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The Dobro or resonater guitar was developed about 100 years ago when the guitar was introduced to the Hawaiians who adapted it to suit their traditions. Steel strings were introduced, the frets were raised and the sound chamber enlarged to incorporate a hollow neck. Made of wood or metal it has a loud nasal tone which became popular with country steel guitarists.
The Pedal Steel Guitar comes in various sizes with one to three necks each containing 6 to 10 strings. These rest on a box and stand with a set of pedals linked to the roller bridge which lower and raise the pitch. This enables the player to change complete tunings. There is a bridge lever for each string which are pivoted on a rod to make up the bridge assembly and tuned using keys at the end of the neck.
The Non-Pedal Steel guitar can be many shapes from the rounded banjo style to those built like pedal steels but without the pedals! The player sits with the guitar placed on its back across the lap, on a table or a stand.
 More than one neck can be built on either with the most common being the double neck, ten string type with two sets of strings, each tuned to an open chord. They are played by plucking the strings with fingerpicks and running a hard object along the strings. This is known as a 'slide' which can be a hollow metal bar that is worn on the finger, a solid metal bar held in the hand or even an empty bottle!
They are difficult instruments to play with complicated tunings which take time and practice to learn. Both types are popular in blues, hawaiian, country and folk music.
Steel Guitar Books
Lessons & Tab
Resources & Links
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- Brad's Page of Steel Everything you need to know about the Steel Guitar in its various forms.
- Carter Steel Guitars information and links to Factory direct steel guitars, Pedal Steel Guitar, Carter Steel Guitars Home and other resources.
- The Pedal Steel Pages an affiliation of sites of interest to slide guitarists. Players forum, tuning information, webring and articles.
- Steel Guitar information and description of steel and pedal steel guitars.
- Steel Guitars.com manufacturer and retailer of pedal steel guitars site where you can also learn the various parts in a steel guitar, an illustration of a pedal steel guitar and questions and answers about pedal steel guitars in general.
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