The distinguishing feature of a lap steel ukulele is that the strings are raised at both the nut and bridge ends of the fingerboard. This makes the frets unusable, and they may be replaced by markers on some ukuleles. Other lap steel ukuleles are designed to be adapted between lap and conventional playing, or are modified versions of conventional ukuleles, and the only difference may be the action height. Round-necked resonator ukuleles set up for steel playing fall into this category. Ukuleles which are made exclusively for slide playing may have a "square" profile neck.
Lap steel ukuleles generally have four strings, in keeping with their ukulele heritage.
Playingedit
The lap steel ukulele is typically placed on the player's lap, or on a surface in front of the seated player.
The strings are not pressed to a fret when sounding a note, rather, the player holds a metal slide called a steel in the left hand, which is moved along the strings to change the instrument's pitch while the right hand plucks or picks the strings.
This method of playing greatly restricts the number of chords available, so lap steel music often features a restricted set of harmonies (such as in blues). Alternatively, the lap steel ukulele player can play the melody or another single part.
Historyedit
The lap steel ukulele appears to be a very recent development, with only a handful of professional musicians and large-scale manufacturers addressing the style and instrument.
Ukulele musician James Hill commissioned a square-neck raised action resonator ukulele from Beltona Resonator Instruments in order to develop his lap steel ukulele style. Similarly, Indian slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya designed a four-string lap steel guitar, or "slide ukulele" which he calls the anandi.[1][2]
Notable lap steel ukulele playersedit
James Hill
Debashish Bhattacharya
Del Rey
Tuningsedit
The lap steel ukulele may be tuned to the standard ukulele tuning, or to an open tuning.
^Prem Kishore Guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya in LA 2008-04-19 at the Wayback MachineIndia Post 9 April 2008.
^Andrew Gilbert Sliding between cultures, instruments: Debashish Bhattacharya merges the Hindustani and blues traditions The Boston Globe, 6 April 2008.
External linksedit
at the Wayback Machine (archived September 3, 2011): a description of the ukuleles owned by musician James Hill, including his Beltona resonator ukulele lap steel, including photographs and video.
January 01, 1970
steel, ukulele, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, january, 20. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Lap steel ukulele news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2021 Learn how and when to remove this message The lap steel ukulele is a type of and method of playing the ukuleleLap Steel UkuleleClassificationString instrument plucked Related instrumentsukulele guitar There are three main types of lap steel ukulele Lap slide ukuleles simply a ukulele with high action played with a slide Resonator ukuleles particularly those with square necks Electric lap steel ukuleles generally solid body instruments Lap slide and resonator ukuleles may also be fitted with pickups but do not depend on electrical amplification to produce their sound Contents 1 Description 2 Playing 3 History 3 1 Notable lap steel ukulele players 4 Tunings 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksDescription editThe distinguishing feature of a lap steel ukulele is that the strings are raised at both the nut and bridge ends of the fingerboard This makes the frets unusable and they may be replaced by markers on some ukuleles Other lap steel ukuleles are designed to be adapted between lap and conventional playing or are modified versions of conventional ukuleles and the only difference may be the action height Round necked resonator ukuleles set up for steel playing fall into this category Ukuleles which are made exclusively for slide playing may have a square profile neck Lap steel ukuleles generally have four strings in keeping with their ukulele heritage Playing editThe lap steel ukulele is typically placed on the player s lap or on a surface in front of the seated player The strings are not pressed to a fret when sounding a note rather the player holds a metal slide called a steel in the left hand which is moved along the strings to change the instrument s pitch while the right hand plucks or picks the strings This method of playing greatly restricts the number of chords available so lap steel music often features a restricted set of harmonies such as in blues Alternatively the lap steel ukulele player can play the melody or another single part History editThe lap steel ukulele appears to be a very recent development with only a handful of professional musicians and large scale manufacturers addressing the style and instrument Ukulele musician James Hill commissioned a square neck raised action resonator ukulele from Beltona Resonator Instruments in order to develop his lap steel ukulele style Similarly Indian slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya designed a four string lap steel guitar or slide ukulele which he calls the anandi 1 2 Notable lap steel ukulele players edit James Hill Debashish Bhattacharya Del ReyTunings editThe lap steel ukulele may be tuned to the standard ukulele tuning or to an open tuning See also editLap steel guitar Resonator ukulele Electric ukulele UkuleleReferences edit Prem Kishore Guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya in LA Archived 2008 04 19 at the Wayback Machine India Post 9 April 2008 Andrew Gilbert Sliding between cultures instruments Debashish Bhattacharya merges the Hindustani and blues traditions The Boston Globe 6 April 2008 External links editJames Hill ukulele seriously at the Wayback Machine archived September 3 2011 a description of the ukuleles owned by musician James Hill including his Beltona resonator ukulele lap steel including photographs and video Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Lap steel ukulele amp oldid 1165775034, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
