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"Steel Guitar"
in the Hawaiian language
Steel guitar = a guitar (kika) with strings raised
above the fretboard played with a steel bar (kila) manipulated
with the left hand. The guitar also has been called 'kikala
Hawai`i', 'kikala maoli', and 'kikala anuunuu'. This
style of guitar playing is said to have originated in the Hawaiian
Islands in the mid to late 1880's with as many as three
different persons.
Over the more than one hundred years that have passed since
its inception, the guitar has evolved into two basic types, 1)
the original Hawaiian style or non-pedal and 2)
the instrument most identified with American country music, the
pedal steel guitar. Both are played with a steel
bar; however, the tuning of each string of the non-pedal guitar
is fixed while it is being played, while the tuning on many of
the strings on the pedal steel guitar can be changed with a system
of pedals and linkages while the guitar is being played. This
page will address only the electric non-pedal
type guitar. |