Pedal Steel Guitar

History of the Pedal Steel Guitar

The pedal steel guitar is thought to have originated in Hawaii where its earliest ancestor is the first 6-string lap guitar. The guitar arrived in Hawaii via European travellers in the 19th century. In the late 19th century, legend has it that a young musician named Joseph Kekuku created a steel bar and metallic picks through the help of his teacher. He developed a style by using these components on a small steel-string guitar played on his lap. This metallic, sliding sound had a wailing effect that very quickly became popular among guitar players in Hawaii. This steel-string guitar style made its way to the United States where, by the 1930s, an oblong shape was developed by musical instruments producers. Electrification of this instrument began in the same decade with early models by Ro-Pat-In (later Rickenbacher). This louder sound introduced the steel-string sound to bands.Pedals were developed during the 1940s in order to allow the instrument to play a major scale without moving the bar up or down the neck. At this time larger instrument makers such as Gibson entered the market with models like the Electraharp. Originally, multiple necks had to be used to enable different tunings, however, these models became less popular as the pedal steel guitar design was improved. By the 1950s and 60s, country and western had adopted the pedal steel guitar which catapulted its popularity in the United States. Today, the instrument can be heard on thousands of popular recordings in rock, country, folk, bluegrass and many other genres.

Inventor: Joseph Kekuku