pedal steel

noun

variants or pedal steel guitar

plural pedal steels or pedal steel guitars

: a box-shaped electric steel guitar with legs that has usually 10 strings which can be altered in pitch by the use of pedals and which are plucked while being pressed with a movable steel bar

[Ben] Keith broke into the business playing pedal steel on Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces" …—

Kevin Dettmar

compare hawaiian guitar, lap steel

Examples of pedal steel in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Combined with scrape-y, ethereal electric guitar and pedal steel sounds, the track has a mysterious, ominous tone, eventually giving way to a subtle spiritual current created by a string section led by arranger David Davidson, who overdubbed a quartet multiple times. —

Tom Roland, Billboard, 16 July 2024 Super fan Ray Padgett was on site with early reports that gospel-era drummer Jim Keltner was taking over from Jerry Pentecost, and pedal steel player Donnie Herron was out after a 19-year stint in the band. —

Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 22 June 2024 The cover art of Boca Chueca was designed by Alan Ortega, a member of León’s band who plays the pedal steel guitar but is also a painter. —

Leila Cobo, Billboard, 20 May 2024 She’s backed by a terrific Americana band featuring Maurice Tani on guitar (who will also perform a solo opening set), David Phillips on pedal steel, Henry Salvia on piano, Mike Anderson on bass and Ken Owen on drums. —

Randy McMullen, The Mercury News, 8 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for pedal steel

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pedal steel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.