Steel Lap Guitars

[TAlderson]

I was looking at steel lap guitars yesterday, but I really have no clue what to look for. I know how to play with a slide, but the guitar just doesn't sound right compared to a lot of recordings. Would it be good to get a lap guitar, or maybe a certain kind of amp to get that twangy country sound? What equipment is good, and what is not?

-Tyler

[brandondrury]

Dude if you are going for the slide guitar sound and you are not getting it with a slide and a guitar, then something is wrong.

It's not a certain amp necessarily unless you are going for an exact sound. I will say that playing slide guitar is not for the meek. You need to be damn good to pull it off. Your intonation has to be spot on which adds a whole new dimension to the difficulty of playing as well as your possibilities.

Now if you want a lap steel sound go and get one, but it's not the same thing as playing slide guitar.

Brandon

[TAlderson]

No, I mean, I can get it to sound decent, it just doesn't quite sound as good as the recordings. I have just been screwing around with it for the most part, so maybe I should try to get a little better at it before I start judging the sound. I guess I was just wondering whether there was some "trick" to it or not...

-Tyler

[Matt]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

Now if you want a lap steel sound go and get one, but it's not the same thing as playing slide guitar.?

Brandon

It's VERY similar, imo. Both use open tunings (most of the time), and the techniques associated with a slide and a tone bar are alot alike.

Slide and lap steel are two totally different, and far less complex animals when compared to a pedal steel...those are very complicated, but VERY cool!

[brandondrury]

Give it some practice. VERY few master slide guitar. As always, the tone is in the fingers. You may want to try different types of slides as well. Glass and metal sound much different.

Brandon

[guitar junkie]

are you looking for a slide sound?

or a steel sound?

a lap steel is one thing while a pedal steel is another!

also what tuning are you using?

open G is a good starter tuning but you maybe are looking for the sounds that you get from a C6 tuning, that is something that i have no clue about... do some research on the web about it and let us know what you learn.