Editing Steel guitar

{{Short description|Type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument}} 
{{Use mdy dates|date = October 2020}}
{{Infobox Instrument
|name=Steel guitar
|names= Hawaiian guitar, [[lap steel]], [[Pedal steel guitar|pedal steel]], [[Console steel guitar|console steel]], kīkākila, [[Dobro]]
|image= Steel guitar.jpg
|image_size = 240
|image_capt= Three types of steel guitars: resonator, lap steel, pedal steel
|background= string
|classification= [[String instrument]], [[Flatpicking|flat picked]] or [[Fingerpick|finger picked]]
|hornbostel_sachs_desc = Composite [[chordophone]]
|inventors= Popularized by Joseph Kekuku
|developed=1890
|range= Variable
}}

A '''steel guitar''' ({{langx|haw|kīkākila}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/post/hawaiian-word-day-june-13th|title=Hawaiian Word of the Day|first1=Leilani|last1=Poli`ahu|date=June 13, 2019|publisher=[[Hawaiian Public Radio]]}}</ref>) is any [[guitar]] played while moving a [[steel bar]] or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar in that it is played without using frets; conceptually, it is somewhat akin to playing a guitar with one finger (the bar). Known for its [[portamento]] capabilities, gliding smoothly over every pitch between notes, the instrument can produce a sinuous crying sound and deep [[vibrato]] emulating the human singing voice. Typically, the strings are plucked (not strummed) by the fingers of the dominant hand, while the steel tone bar is pressed lightly against the strings and moved by the opposite hand.

The idea of creating music with a slide of some type has been traced back to early African instruments, but the modern steel guitar was conceived and popularized in the [[Hawaiian Islands]]. The Hawaiians began playing a conventional guitar in a horizontal position across the knees instead of flat against the body, using the bar instead of fingers. [[Joseph Kekuku]] developed this manner of playing a guitar, known as  "Hawaiian style", about 1890 and the technique spread internationally.

The sound of [[Hawaiian music]] featuring steel guitar became an enduring musical [[fad]] in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century and in 1916 recordings of indigenous Hawaiian music outsold all other U.S. musical genres. This popularity spawned the manufacture of guitars designed specifically to be played horizontally.  The archetypal instrument is the [[Lap steel guitar|Hawaiian guitar]], also called a [[lap steel]]. These early acoustic instruments were not loud enough relative to other instruments, but that changed in 1934 when a steel guitarist named [[George Beauchamp]] invented the [[electric guitar]] [[Pickup (music technology)|pickup]]. Electrification allowed these instruments to be heard, and it also meant their [[Soundboard (music)|resonant chambers]] were no longer essential. After that, steel guitars could be manufactured in any design, even a rectangular block bearing little or no resemblance to the traditional guitar shape. The result were table-like instruments in a metal frame on legs called "[[console steel guitar|console steels]]", which were technologically improved about 1950 to become the more versatile [[pedal steel guitar]].

In the United States, the steel guitar influenced popular music in the early twentieth century, combining with [[jazz]], [[Swing music|swing]] and [[country music]] to be prominently heard in [[Western swing]], [[Honky tonk music|honky-tonk]], [[Sacred Steel (musical tradition)|gospel]] and [[Bluegrass music|bluegrass]]. The instrument influenced [[Blues (music)|Blues]] artists in the [[Mississippi Delta]] who embraced the steel guitar sound but continued holding their guitar in the traditional way; they used a tubular object (the neck of a bottle) called a "slide" around a finger. This technique, historically called "bottleneck" guitar, is now known as "[[slide guitar]]" and is commonly associated with blues and [[rock music]]. [[Bluegrass music|Bluegrass]] artists adapted the Hawaiian style of playing in a [[resonator guitar]] known as a "[[Dobro]]", a type of steel guitar with either a round or square neck, sometimes played with the musician standing and the guitar facing upward held horizontally by a shoulder strap.[[File:Sound of a Steel guitar playing Hawaiian music.ogg|thumb|Sound of a Steel guitar playing Hawaiian music]]

==History==
In the late 19th century, European sailors and Portuguese  [[vaqueros]], hired by Hawaii's king to work cattle ranches, introduced [[Classical guitar|Spanish guitars]] in the Hawaiian Islands.<ref name="premier-ross">{{cite magazine |last1=Ross |first1=Michael |title=Pedal to the Metal: A Short History of the Pedal Steel Guitar |url=https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/22152-pedal-to-the-metal-a-short-history-of-the-pedal-steel-guitar |magazine=[[Premier Guitar Magazine]] |access-date=September 1, 2017 |date=February 17, 2015}}</ref><ref name="vaqueros">{{cite news |last1=Fox |first1=Margalit |title=Ray Kane, Master of Slack-Key Guitar, Dies at 82 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/arts/music/05kane.html |access-date=December 11, 2017 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 5, 2008}}</ref>  For whatever reason, Hawaiians did not embrace standard guitar tuning that had been in use for centuries.<ref name="standard-tuning">{{cite web|last1=Owen|first1=Jeff|title=Standard Tuning: How EADGBE Came to Be|url=https://www.fender.com/articles/tech-talk/standard-tuning-how-eadgbe-came-to-be|website=[[Fender Musical Instrument Corporation|fender.com]]|access-date=October 18, 2017}}</ref> They re-tuned their guitars to make them sound a major chord when all six strings were strummed, now known as an "[[open tuning]]".<ref name="dummies">{{cite web|last1=Chapell|first1=Jon|title=Tuning for Slide Guitar: Standard or Open?|url=http://www.dummies.com/art-center/music/guitar/tuning-for-slide-guitar-standard-or-open/|website=[[For Dummies|dummies.com]]|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|access-date=October 18, 2017}}</ref> The term for this is "[[Slack-key guitar|slack-key]]" because certain strings were "slackened" to achieve it.<ref name="premier-ross"/> With the advent of guitar strings made of steel instead of [[catgut]], new possibilities opened for the islanders.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Troutman |first1=John William |title=Kīkā kila : How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed the Sound of Modern Music|date=2016 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill |isbn=9781469627939 |edition=ebook}}</ref> They used some smooth object, usually a piece of pipe or metal, sliding it over the strings to the fourth or fifth position, easily playing a three-chord song.{{efn|The Hawaiians also learned to play this re-tuned guitar without a steel, fretting it and holding it against the body like a traditional guitar. This led to its own genre known as [[slack-key guitar]].<ref name="vaqueros"/><ref name="slackey">{{cite web |last1=Peterson |first1=Jeff |title=Jeff Peterson Demonstrates Slack Key Guitar |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3n30zlFCtg | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211113/c3n30zlFCtg| archive-date=2021-11-13 | url-status=live|website=jeffpetersonguitar.com |publisher=[[YouTube]] |access-date=May 10, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>}} It is physically difficult to hold a steel bar against the strings while holding the guitar against the body (hand [[Anatomical terms of motion|supinated]]) so the Hawaiians placed the guitar across the lap and played it with the hand [[Anatomical terms of motion|pronated]]. Playing this way became popular throughout Hawaii and spread internationally.<ref name="premier-ross"/>

[[Oahu]]-born [[Joseph Kekuku]] became proficient in this style of playing around the end of the 19th century and popularized it—some sources say he invented the steel guitar.<ref name="History of the Hawaiian Steel Guitar">{{Cite web | title=History of the Hawaiian Steel Guitar | website=Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association | url=http://www.hsga.org/new_design/history.htm# | access-date=21 May 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100729101332/http://www.hsga.org/new_design/history.htm | archive-date=July 29, 2010 | url-status=dead }}</ref> He moved to the U.S. and became a [[vaudeville]] performer and also toured Europe performing Hawaiian music. The Hawaiian style of playing spread to America and became popular during the first half of the 20th&nbsp;century; noted players of the era were [[Frank Ferera]], [[Sam Ku West]], [["King" Bennie Nawahi]] and [[Sol Hoʻopiʻi]]. Hoʻopiʻi ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|h|oʊ|oʊ|'|p|iː|i}} {{respell|hoh|oh|PEE|ee}})<ref name="volkbook">{{cite book |last1=Volk |first1=Andy |title=Lap Steel Guitar |date=2003 |publisher=Centerstream |location=Anaheim, California |isbn=978-1-57424-134-1}}</ref> was perhaps the most famous of the Hawaiians who spread the sound of instrumental lap steel worldwide.<ref name="premier-ross"/> This music became popular to the degree that it was called the "Hawaiian craze"<ref name="hawaiian-electric">{{cite book |last1=Duchossoir |first1=A.R. |title=Gibson electric steel guitars : 1935–1967 |date=2009 |publisher=[[Hal Leonard Books]] |location=Milwaukee, WI |isbn=978-1-4234-5702-2 |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYmWrWeuB_0C}}</ref> and was ignited by a number of events.

[[File:Bird of Paradise Ad.jpg|thumb|An advertisement for the Broadway show "The Bird of Paradise"]]
The annexation of Hawaii as a U.S. territory in 1900 stimulated Americans' interest in Hawaiian music and customs.<ref name="wrightstyle">{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Michael |title=Island Style: How Hawaiian Music Helped Make the Guitar America's Instrument |url=https://acousticguitar.com/how-hawaiian-music-helped-make-the-guitar-americas-instrument/ |website=acousticguitar.com |publisher=[[Acoustic Guitar Magazine|Acoustic Guitar (magazine)]] |access-date=July 11, 2020 |date=November 28, 2018}}</ref>  In 1912, a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical show called [[The Bird of Paradise (play)|''The Bird of Paradise'']]  premiered; it featured Hawaiian music and elaborate costumes.<ref name="hawaiian-conquest">{{cite book |last1=Ruymar |first1=Lorene |title=The Hawaiian Steel Guitar and Its Great Hawaiian Musicians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WlDSDopg3HoC&pg=PA31|publisher=Centerstream Publications|page=31 |date=1996|isbn=9781574240214 }}</ref>  The show became quite successful and, to ride this wave of success, it toured the U.S. and Europe, eventually spawning the 1932 film ''[[Bird of Paradise (1932 film)|Bird of Paradise]]''.<ref name="hawaiian-electric"/> Joseph Kekuku was a member of the show's original cast<ref name="hawaii-picture">{{cite news |title=Hawaiian Music to be Feature of Big Chautauqua Program |newspaper=The Colville Examiner |location=Colville, WA |date=July 22, 1916 |issue=456 |page=6 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/194800418 |access-date=December 10, 2017}}</ref> and toured with the show for eight years.<ref name="unveil-statue">{{cite web|title=Polynesian Cultural Center Unveils Statue of Joseph Keku, Inventor of the Hawaiian Steel Guitar |url=https://www.polynesia.com/polynesian-cultural-center-unveils-statue-of-joseph-kekuku-inventor-of-the-hawaiian-steel-guitar |website=polynesia.com |publisher=[[Polynesian Cultural Center]] |access-date=December 9, 2017 |date=2015}}</ref> In 1918, ''[[The Washington Herald]]'' stated, "So great is the popularity of Hawaiian music in this country that ''The Bird of Paradise'' will go on record as having created the greatest musical fad this country has ever known".<ref name="herald-fad">{{cite news |title=Bird of Paradise Brought Hawaiian Music Fad East |newspaper=[[The Washington Herald]] |date=April 14, 1918 |issue=4188 |page=1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/75988934 |access-date=December 9, 2017}}</ref>
In 1915, a world's fair called the [[Panama–Pacific International Exposition]] was held in San Francisco to celebrate the opening of the [[Panama Canal]] and over a nine-month period introduced the Hawaiian style of guitar playing to millions of visitors.<ref name="volkbook"/> In 1916, recordings of indigenous Hawaiian instruments outsold every other genre of music in the U.S.<ref name="smithsoniainins">{{cite web |last1=Shah |first1=Haleema |title=How the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Changed American Music |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-hawaiian-steel-guitar-changed-american-music-180972028/ |website=smithsonianmag.com |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |access-date=October 22, 2020 |date=April 25, 2019}}</ref>

Radio broadcasts played a role in fueling the popularity of Hawaiian music.<ref name="radiohawcalls">{{cite web |last1=Soboleski |first1=Hank |title='Hawaii Calls' radio program broadcasts from Kauai |url=https://www.thegardenisland.com/2013/10/13/lifestyles/hawaii-calls-radio-program-broadcasts-from-kauai/ |website=thegardenisland.com |publisher=The Garden Island |access-date=November 26, 2020 |date=October 13, 2013}}</ref> ''[[Hawaii Calls]]'' was a program originating in Hawaii and broadcast to the U.S. mainland west coast. It featured the steel guitar, [[ukulele]], and Hawaiian songs sung in English. Subsequently, the program was heard worldwide on over 750 stations.<ref name="hawaii-calls">{{cite book|last1=Ruymar|first1=Lorene|title=The Hawaiian Steel Guitar and Its Great Hawaiian Musicians/Hawaii Calls |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WlDSDopg3HoC|publisher=Centerstream|page=46 |date=1996|isbn=978-1-57424-021-4}}</ref> Sol Hoʻopiʻi began broadcasting live from KHJ radio in Los Angeles in 1923.<ref name="wrightstyle"/> By the 1920s, Hawaiian music instruction for children was becoming common in the U.S.<ref name="wrightstyle"/> One of the steel guitar's foremost virtuosos, [[Buddy Emmons]], studied at the Hawaiian Conservatory of Music in [[South Bend, Indiana]], at age 11 in 1948.<ref name="rollingstonemag">{{cite magazine |last1=Betts |first1=Stephen L. |title=Steel Guitar Great Buddy Emmons Dies |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=July 30, 2015 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/steel-guitar-great-buddy-emmons-dies-20150730 |access-date=20 January 2017 |publisher=Wenner Media |issn=0035-791X |oclc=693532152}}</ref>

The acceptance of the sound of the steel guitar, then referred to as "[[Lap steel guitar|Hawaiian guitar]]s" or "[[lap steel]]s", spurred instrument makers to produce them in quantity and create innovations in the design to accommodate this style of playing.<ref name="Hawaiian">{{cite web |title=Early History of the Steel Guitar |url=http://steelguitaramerica.com/instruction/history/ |website=steelguitaracademy.com |publisher=Steel Guitar Academy |access-date=1 September 2017}}</ref><ref name="weissenborn">{{cite web |author=Tom Noe |title=Herman Weissenborn |url=http://www.weissenborn.es/history-2/hermann-weissenborn/ |website=Weissenborn → History |access-date=September 1, 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Fender Champion lap steel @ 2010 TSGA Jamboree.jpg|thumb|alt= Electric lap steel guitar | An electric lap steel guitar. Note that the instrument bears only token resemblance to the traditional guitar shape.]]
In the early twentieth century, steel guitar playing branched off into two streams: lap-style, performed on an instrument specifically designed or modified to be played on the performer's lap; and bottleneck-style, performed on a traditional Spanish guitar held flat against the body.<ref name="volklap">{{cite book |last1=Volk |first1=Andy |title=Lap Steel Guitar |date=2003 |publisher=Centerstream Publications |location=Anaheim, California |isbn=1-57424-134-6 |page=9}}</ref> The bottleneck-style became associated with blues and rock music, and the horizontal style became associated with several musical genres, including Hawaiian music, country music, Western swing, honky-tonk, bluegrass and gospel.<ref name="volklap"/>{{rp|9}}

==Use in musical genres==
===Blues music===
{{Main|Slide guitar}}
[[File:Slide guitar 1.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A musician playing a slide guitar with a slide on their little finger|Slide guitar played with slide on musician's little finger]]
Solo African-American blues artists popularized the bottleneck-style ([[slide guitar]]) near the beginning of the twentieth century.<ref name="volklap"/> One of the first [[Southern United States|southern]] blues musicians to adapt the Hawaiian sound to the blues was [[Tampa Red]], whose playing, says historian Gérard Herzhaft, "created a style that has unquestionably influenced all modern blues".<ref name="blues-tampa">{{cite book |last1=Herzhaft |first1=Gérard |title=Encyclopedia of the Blues |date=1996 |publisher=[[University of Arkansas Press]] |location=Fayetteville, AR |isbn=978-1-55728-252-1|pages=334–335 |edition=5. Dr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2CGNaUpGcbcC}}</ref>  The [[Mississippi Delta]] was the home of [[Robert Johnson]], [[Son House]], [[Charlie Patton]] and other blues pioneers, who used a prominent tubular slide on a finger.<ref name="sokolomel">{{cite book |last1=Sokolow |first1=Fred |title=Slide Guitar for the Rock Guitarist |date=2011 |publisher=[[Mel Bay]] |location=Pacific, Missouri |isbn=978-1-61065-563-7 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bnMyBFsw45sC&q=title+page |access-date=June 21, 2020}}</ref><ref name="erlewineblues">{{cite book |last1=Erlewine |first1=Michael |author-link=Michael Erlewine|title=All Music Guide to the Blues (Encyclopedia Articles) |date=1996 |publisher=[[Miller Freeman, Inc.]] |location=San Francisco |isbn=0-87930-424-3 |page=372 |url=https://archive.org/details/allmusicguidetob00erle |access-date=June 21, 2020}}</ref> The first known recording of the bottleneck style was in 1923 by [[Sylvester Weaver (musician)|Sylvester Weaver]], who recorded two instrumentals, "Guitar Blues" and "Guitar Rag".<ref name="russell">{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Tony |title=The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray |date=1997 |publisher=[[Carlton Books]] |location=Dubai |isbn=1-85868-255-X |page=12}}</ref><ref name="fetherhoffguitar">{{cite book |last1=Fetherhoff |first1=Bob |title=The Guitar Story: From Ancient to Modern Times |date=2014 |publisher=BookBaby |isbn=978-1-4835-1683-7 |page=ebook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxtXDQAAQBAJ&q=sylvester+weaver |access-date=June 21, 2020}}</ref> [[Western swing]] pioneers [[Bob Wills]] and [[Leon McAuliffe]] adapted his song, "Guitar Rag",  in 1935 for the influential instrumental "[[Steel Guitar Rag]]".<ref name="mannbottlen">{{cite book |last1=Mann |first1=Woody |title=Bottleneck Blues Guitar |date=1979 |publisher=[[Oak Publications]] |location=London |isbn=978-1783235261 |page=ebook}}</ref>  Blues musicians played a conventional [[Classical guitar|Spanish guitar]] as a hybrid between the two types of guitars, using one finger inserted into a tubular slide or a bottleneck with one finger while using frets with the remaining fingers (usually for rhythm accompaniment).<ref name="premier-ross"/> This technique allows the player to finger the frets on some strings and use the slide on others. Slide players may use open tunings or traditional tunings as a matter of personal preference.<ref name="sokolomel"/> [[Lap slide guitar]] is not a specific instrument but a style of playing a lap steel guitar usually referring to blues or rock music.<ref name="blues-tampa"/><ref name="dsjborrow">{{cite book| last = Tipaldi| first = Art| title = Children of the Blues: 49 Musicians Shaping a New Blues Tradition| year = 2002| publisher = [[Hal Leonard]]| isbn = 9781617749933| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oFleFn79Ao0C&q=Tipaldi+%2B+lap+slide+guitar&pg=PA279
}}</ref>

===Country music===
{{Main|Pedal steel guitar}}
[[File:Lapstyle.jpg|thumb|alt=A resonator (acoustic) guitar played in lap steel fashion. The bar is held on a slant.| [[Resonator guitar]] played in lap steel fashion. It demonstrates slanting the bar and a grooved tone bar]]
The earliest record of a Hawaiian guitar used in country music is believed to be in the early 1920s when cowboy movie star [[Hoot Gibson]] brought Sol Hoʻopiʻi to Los Angeles to perform in his band.<ref name="premier-ross"/> In 1927, the acoustic duo of [[Darby and Tarlton|Darby and Tarleton]] expanded the audience for acoustic steel guitar with their [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] recording of "Birmingham Jail" and "Columbus Stockade Blues".<ref name="volkbook"/> [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]] featured an acoustic steel guitar on his song "Tuck Away My Lonesome Blues" released on January 3, 1930.<ref name="tuckaway">{{cite web |title=Jimmie Rogers Discography |url=http://jimmierodgers.com/songs.html |website=jimmierogers.com |publisher=Jimmie Rogers Museum |access-date=July 11, 2020 |ref=BVE 55308-3}}</ref> In the early 1930s, acoustic lap steel guitars were not loud enough to compete with other instruments, a problem that many inventors were trying to remedy.

====Resonator guitars====
In 1927, the Dopyera brothers patented the [[resonator guitar]], a non-electric device resembling a large inverted loudspeaker cone attached under the bridge of a guitar to make it louder.<ref name="carlindobro">{{cite book |last1=Carlin |first1=Richard |title=Country music : a biographical dictionary |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=9780415938020 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ZjrAgAAQBAJ&dq=dobro+in+hawaiian+music&pg=PA109 |access-date=January 2, 2021}}</ref> The name "Dobro", a portmanteau of DOpyera and BROthers, became a generic term for this type of guitar, popularized by Pete Kirby ("[[Bashful Brother Oswald]]") on [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville's]] [[Grand Ole Opry]] for 30 years with [[Roy Acuff|Roy Acuff's]] band. He played the instrument while standing with the guitar facing upward held horizontally by a shoulder strap. Oswald's Dobro attracted interest and fascination; he said, "People couldn't understand how I played it and what it was, and they'd always want to come around and look at it."<ref name="bradspos">{{cite web |title=Brad's Page of Steel |url=https://people.well.com/user/wellvis/oswald.html |website=people.well.com |access-date=January 3, 2021}}</ref> [[Josh Graves]] (Uncle Josh) further popularized the resonator steel guitar into [[Bluegrass music|Bluegrass]] music with [[Flatt and Scruggs]] to the extent that this type of lap steel became an established and familiar fixture in this genre.<ref name="carlindobro"/> The dobro fell out of favor in mainstream country music until a bluegrass revival in the 1970s brought it back with younger virtuoso players like [[Jerry Douglas]] whose Dobro skills became widely known and emulated.<ref name="carlindobro">{{cite book |last1=Carlin |first1=Richard |title=Country music : a biographical dictionary |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=9780415938020 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ZjrAgAAQBAJ&dq=dobro+in+hawaiian+music&pg=PA109 |access-date=January 2, 2021}}</ref>

====Electrification====
In 1934, a steel guitarist named [[George Beauchamp]] invented the electric guitar [[Pickup (music technology)|pickup]]. He found that a vibrating metal string in a magnetic field generates a small current that can be amplified and sent to a loudspeaker; his steel guitar was the world's first electric guitar.<ref name="history-channel">{{cite web|title=First-ever electric guitar patent awarded to the Electro String Corporation|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-ever-electric-guitar-patent-awarded-to-the-electro-string-corporation|website=history.com|publisher=[[A&E Television Networks]]|access-date=September 20, 2017}}</ref> According to music writer Michael Ross, the first electrified stringed instrument on a commercial recording was a steel guitar played by [[Bob Dunn (musician)|Bob Dunn]] on a Western swing tune in 1935.<ref name="dunn-oklahoma">{{cite web |last1=Foley |first1=Hugh W. Jr. |website=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture |title=Dunn, Robert Lee (1908–1971) |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/D/DU009.html |publisher=[[Oklahoma Historical Society]] |access-date=May 8, 2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905014233/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/D/DU009.html |archive-date=September 5, 2008}}</ref> Dunn recorded with [[Milton Brown]] and his Musical Brownies.<ref name="milton-brown">{{cite book |last1=Ginell |first1=Cary |title=Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing |date=1994 |publisher=[[Univ. of Illinois Press]] |location=Urbana, IL |isbn=0-252-02041-3}}</ref>

====Western swing====

In the early 1930s, musicians adopted the newly-electrified lap steel guitar into a type of dance music known as "[[Western swing]]", a sub-genre of country music combined with [[Swing music|jazz swing]].<ref name="cundellthesis">{{cite web |last1=Cundell |first1=R. Guy S. |title=Across the South: The origins and development of the steel guitar in western swing |url=https://b0b.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Across-the-South.pdf |website=b0b.com |publisher=University of Adelaide |access-date=November 29, 2020 |ref=PhD Thesis, Elder Conservatorium of Music |location=Adelaide, Australia |date=July 1, 2019}}</ref> The design of this instrument and the way it was played underwent continual change as the music of the genre evolved.<ref name="cundellthesis"/> In the 1930s, [[Leon McAuliffe]] advanced steel guitar technique while playing in the western swing band [[Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys|Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys]].<ref name="playboypkrs">{{cite web |last1=Kienzle |first1=Rich |title=Bob's Playboy Pickers |url=https://www.vintageguitar.com/18687/bobs-playboy-pickers/ |website=vintageguitar.com |publisher=Vintage Guitar Magazine |access-date=November 22, 2020 |date=March 1, 2006}}</ref> In October, 1936, McAuliffe recorded "Steel Guitar Rag" with Wills' band on a Rickenbacker B–6 lap steel with phenomenal record sales.<ref name="playboypkrs"/> Steel guitarists felt a need to change tunings for different [[Voicing (music)|voicings]], so leading players added [[Multi-neck guitar|additional necks]] with different tunings on the same instrument.<ref name="boggsquad">{{cite journal |last1=Meeker |first1=Ward |title=Boggs' Quad |journal=Vintage Guitar Magazine |date=November 1, 2014 |url=https://www.vintageguitar.com/20992/boggs-quad/ |access-date=November 22, 2020}}</ref> The added bulk meant that the instrument could no longer be managed on the player's lap and required placement in a frame with legs and marketed as a "console" steel guitar. Prominent layers of that era, including [[Herb Remington]] and [[Noel Boggs]], added more necks and eventually played instruments with up to four different necks.<ref name="boggsquad"/>

====Honky-tonk====
By the late 1940s, the steel guitar featured prominently in "[[honky-tonk]]" style of country music. Honky-tonk singers who used a lap steel guitar in their musical arrangements included [[Hank Williams]], [[Lefty Frizzell]] and [[Webb Pierce]].[[File:Rickenbacker Console 758 tripleneck steel - 2011 TSGA Jamboree.jpg|thumb|alt=A Rickenbacker [[Multi-neck guitar|triple neck]] steel guitar| Rickenbacker Console 758 triple neck steel]] Most recordings of that era were made on a C6 neck (guitar tuned in a [[C6 tuning|C6 chord]]), sometimes called a "Texas tuning".<ref name="borisoffhowworks">{{cite web |last1=Borisoff |first1=Jason |title=How Pedal Steel Guitar Works |url=https://makingmusicmag.com/how-pedal-steel-guitar-works/ |website=makingmusicmag.com |publisher=[[Making Music (magazine)|Making Music Magazine]] |access-date=August 30, 2020}}</ref> Using tunings with [[Sixth chord|sixths]] and [[Ninth chord|ninths]] became common and identifiable with the steel guitar sound.<ref name="anderson">{{cite web|last1=Anderson|first1=Maurice|title=Pedal Steel Guitar, Back and To the Future!|url=https://www.b0b.com/infoedu/future1.htm|website=The Pedal Steel Pages |access-date=September 16, 2017 |date=2000}}</ref>

====Modern country music and pedal steel====
The original idea for adding pedals to a console guitar was simply to push a pedal and change the tuning of all the strings into a different tuning<ref name="anderson">{{cite web|last1=Anderson|first1=Maurice|title=Pedal Steel Guitar, Back and To the Future!|url=https://www.b0b.com/infoedu/future1.htm|website=The Pedal Steel Pages |access-date=September 16, 2017 |date=2000}}</ref> and thus obviate the need for an additional neck, but these early efforts were unsuccessful. Around 1948, [[Paul Bigsby]], a motorcycle shop foreman, designed a pedal system.<ref name="winnie-winston">{{cite book |last1=Winston |first1=Winnie |last2=Keith |first2=Bill |title=Pedal steel guitar |date=1975 |publisher=[[Oak Publications]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8256-0169-9|page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fzEZAQAAIAAJ}}</ref> He put pedals on a rack between the two front legs of a console steel guitar to create the [[pedal steel guitar]].<ref name="bigsby-ross">{{cite magazine |last1=Ross |first1=Michael |title=Forgotten Heroes: Paul Bigsby |url=https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Forgotten_Heroes_Paul_Bigsby?page=2 |magazine=[[Premier Guitar Magazine]] |access-date=September 11, 2017 |date=November 17, 2011}}</ref> The pedals operated a mechanical linkage to apply tension to raise the pitch of certain strings.<ref name="bigsby-ross"/> In 1953, musician [[Bud Isaacs]] used Bigsby's invention to change the pitch of only two of the strings, and was the first to push the pedal while notes were still sounding.<ref name="hawaiian-electric"/>[[File:Sound of steel guitar (pedal).ogg|thumb|Western Swing played on a pedal steel guitar]] When Isaacs first used the setup on the 1954 recording of Webb Pierce's song called "[[Slowly (Webb Pierce song)|Slowly]]", he pushed the pedal while playing a chord, so certain notes could be heard bending up from below into the existing chord to harmonize with the other strings, creating a stunning effect which had not been possible with on a lap steel.<ref name="hawaiian-electric"/>  It was the birth of a new sound that was particularly embraced by fans of [[Country-and-Western Music|country and western music]], and it caused a virtual revolution among steel players who wanted to duplicate it.<ref name="brenner">{{cite web|last1=Brenner|first1=Patrick|title=Early History of the Steel Guitar|url=http://steelguitaramerica.com/instruction/history/|website=steelguitaramerica.com|publisher=Patrick Brenner|access-date=June 29, 2017}}</ref><ref name="winnie-winston"/> Almost simultaneously, an entire musical subculture took a radical stylistic tack.<ref name="cundellthesis">{{cite web |last1=Cundell |first1=R. Guy S. |title=Across the South: The origins and development of the steel guitar in western swing |url=https://b0b.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Across-the-South.pdf |website=b0b.com |publisher=University of Adelaide |access-date=November 29, 2020 |ref=PhD Thesis, Elder Conservatorium of Music |location=Adelaide, Australia |date=July 1, 2019}}</ref>  Even though pedal steel guitars had been available for over a decade before this recording, the instrument emerged as a crucial element in country music after the success of this song.<ref name="hawaiian-electric"/> When the lap steel was thus superseded by the pedal steel, the inherent Hawaiian influence was brought into the new sound of country music emerging in [[Nashville]] in the 1950s.<ref name="cundellthesis"/> This sound became associated with American country music for the ensuing several decades.

===Gospel music===
In the United States in the 1930s, the steel guitar was introduced into religious music, a tradition called "[[Sacred Steel (musical tradition)|Sacred Steel]]". The congregation of the House of God, a branch of an African-American [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] denomination, based primarily in [[Nashville]] and [[Indianapolis]], embraced the lap steel guitar. The steel guitar often took the place of an organ and its sound bore no resemblance to typical American country music.<ref name="stone">{{cite book|last1=Stone|first1=Robert L.|title=Sacred steel : inside an African American steel guitar tradition |date=2010 |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |location=Urbana |isbn=978-0252-03554-8 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=isPbiH_Qh8IC}}</ref>

[[The Campbell Brothers|Darick Campbell]] (1966–2020) was a lap steel player for the gospel band, the [[The Campbell Brothers|Campbell Brothers]], who took the musical tradition from the church to international fame.<ref name="mcardlepost">{{cite news |last1=McArdle |first1=Terence |title=Darick Campbell, gospel musician who upheld sacred steel tradition, dies at 53 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/darick-campbell-gospel-musician-who-upheld-sacred-steel-tradition-dies-at-53/2020/06/16/9c4080e0-af12-11ea-8758-bfd1d045525a_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=January 10, 2021 |date=June 16, 2020}}</ref> Campbell played an electric Hawaiian lap steel:<ref name="mcardlepost"/> a [[Fender Musical Instruments Corporation|Fender]] Stringmaster 8-string (Fender Deluxe-8).<ref name="volklap"/> Campbell was skilled at mimicking the human singing voice with his guitar. The idea of  Campbell's recordings with the [[Allman Brothers]] and other Blues and Rock artists was not well-received by church leaders.<ref name="spevacdarick">{{cite news |last1=Spevak |first1=Jeff |title=20 Shows to put on your list |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/111642328/?terms=%22Darick%20Campbell%22&match=1 |access-date=January 10, 2021 |issue=257 |publisher=Rochester Democrat and Chronicle |date=September 14, 2014 |volume=182 |page=8–C}}</ref>

In the 1980s, a minister's son named [[Robert Randolph and the Family Band|Robert Randolph]] took up the pedal steel as a teenager, popularized it in this genre and received critical acclaim as a musician.<ref name="sacred-steel">{{cite web|last1=Hansen|first1=Liane|last2=Wharton|first2=Ned|title=Heavenly 'Sacred Steel' |url=https://www.npr.org/programs/wesun/features/2001/aug/robertrandolph/010805.robertrandolph.html |website=npr.org |publisher=[[NPR]] |access-date=July 1, 2020 |date=August 5, 2001}}</ref> Neil Strauss, writing in ''[[The New York Times]]'', called Randolph "one of the most original and talented pedal steel guitarists of his generation".<ref name="strauss">{{cite news |last1=Strauss |first1=Neil |title=Making Spirits Rock From Church to Clubland; A Gospel Pedal Steel Guitarist Dives Into Pop |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/30/arts/making-spirits-rock-church-clubland-gospel-pedal-steel-guitarist-dives-into-pop.html?mcubz=3 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=July 1, 2020|date=April 30, 2001}}</ref>

===Other world music===
====Indian music====
The steel guitar's popularity in India began with a Hawaiian immigrant who settled in [[Calcutta]] in the 1940s named [[Tau Moe]] (pronounced mo-ay).<ref name="hawaiian-conquest"/> Moe taught Hawaiian guitar style and made steel guitars, and helped popularize  the instrument in India.<ref name="hindustani">{{cite magazine |last1=Ellis |first1=Andy |title=The Secret World of Hindustani Slide |url=https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/The_Secret_World_of_Hindustani_Slide |magazine=[[Premier Guitar Magazine]] |access-date=September 17, 2017 |date=June 8, 2012}}</ref> By the 1960s, the steel had become a common instrument in [[Indian popular music]]—later included in [[Filmi|film soundtracks]]. Indian musicians typically play the lap steel while sitting on the floor and have modified the instrument by using, for example, three melody strings (played with steel bar and finger picks), four plucked drone strings, and 12 sympathetic strings to buzz like a [[sitar]].<ref name="bhatt-video">{{cite web|last1=Bhatt|first1=Vishwa Mohan|title="Raag Kirwani"(song)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyEW-aWuTQ0| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211113/gyEW-aWuTQ0| archive-date=2021-11-13 | url-status=live|website=youtube.com|publisher=[[YouTube]]|access-date=September 15, 2017|date=August 28, 2011}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Performing in this manner, the Indian musician [[Brij Bhushan Kabra]] adapted the steel guitar to play ''[[ragas]]'', traditional Indian compositions and is called the father of the genre of [[Hindustani classical music|Hindustani]] Slide Guitar.<ref name="hindustani"/>

====Māori music====
The [[Māori people|Māori]] in the 1920s readily adopted the instrument following their fascination with musicians like [[Ernest Kaʻai]] and [[David Luela Kaili]] travelling across [[New Zealand]], fascinated of their informed similar ancestry while also receiving very positively of their performances.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Troutman |first1=John W. |title=The Steel Heard ‘Round the World: Exposing the Global Reach of Indigenous Musical Journeys with the Hawaiian Steel Guitar |journal=Itinerario |date=August 2017 |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=258-61 |doi=10.1017/s0165115317000365}}</ref> [[Eruera Hita]] (or stagename "Mati Hita") was the pioneer of the instrument among New Zealanders.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bourke |first=Chris |title=Book of the Week: A brief history of the power and glory of Māori popular music |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/02-11-2017/book-of-the-week-a-brief-history-of-the-power-and-glory-of-maori-popular-music |website=[[The Spinoff]] |access-date=5 September 2024 |date=2 November 2017}}</ref>

==Lap steel guitars==
{{Main|Lap steel guitar}}

Early lap steel guitars were traditional guitars tuned to a chord and modified by raising the strings away from the frets. After the electric pickup was invented, lap steels no longer needed any resonant chamber, thus newer designs began to resemble the traditional guitar shape less and less. These instruments were played resting across musicians' knees. George Beauchamp's  invention, which he nicknamed the "[[Frying Pan (guitar)|Frying Pan]]", was officially called the "[[Rickenbacker]] Electro A–22", an electric lap steel guitar produced from 1931 to 1939. It was the first electric stringed instrument of any kind and was the first electric stringed instrument to be heard on a commercial recording.<ref name="premier-ross"/> Steel players, including [[Noel Boggs]] and [[Alvino Rey]], immediately embraced the new instrument.<ref name="wrightstyle"/>

The [[Dobro]] is a type of acoustic lap steel with a resonator; the word is commonly used as a generic term to describe [[Bluegrass music|bluegrass]] resonator lap steels of any brand. Bluegrass dobro players often use a "Stevens bar" which has a deep groove in it to allow the steel to be grasped more firmly so it can be lifted and angled vertically downward slightly for playing single notes.<ref name="dobrobook">{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=Stacy |title=Mel Bay's Complete Dobro Player |date=1996 |publisher=[[Mel Bay]] |location=Pacific, Missouri |page=16 |isbn=9781610658768 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5ZvV5egY2oC&q=dobro+playing+techniques |access-date=July 20, 2020}}</ref> The technique also allows for [[hammer-on]] or [[pull-off]] notes when there is an adjacent open string.<ref name="dobrotechniq">{{cite web |last1=Witcher |first1=Mike |title=Beginning Dobro|url=https://pegheadnation.com/string-school/courses/beginning-dobro/ |website=pegheadnation.com |publisher=Peghead Nation, Fairfax, California |access-date=July 19, 2020}}</ref> Dobro players often slant the bar horizontally when playing to change an interval between two or more notes played simultaneously on different strings.<ref name="dobrobook"/>

==Console steel guitars==
{{Main|Console steel guitar}}

The console steel is any type electric steel guitar that rests on legs in a frame and is designed to be played in a seated position. The console steel usually has multiple necks—up to a maximum of four—each tuned differently. In the evolution of the steel guitar, the console steel is intermediate between the lap steel and the pedal steel.

==Pedal steel guitars==

{{Main|Pedal steel guitar}}
[[File:Zumsteel.jpg|right|thumb|alt= A console pedal steel guitar with two necks |[[Pedal steel guitar]].]]
The pedal steel guitar is an electric console instrument with one or two necks, each typically with ten strings. The neck tuned to C6 (Texas tuning) is closer to the player and the [[Chord letters|E9]] (Nashville tuning) neck is further from the player.<ref name="borisoffhowworks"/> It may have up to ten pedals and a separate volume pedal, and up to eight knee levers are used to alter the tuning of various strings, allowing more varied and complex music than any other steel guitar. As an example, use of the pedals and knee levers in various combinations allows the player to play a major scale without moving the bar.<ref name="steel-pages">{{cite web |last1=Lee |first1=Bobby |title=Basic Theory of the Standard E9th Tuning |url=https://b0b.com/wp/?page_id=960 |website=The Pedal Steel Pages |access-date=December 9, 2017 |date=1996}}</ref> The invention of the instrument was set in motion by the need to play more interesting and varied music that was not possible on previous steel guitars and to obviate the need for additional necks on console steels.

==Steels and slides==
{{Main|Steel bar}}

[[File:Steel bar (tonebar) used in playing steel guitar.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|alt= A steel bar called the tonebar | Steel bar (tonebar) used in playing steel guitar. What appear to be frets on this guitar are only markers, not real frets.]]A "steel" is a hard, smooth object pressed against guitar strings and is the reason for the name "steel guitar". It may go by many names, including "[[Steel bar|steel]]", "tone bar", "slide", "bottleneck" and others. A cylindrical-shaped steel with a bullet-shape on one end is typical in console steel and pedal steel playing. Lap steel and Dobro players often use a steel bar with squared-off ends and a deep groove for firmer grip. It has a cross section that resembles a railroad track. Another type of steel is a tubular object around a finger then referred to as a "slide"; that style of playing is called "slide guitar".

==See also==
*[[Lap steel ukulele]]
*[[Slack-key guitar]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.steelguitarforum.com Steel Guitar Forum] - A forum where steel players and enthusiasts get together and discuss steel guitar.
*[http://www.hsga.org Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association] - An organization that promotes the development of steel guitar with worldwide membership.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steel Guitar}}
[[Category:Steel guitar| ]]
[[Category:Acoustic guitars]]
[[Category:Blues instruments]]
[[Category:Electric guitars]]
[[Category:Guitar performance techniques]]
[[Category:Continuous pitch instruments]]
[[Category:American musical instruments]]