When many people first get interested in steel guitar, one of the first questions that comes up is the difference between pedal steel and lap steel.
Both instruments share a lot in common musically, but taking a closer look at how they sound, how they’re built, and how they’re played can make the differences much clearer.
The main difference between a pedal steel and a lap steel is that a pedal steel has foot pedals and knee levers that mechanically raise or lower the pitch of specific strings.
A pedal steel is played sitting behind the instrument, which is supported by legs, while a lap steel rests directly on your lap.
Pedal steel also evolved directly from lap steel, which was widely used in Hawaiian music in the early 1900s.
Understanding that a pedal steel is essentially a lap steel with added mechanical control is one of the simplest ways to make sense of the two.
The Core Difference in Sound and Expression
From a purely tonal standpoint, both instruments can sound very similar.
On both pedal steel and lap steel, you:
- Use a bar with your left hand to sustain notes
- Use fingerpicks and a thumbpick to play notes
- Create vibrato, slides, and expressive phrasing
If a pedal steel is played without using pedals or levers, most listeners wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two.
The separation really begins when pedals and knee levers are introduced.
Those mechanical changes allow pedal steel players to:
- Bend notes smoothly while sustaining them
- Change chords without moving the bar
- Create moving harmonies and voice leading
That sound—especially the “bending into chords”—is a big part of what people associate with classic country pedal steel.
If you want to understand how those changes actually happen, it helps to see how pedals and knee levers work on a pedal steel in a practical way.
Which One Should You Start With?
Both instruments can take you in a similar musical direction, but the experience of learning them is different.
Lap steel is often simpler at the beginning:
- Fewer strings (commonly 6–8)
- No pedals or knee levers
- Less mechanical complexity
Pedal steel typically has:
- 10 or more strings per neck
- Multiple pedals and levers
- More moving parts to coordinate
That can make lap steel feel more approachable early on, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easier in the long run.
Pedal steel offers a different kind of efficiency once you get used to it, especially when it comes to chord movement and phrasing.
If you’re coming from guitar, the transition can feel more natural when you understand the shared ground between the instruments, which is why looking at the similarities between pedal steel guitar and standard six-string guitar can help connect things more quickly.
Physical Differences and Cost
Pedal steels are larger, heavier, and more complex instruments.
They include:
- Legs and a pedal rack
- Pedal rods and internal mechanics
- More hardware overall
Lap steels are much more compact and portable.
That difference carries over into cost as well:
- Entry-level lap steels can be relatively inexpensive
- Pedal steels require a larger investment due to their mechanics
If you’re weighing options, getting a clear sense of pricing, features, and what to look for can help narrow things down, which is covered in more detail in the pedal steel buyer’s guide: cost and features.
Pedal steels also require more maintenance and setup to keep everything functioning smoothly, especially when it comes to tuning and mechanical adjustments.
Tunings and Musical Direction
Another key difference is how the instruments are typically tuned.
Pedal steel players most commonly use:
- E9 tuning (widely used across modern styles)
- C6 tuning (often associated with jazz and Western swing)
Lap steel players often use a variety of open tunings, many of which are closely related to C6.
If you’re drawn to the sound of modern pedal steel, especially in country or Americana styles, it usually comes from the E9 tuning, which offers a wide range of musical movement once pedals are involved.
Taking some time to understand how the E9 tuning for pedal steel guitar is laid out can give you a clearer picture of what’s possible musically.
Learning Path: Lap Steel to Pedal Steel
Because of how the instrument evolved, moving from lap steel to pedal steel is a natural progression.
Starting on lap steel can:
- Build bar control and intonation
- Develop right-hand accuracy
- Simplify the learning process early on
Then, moving to pedal steel adds another layer of control through pedals and levers.
At the same time, many players begin directly on pedal steel and develop those skills together from the start.
If you’re approaching this from a guitar background, that transition tends to make more sense when you see how the mechanics and techniques connect, which is where switching from guitar to pedal steel can help bridge that gap.
Sound, Style, and Musical Use
Both instruments come from the same tradition and can create incredibly expressive sounds.
Lap steel is often heard in:
- Hawaiian music
- Blues
- Early country
- Ambient and modern styles
Pedal steel is commonly associated with:
- Classic country
- Nashville session work
- Modern Americana
- Film and atmospheric music
Both can be used across genres, but pedal steel tends to offer more flexibility in how notes move and connect.
If you want to hear how that translates in real recordings, listening through classic songs that feature pedal steel can give you a better sense of how it fits into music.
Taking This Further
Understanding the difference between lap steel and pedal steel becomes much clearer once you start hearing how notes move across the instrument, especially in real musical phrases.
That’s where working through 200 Country Riffs & Licks for E9 Pedal Steel helps connect the sound of pedal movement to something you can actually play and recognize.
As those sounds start to make more sense, seeing how chords are built and connected on the neck tends to open things up even more, which is exactly what The Chord Guide for E9 Pedal Steel is designed to walk through.
If you want to move through this more directly and get feedback as you go, working through the differences hands-on in one-on-one pedal steel lessons can help everything click faster.