How to Use Slides and Steels in Acoustic Guitar

A steel guitar is a regular guitar that's held on your lap and played with a steel bar that's pressed onto the guitar strings. Steel guitars may also be tuned differently than traditional guitars. They were originally used in Hawaiian music but steel guitars are now popular in almost all forms of music.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Tune your guitar to an open tuning. The most common tuning for a steel guitar is open G. You can also experiment with different tunings to achieve the sound that you like the best. You can change the tuning for each song or use regular guitar tuning.

2. Lay your guitar across your lap with the bass strings closest to you.

3. Use a steel, also known as a slide, on the fret instead of using your fingers. There are several varieties of slides so you might need to try several out until you find the one that best fits your style.

4. Pick the strings using a plastic thumb pick and two metal finger picks on your right hand. You can use the thumb to play melody in Hawaiian style music or to play faster notes in other music styles by alternating between the thumb and the other fingers.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a square-necked guitar. The steel will not work properly with a round-necked guitar.
• You can achieve unique sounds by playing various different instruments in the steel guitar style. In addition to regular acoustic guitars, resonators, Spanish guitars and table steel guitars are popular instruments.