The lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fretboard.

There are three main types of lap steel guitar:

Lap slide and resonator guitars may also be fitted with pickups, but do not depend on electrical amplification to produce sound.

A lap steel guitar's strings are raised at both the nut and bridge ends of the fingerboard, typically to about half an inch. The strings are too high to contact the surface of the neck, so frets, if present, are only for reference and are often replaced by markers. Some lap steel guitars can be converted between lap and fretted playing, or are modified versions of conventional guitars—the only difference is usually string height. Round-necked resonator guitars set up for steel playing fall into this category.

Instruments designed exclusively as lap steel guitars typically have modified necks that make fretted playing impossible. The hollow neck acoustic lap steel, developed by Chris Knutsen and popularized by Weissenborn, extends the body cavity behind the neck all the way to the head. The square-necked resonator guitar has a strengthened square profile neck, allowing heavier string gauges and/or higher tunings that would normally be considered impossible (or certainly ill-advised) on a conventional guitar. The electric lap steel guitar typically incorporates the entire neck into the solid body of the guitar, again providing extra strength to allow a greater variety of string gauges and tunings.

Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use of a bar or slide called a steel (generally made of metal, but also of glass or other materials). The term steel guitar is often mistakenly used to describe any metal body resophonic guitar.

Steel guitar can describe:

Steel guitar refers to a method of playing on a guitar held horizontally, with the strings uppermost and the bass strings towards the player, and using a type of slide called a steel above the fingerboard rather than fretting the strings with the fingers. This may be done with any guitar, but is most common on instruments designed and produced for this style of play.

The technique was invented and popularized in Hawaii. Thus, the lap steel guitar is sometimes known as the Hawaiian guitar, particularly in documents from the early 20th century, and today any steel guitar is frequently called a Hawaiian steel guitar. However, in Hawaiian music, Hawaiian guitar means slack string guitar, played in the conventional or Spanish position.

Martin Harley (born 1975, Cardiff, Wales) is a British singer-songwriter and slide guitarist. Specialising in folk and blues, he and his band have released four albums between 2003 and 2010.

Harley moved with his family to Woking, Surrey, England as a small child.

He is the founder of The Martin Harley Band, a British blues trio. The band has a diverse appeal, attracting blues fans as well as a cult following amongst surfers. This may be due to tours and support slots with G. Love & Special Sauce,Ash Grunwald,Newton Faulkner and Donovan Frankenreiter,Carus and The True Believers and The Beautiful Girls.

The band are renowned for their live concerts and the obscure instrumentation they use, which includes a Weissenborn guitar, balalaika, cocktail drumkit, cajon and double bass. To date they have released three albums, all of which have been released on independent record labels with national distribution.

The Martin Harley Band are a regularly touring ensemble, and have toured with James Morrison, appeared on BBC Radio 2 on the Aled Jones, Bob Harris and Johnnie Walker shows. Harley has also been interviewed by Guitarist magazine, and featured in a three DVD set providing slide guitar tips and tricks.

Andrew Winton (born February 1972, Perth) is an independent, solo, Australian musician, combining acoustic guitar, lap slide, dobro and seven-string lap guitar/bass (the Wintonbeast), with hollers and stomps to provide an engaging and authentic performance. Winton's sound has been likened to a cross between Ben Harper, Sting, Kelly-Joe Phelps and Harry Manx. His performances are driven by infectious rhythms, stunning slide, bluesy vocals, quirky lyrics and storytelling.

Winton currently lives in Perth with Karen (his wife, manager and percusionist/vocalist), and their three children.

He is brother to famed Australian author Tim Winton and has a sister, Sharyn O'Neill, who is the current Director General of the West Australian Department of Education and Training.

Winton also works part time as a high-school chaplain in Perth.

Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents. His albums have been commercially successful in North America, Europe and Oceania. Harper is a two-time Grammy Award winner as well, winning awards for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album, in 2005.

Harper was born in Claremont, in California's Inland Empire. His father, Leonard, was of African-American and Cherokee ancestry, and his mother, Ellen Chase-Verdries, is Jewish. His maternal great-grandmother was a Russian-Lithuanian Jew. His parents divorced when he was age five, and he grew up with his mother's family. Harper has two brothers, Joel and Peter.

Harper began playing guitar as a child. His maternal grandparents' music store The Folk Music Center and Museum laid a foundation of folk and blues for the artist, complemented by regular patrons Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal and David Lindley and quotes of William Shakespeare and Robert Frost made often by his grandfather. At the age of 12, Harper played his first gig. During the '80s, in his teen years, Harper began to play the slide guitar, mimicking the style of Robert Johnson. Next, Harper refined his style, taking up the Weissenborn slide guitar. Harper broke out of the Inland Empire after being offered an invitation by Taj Mahal to tour with the artist. They recorded Taj Mahal's album Follow the Drinking Gourd, released in November 1990, and toured Hawaii.