What do the pedals and knee levers do?

Change the pitch of some strings

How is the pedal steel played?

Lying flat on legs while the player sits

What is sacred steel?

Steel guitar music in some African American churches

Pedal Steel Guitar Quiz: Country Music's Sliding Sound

This pedal steel guitar quiz slides into the instrument behind country music's weeping sound. Play 10 interactive questions on its roots in the Hawaiian steel guitar, the steel bar, finger picks, pedals and knee levers that bend notes, the E9 tuning, Bud Isaacs' 1950s breakthrough, players like Buddy Emmons and Lloyd Green, Nashville and the sacred steel tradition.

Start Pedal Steel Guitar Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Genre
Which music genre is the pedal steel most linked to?
Roots
Which earlier instrument did it grow from?
Bar
What does the player slide along the strings?
Picks
What does the right hand usually wear?
Pedals
What do the pedals and knee levers do?
Position
How is the pedal steel played?
Tuning
Which tuning is common on country pedal steel?
Hit
Which player's 1950s bends helped make the pedal famous?
Players
Who is a famous pedal steel player?
Church
What is sacred steel?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which music genre is the pedal steel most linked to?
Answer: Country
It adds a crying sound.
Q2: Which earlier instrument did it grow from?
Answer: The Hawaiian steel guitar
Players laid it flat on their laps.
Q3: What does the player slide along the strings?
Answer: A steel bar
It is held in the left hand.
Q4: What does the right hand usually wear?
Answer: Finger picks
They pluck strings quickly.
Q5: What do the pedals and knee levers do?
Answer: Change the pitch of some strings
They allow smooth bends.
Q6: How is the pedal steel played?
Answer: Lying flat on legs while the player sits
It sits on a frame.
Q7: Which tuning is common on country pedal steel?
Answer: E9
Many players use two necks.
Q8: Which player's 1950s bends helped make the pedal famous?
Answer: Bud Isaacs
He played on Slowly.
Q9: Who is a famous pedal steel player?
Answer: Buddy Emmons
Lloyd Green is another.
Q10: What is sacred steel?
Answer: Steel guitar music in some African American churches
Robert Randolph comes from it.

The Sound of a Country Tear

The pedal steel guitar grew from the Hawaiian steel guitar, which players laid flat and played with a sliding bar. Seated, the pedal steel player slides a steel bar along the strings with the left hand and plucks with finger picks on the right hand.

Pedals and knee levers change the pitch of selected strings, allowing smooth bends that sound like crying or sighing. Many players use the E9 tuning, and some instruments have two necks. In the 1950s, Bud Isaacs' bends on the hit Slowly made the pedal sound famous.

Players such as Buddy Emmons and Lloyd Green shaped the Nashville sound. In some African American churches, a tradition called sacred steel uses the instrument in worship, and Robert Randolph brought it to wider audiences.

What This Quiz Teaches

Music fans will enjoy these questions.

Where it came from
How it is played
What the pedals do
Who made it famous
Where else it is used

Did You Know?

Rock bands also use pedal steel.
It is hard to learn.
Volume pedals add swells.
Steel guitars can be very heavy.
Western swing bands used lap steel.