Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context uncountable English) A method of playing slide guitar using a steel (a kind of slide). 2 (context countable English) Any of several types of guitar designed to be played using this method.
WordNet
n. guitar whose steel strings are twanged while being pressed with a movable steel bar for a glissando effect [syn: Hawaiian guitar]
Wikipedia
Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use of a bar or slide called a steel (generally made of metal, but also of glass or other materials). The earliest use of an electrified steel guitar was first made in the early 1930s by Bob Dunn of Milton Brown and His Brownies, the original Western Swing Band from Fort Worth, Texas; the instrument was perfected in the mid to late 1930s by Fort Worth's Leon McAluff, who played for Western Swing's greatest band ever, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Nashville later picked up the use of the steel guitar in the early days of the late 1940s and early 1950s "Honky Tonk" country & western music with a number of fine steel guitarists backing names like :Hank Williams, Lefty Frizell and Webb Pierce. The term steel guitar is often mistakenly used to describe any metal body resophonic guitar.
Steel guitar can describe:
- The slide technique of playing slide guitar is generally by using a steel bar. Resonator guitars, including round necked varieties, are particularly suitable for this style, yet are seldom referred to as "steel guitars", but rather referred to generally as a Dobro, acoustic slide guitar, or square neck resonator guitars. Dobro is also a brand name of one of the leading manufacturers of resonator guitars.
- A specialized instrument built for playing in steel guitar fashion. These are of several types:
-
Lap steel guitar, which may be:
- Lap slide guitar, with a conventional wooden guitar box.
- The square-necked variety of resonator guitar.
- Electric lap steel guitar.
- Electric console steel guitar.
- Electric pedal steel guitar.
-
Lap steel guitar, which may be:
Usage examples of "steel guitar".
The C sharp walked down to B again, but this time it belonged to a clean, simple G chord, supported by a steel guitar and the trapping of bluegrass, a comparatively happy sound that only lasted for the first four lines as that voice - that voice!
More hurting sounds came to her, like the quick, high whine of notes played on a steel guitar, but Swan knew she had to endure them.
It was Judy who insisted that Florsheim learn to play the steel guitar with an electronic booster, and she also encouraged the big slob to dress in disreputable costumes so as to set off Kelly's grandeur, but there were two problems concerning the huge Hawaiian that not even Judy could solve.
It was all just Boomer pop with the addition of a steel guitar or fiddle, so far as she was concerned.
The sound of a steel guitar, alone and searching over the dark miles of woods and meadows and roads, has always had the power to break my heart in two.
At the far end there was a wide stage, raised about seven feet, upon which stood a small choir singing excruciatingly hoaky countrified hymns to the accompaniment of a woman strumming a steel guitar, which Steff thought should be confiscated with the instruction that she'd get it back when she had learned what such a fine instrument should really be used for.
He read spy novels, listened to the country western radio station out of Guam until he thought that if he heard one more wailing steel guitar, he'd rip the rest of his hair out.