Steel Guitar ~ Barbara Mandrell

Ms Barbara Mandrell is a Country Music star who specializes in playing the Steel Guitar. This specialized guitar is set up so that it sits on a table in front of the artist, or on the artist’s lap. It has a very different sound, makes more use of vibrato and sliding than others do... The slide is a steel bar that glides across the strings on the left hand end while the right hand plucks the strings.

Another guitarist who played his instrument on his lap was Jeff Healey, a beloved Torontonian who passed away at the early age of 41. His was not a steel guitar though, it was simply an acoustic guitar.