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

The album’s calmer passages feel like a more complete version of the leisurely pedal steel ambient that’s proliferated in recent years—surging with too much emotion for the strings to contain, too much atmosphere to fit on a postcard. —H.d. Angel, Pitchfork, 4 Mar. 2026

Ballantyne and Noble will be joined by Heather Kollmer and Karen Samata (vocals), Leslie Walle-Santos (drums), Mike Fleming (guitar) and Gabriel Stutz (pedal steel). —Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune, 4 Mar. 2026

Currently, Clay Street Unit is Walker on guitar and vocals, mandolinist Scottie Bolin, pedal steel player Brad Larrison, drummer Brendan Lamb, bassist Jack Kotarba, and fiddle player Dan Andree. —Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 3 Mar. 2026

With roses snaked around the mic stands to match the roses on her cowboy hat, Kirke strummed acoustic guitar with minimal accompaniment — pedal steel guitar, bass and drums. —Ed Masley, AZCentral.com, 27 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1959, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for pedal steel

• afebrile
• bookmobile
• cochineal
• nonideal
• peroneal
• philomel
• popliteal
• snowmobile
• waterwheel
• abele
• alkyl
• anneal