Steel Guitar

Definition: The steel guitar differs from a regular guitar in the way that it's played. The lap steel guitar is held on your lap facing you. The strings are raised above the fretboard; rather than pressing them to the fretboard, a steel bar is pressed against the strings. The pedal steel guitar is distantly related to the Hawaiian steel. It's a very complicated instrument to learn, and in country music circles it's considered to be the instrument that separates the men from the boys.