This is one of the most common questions I get from people who are curious about steel guitar. They've heard the instrument — in a classic country record, a Hawaiian tune, a piece of Americana — and want to know whether to start on lap steel or pedal steel. The question makes sense because the two instruments look related and sound related, but playing them is a genuinely different experience.

I play both. Here's what I know about the difference, and what I'd actually recommend.

What Each Instrument Is

Lap Steel

A lap steel is exactly what it sounds like: a guitar-like instrument that you lay across your lap, then play with a metal bar in one hand and pick with the other. There are no frets — the bar controls pitch as you slide it along the strings. Lap steels come in six, seven, or eight strings, are typically tuned to an open chord, and have no mechanical add-ons. What you see is what you get.

The sound varies enormously depending on the era and the style. Hawaiian lap steel has a particular warmth and sustain. The amplified lap steel of early country music — the Speedy West style, the Western swing sound — is bright and singing. The resonator guitar (Dobro) is an acoustic cousin that sits in the same family. All of these instruments share the core technique: bar in one hand, picking in the other, pitches determined by bar placement and open tuning.

Pedal Steel

Pedal steel starts with the same basic concept — horizontal instrument, steel bar, open tuning — and then adds a layer of mechanical complexity that changes everything. A pedal steel has foot pedals and knee levers that raise or lower specific strings by a half or whole step while you're playing. This lets you produce chord changes, scale passages, and the signature "crying" bends that are central to modern country steel.

The standard pedal steel in country music has ten strings, two main foot pedals (labeled A and B), and three knee levers, though configurations vary. The instrument is larger, heavier, and significantly more expensive than a lap steel.

How They Compare

Category Lap Steel Pedal Steel
Entry cost (used) $100–$500 $500–$1,500+
Portability Lightweight, easy to travel with Heavy, requires a stand
Mechanical complexity Simple — bar and strings only High — pedals, knee levers, multiple tuning options
Coordination required Two hands Two hands, two feet, two knees
Styles served Hawaiian, early country, blues, Dobro styles Modern country, Western swing, Americana, Nashville style
Time to first musical results Weeks to a few months Months to a year

The Coordination Gap

The single biggest practical difference for a beginner is coordination. On lap steel, your left hand moves the bar while your right hand picks. That's a real skill to develop, and it takes time to do it cleanly — but it's fundamentally a two-hand coordination problem, not unlike learning any other stringed instrument.

On pedal steel, you're adding foot pedals and knee levers to the same two-hand equation. The pedals don't replace anything you were already doing; they add to it. You still need clean bar technique and good right-hand picking — and now your feet and knees also have to be in the right place at the right moment for the chord change you want. For most people, the first few months on pedal steel involve a lot of moments where one of those four things — hands, feet, knees — falls apart.

This isn't a reason not to play pedal steel. It's a reason to know what you're getting into.

The Sound Question

Both instruments make beautiful sounds, but they're suited to different musical contexts. If the music you love is modern country — post-1960s Nashville, the crying steel in classic Merle Haggard or Emmylou Harris records, the steel on contemporary Americana — you're hearing pedal steel, and lap steel won't produce that specific sound. The pedals are what make it.

If the music you love is Hawaiian, early country, Western swing, or acoustic folk and bluegrass, lap steel and Dobro can serve that music directly. The sound of the unamplified open tuning, the Hawaiian-influenced sustain, the early country twang — these are lap steel sounds that pedal steel doesn't replicate as naturally.

The honest answer to "which should I learn first" often comes down to this: which sound do you actually want to make? Start there.

My Recommendation

If your goal is to play modern country or Nashville-style steel, you should start on pedal steel. Learning lap steel first as a "stepping stone" is a reasonable idea in theory, but in practice most people find that the techniques don't transfer as cleanly as expected, and they end up having to relearn a lot of things on the pedal steel anyway. Better to start where you want to end up.

If your goal is Hawaiian music, early country, Western swing, or Dobro-style bluegrass, start on lap steel. The instrument is more accessible, less expensive, and directly suited to the music you want to play.

If you're genuinely interested in both instruments and drawn to the full range of steel guitar music, consider starting on lap steel to build the core bar and picking technique. The skills do transfer to some degree, and the lower barrier to entry means you'll make musical progress faster at first. Then move to pedal steel when you're ready to add the mechanical complexity.

What They Have in Common

Both instruments require the same fundamental skill: controlling a steel bar across strings with accuracy, consistency, and good tone. Intonation — playing in tune — depends entirely on bar placement and angle. Vibrato is developed slowly, through thousands of repetitions. The right hand's relationship with a thumbpick and two or three fingerpicks is its own craft.

These core skills are where most beginners need the most help early on. They're also the skills most likely to suffer without good instruction — because it's very hard to see from the outside whether your bar angle is off by a degree or your pick attack is too heavy. A teacher who knows the instrument can catch these things immediately.

On either instrument, getting foundational technique right at the start is the difference between a player who improves steadily and one who plateaus and wonders why.