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

For Best Traditional, expect fiddles, pedal steel, banjo, and mandolin on many of the albums — and both newcomers and country legends alike nominated for awards. —Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 10 Oct. 2025

Swaths of pedal steel and a relentless percussion give the song drive and energy, while their voices have a seamless chemistry. —Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 29 Sep. 2025

A touch of piano and pedal steel guitar bracket verses that swing upward to meet a chorus steeped in Sheeran’s authentically raw vocals. —Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 12 Sep. 2025

Robby Turner, the pedal steel guitarist whose soulful mastery of the instrument is embedded in stardom-redefining songs for Waylon Jennings, Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton, has died. —Marcus K. Dowling, Nashville Tennessean, 6 Sep. 2025

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