Is The Steel Guitar Misnomered?

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 27 Jan 2004 11:16 pm

Much like the vehicles we drive, and call them everything but automobiles, the "steel guitar" is referred to by other titles. Sometimes I search for the logic in calling our favorite instrument a "steel guitar". The main body of the instrument is not "steel". The early "Dobro" consists of a solid brass body. Steel guitars are referred to, as my "Emmons", or my "Sho-Bud", etc. I'm thinking about a change, that would be descripive in naming the instrument.

Bill H.

Billy Wilson · Post by **Billy Wilson** » 28 Jan 2004 12:41 am

When people ask me what I play, I like saying Steel Guitar. BW

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 28 Jan 2004 12:45 am

Poverty Induction Device.

?

EJL

Tom Althoff · Post by **Tom Althoff** » 28 Jan 2004 5:14 am

I usually refer to it as "my Pedal Steel Guitar" or "my Pedal Steel".

If the material, functionality and playing skill should be considered when naming the device my Sierra would be called:

"Heavy Aluminum Bi-directional Sonic Torture Device" (Oh no! Another STD to worry about!) Bi-directional in that there are times that it frustrates me to play it and annoys my wife to hear it played.

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 28 Jan 2004 7:02 am

I was trying to be neighborly the other day, trying to explain the makings of a pedal steel to a neighbor. He was all but certain that I was talking about my bicycle. There are literally thousands of people who haven't a clue of what a pedal steel guitar is in reality.

Bill H.

Bill Llewellyn · Post by **Bill Llewellyn** » 28 Jan 2004 7:16 am

Bill, I've been trying to play PSG for about 4 years, now. I think I still don't have a clue about what it is!

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Bill, steelin' since '99 | Steel page | My music | Steelers' birthdays | Over 50?

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 28 Jan 2004 7:33 am

Explain it this way... the pedal steel guitar is a stringed instrumnent that's a cross between an ironing board and a pipe organ. It was specifically designed by the elders, years ago, to promote insanity.

David Doggett · Post by **David Doggett** » 28 Jan 2004 8:29 am

Once when we were moving equipment out after a show, an old guy offered to help us. He picked up my pedal steel in its case and was amazed at how heavey it was. "What's this?" he asked. "It's a steel guitar." I said. As he lugged it out the door, he asked in complete seriousness, "Why the hell do they have to make them out of steel?"

But seriously, steel guitars can be made out of anything, but are played with a steel bar. This terminology fits with "bottleneck" and "slide guitar" (which are generally understood, at least my musicians, not to be lap steels or pedal steels). Steel guitars with pedals are called "pedal steels," which succintly names the two things that make it different from all other guitars. Seems pretty natural to me. I'm not sure changeing the name would help any with the public ignorance.

But actually, "electric Hawaiian pedal guitar" would be the descriptive term most recognizable by the public. Whenever, I tell someone I play pedal steel, and they don't get it, I say, "You know, a horizontal Hawaiian guitar on legs, that you play with a slide." That always seems to do the trick, no matter what kind of music you are actually playing.

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 28 Jan 2004 8:31 am

Ray M.,

I'm sure you will agree that the benefits derived from playing the P.S.G. far outweigh, and overshadow the frustration, of trying to do "hurdles" too soon. The practice sessions help in putting the mind to work. It's always rewarding to find new and better techniques on the instrument, as you enter into advanced studies.

Bill H

Pat Burns · Post by **Pat Burns** » 28 Jan 2004 8:48 am

...apparently, the way of the future would have us call it a "Plastic Guitar"...

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 28 Jan 2004 9:21 am

Well,,, I sure get a kick out of seeing other musician's faces, and hearing their exclamations of disbelief, when I tell them to look under my guitar so they can see what makes it work.

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 28 Jan 2004 9:54 am

Pat B.,

Calling our instrument a guitar is the equivalence of calling the Wright brothers' first plane a supersonic jet, or space vehicle.
I believe the misnomer first took place when the first lap steel was built. Certainly the instrument that Webster desribes as a flat-bodied stringed instrument, with a long fretted neck, usually with 6 strings from circa 1621, hardly fits to a 14 string pedaled instrument. The old brass "Dobros" were nothing more than a guitar with a raised half round to elevate the strings, which would allow the pressure needed to play away from the frets below the bar. When the move was made to the instrument that we play today, nothing prevented the original brass guitar concept, from bringing about the misnomer.

Bill H.

Pat Burns · Post by **Pat Burns** » 28 Jan 2004 10:04 am

...so, how about "horizontal harp"...

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 28 Jan 2004 10:14 am

Pat B.,

Good Pat, but no cigar!

Bill H.

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 28 Jan 2004 10:16 am

I personally call it 'my guitar' and if anyone has a puzzled look, I explain to them and show them how it really IS a guitar -- not an organ or an egg slicer or ironing board. That usually settles it -- albeit one person at a time.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 28 Jan 2004 10:34 am

I was trying to be neighborly the other day, trying to explain the makings of a pedal steel to a neighbor. He was all but certain that I was talking about my bicycle.

He's not the only one who has a hard time understanding you, Bill.

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 28 Jan 2004 10:46 am

Bobby Lee,

Thanks Bobby, but rest assured I admire your contributions, and for giving me the liberties to try to express some of my thoughts on your forum. I can't thank you enough for your great patience in allowing members to speak out.

Bill H.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 28 Jan 2004 11:32 am

Over here 90% of people including guitar players have no clue,
even with me sitting behind it after playing it,
unless I say Hawaiian guitar, then there is a glimmer of recognition...
in some.

But they all like it ; what ever it is.

Bar guitar,
Pedaled slide guitar
Tunable slide guitar
20 string poly-chordal glisando guitar

Pedal Steel Guitar... just sounds better.
[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 28 January 2004 at 11:36 AM.]

Walter Stettner · Post by **Walter Stettner** » 28 Jan 2004 11:49 am

For us European players who come from a non-English speaking country (like Austria - we speak german) it's even harder because it gets mixed up with the German word "Stil" (which means "style" in English. People walking up to the bandstand have asked numerous times what kind of instrument that is (sythezizer, harp, zither?), some of my bandmates usually call it "egg-cutter" (you know, the one you use for boiled eggs). Well, I never tried that so far, but who knows...?

Regards, Walter
www.austriansteelguitar.at.tf

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Rick Collins · Post by **Rick Collins** » 28 Jan 2004 12:22 pm

Is The Steel Guitar Misnomered?

NO!

Pat Burns · Post by **Pat Burns** » 28 Jan 2004 1:12 pm

...actually, I believe "misnomered" is a misnomer...

...you can have a gerund, which is a verbal form that functions as a noun...an example would be a "turkey shoot"...

...but a misnomer, or wrong name, is a noun...I don't believe there is a properly accepted way to turn it into a verb form, as "misnomered" attempts to do...

...the proper way to phrase the question would be, "is the steel guitar misnamed"...

20 string poly-chordal glisando guitar

...David, that sounds a lot like Harry Chapin's monophonic symphony, six string orchestra...
[This message was edited by Pat Burns on 28 January 2004 at 01:15 PM.]

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 28 Jan 2004 1:19 pm

Walter S.,

I appreciate hearing from you from the locale where great symphonists, and doctors once roamed the streets, and beautiful countryside.
The brevity of the ensuing comments, from the latest entries is a strong indicator, that my argument is falling out of favor. I am planning to dwell on the issue privately, in my belief that something is amiss in what the instrument truly represents. In the first place, the tuning is totally different, and this alone should get the wheels turning in matters of thought.

Bill H. [This message was edited by Bill Hankey on 28 January 2004 at 01:22 PM.]

Pat Burns · Post by **Pat Burns** » 28 Jan 2004 1:41 pm

...well, Bill...our most commonly accepted source of definitions in the English language here in the USA, Webster's Dictionary, gives the following definitions:

guitar - n. A musical instrument, usually with 6 strings, that is played by strumming or plucking.

steel guitar - n. A Hawaiian guitar.

Hawaiian guitar - n. An electric guitar with 6 to 8 strings that are plucked while being pressed with a steel bar.

...so far it seems that Websters is fine with the nomenclature as it currently exists...

...Webster's doesn't have an entry for "pedal steel guitar", but the following entry is under "pedal"..

pedal - n. A lever, as on a musical instrument, that is operated by the foot.

...I think if you just add the word "pedal", as defined above, to the previously defined "steel guitar", and you would have a generally accepted compound word "pedal steel guitar" to describe what we play...if it's good enough for Webster, it's good enough for me...

Bill Hankey · Post by **Bill Hankey** » 28 Jan 2004 1:46 pm

Pat B.,

You may very well be correct. Time will tell after I review the word in a library edition, that comprises more advanced usages. It will require a couple of days to get over there, due to the storm. My eyes may have deceived me, and I will be sure to report back to you. Thanks for helping to improve my understanding of proper English.

Bill H.[This message was edited by Bill Hankey on 28 January 2004 at 04:04 PM.]

Leslie Ehrlich · Post by **Leslie Ehrlich** » 28 Jan 2004 2:03 pm

When I was about eight or nine years old I knew nothing about music and I couldn't tell the difference between an electric guitar, an archtop guitar, and an electric bass. I just assumed they were all electric guitars. But I did know what a steel guitar was. Some thirty years later I bought a PSG, and after having to lift it several times I know why it's called a steel guitar.