The Steel Guitar
A steel guitar is similar to a standard 6-string guitar only in that it has strings and a neck, but after that, it’s a very different instrument in both the way it’s tuned and the way that it’s played.
Initially these instruments were popularized in Hawaii and at one time were known as Hawaiian guitars. There are several variations…lap steel, console steel, and pedal steel guitars.
The frying pan, the first electric guitar, invented by George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacker in 1931 was a lap steel guitar. Other variations of lap steels include resonator guitars like Nationals and Dobros and square neck acoustic guitars, as well as electric lap steels.
Console steel guitars, which are the descendants of the Hawaiian guitars often come with legs that can be set-up like a table or simply set on a flat surface.
Pedal steel guitars can have up to 8 pedals and 8 knee levers that’ll change the pitch of certain strings. Pedal steels are most associated with country and western music. These instruments can have multiple necks with from 6 to 14 strings per neck. The most common tunings for pedal steels are C6 and E9.
By the way, the name “steel” comes from the bar used to fret the instrument, since the strings are too high to be pushed against the fretboard.