female Vocalist in 2012, Guitarist Of The Year and Best Female Vocalist in 2013 and Guitarist Of The Year this year.

But Chantel, who plays a Fender Stratocaster, Music Man and PRS on stage, remains humble about her talent, due in no small part to her dad: "He's my biggest critic and will says "that's not good enough, do it again'.

"Music is just something I always enjoyed. My thing is I can always learn more and you should never get stuck thinking you are the best. I don't think I'm really good. I just do it and enjoy it."

As well as gigging tirelessly up and down the country, with a visit to Harpdenden Public Halls on October 23, she has also been trekking back and forth from Bradford to Brixton to record her new album, which she wrote in just 10 short weeks.

"If I put the pressure on it works," says Chantel who has teamed up again with Livingstone Brown, who has worked with Kylie and Ed Sheeran and produced her 2011 debut album Like No Other.

"Having experiences to write about is really difficult becuase I don't have a social life so I immersed myself in the southern gothic world of True Detective and True Blood. It was a good excuse to watch TV.

There's a lot of themes like heartbreak and things that people will be able to relate to and there's a lot of imagery about sin and hate.

"People will think I have gone bonkers but it was really fun to write and to play. I was trying to reinvent the wheel because I neded to write songs that were emotional but it has been done thousands of times before and there's only so many ways you can say' I'm heartbroken' so I put myself in the position of people in these TV programs."

The album, which includes tracks Your Fever, Walk on Land and Eternal Dream is due for release in early 2015 and Chantel already has her sights set on teaming up with one of music's biggest female icons: "I would absoultely love to work with Lady Gaga. That seems insane but creatively she's really fantastic and does quite a few rocky things with her music."

In the meantime she hopes to continue encouraging more young women to come to her gigs: "Originally we found it was all men aged 30 to 60. But over the last few years it's become younger and we get 13 and 14 year olds and we get a lot of girls in their teens coming along

"I get quite a few asking me for advice which is really brilliant. If a girl says she's getting stick at school for playing guitar and if I can help give them that confidence today it could be that they are the next Stevie Nicks in 10 years."

Harpenden Public Halls, Southdown Road, Harpenden, Thursday, October 23, 7.30pm. Details: 01582 767525, harpendenpublichalls.co.uk