The British Steelies Society

Hi!
I recently fulfilled a lifetime dream and formed my own blues trio.
Unfortunately this year I started having issues my my left (fretting) hand, which makes playing painful... wear and tear is the diagnosis, doctor newspeak for arthritis.
So, I'm turning my attention to the lap steel which doesn't appear to place so many demands on the thumb, and during research found this amazing site. It's a new door on to a scene which til now was unknown to me.
I already play a bit of "cod" blues slide in standard tuning and open G and D.
I have a cheap beginner lap steel on order. I'm really looking forward to trying it out.
However... it appears that tunings are the norm, I'm concerned that I won't be able to play in different keys, a capo doesn't appear to be possible.
Am I correct in thinking that one is limited to one key on a lap steel, without re-tuning? Thus could be a problem for live gigs (when / if we're allowed), as a bank of steels in several tunings would be unwieldy...
It's not as they say in the USA a dealbreaker, as the odd number worked into the set would give my hand a rest. Maybe I'm being too ambitious?
Any input on this would be very welcome.
Thanks.

Hi Pete,
Welcome to the Forum, you’ll be able to get lots of help here.
You don’t need different guitars for different keys. Just like your ‘normal’ guitar, you use the tone bar as you would use a bar chord, and only pick the strings you wish to play. That could be a single string, or a 2~3 string combination to give a chord or harmony. Check out some players on YouTube and you’ll pick up some ideas there. I think most blues players use open D or open E.
Good luck mate,
Keith.

One tuning can play all keys. The bar can fret any chord and you have two octaves to play with.

That being said, some people have double and even triple/quadruple necks on lap steel to have multiple tunings for tonal and stylistic versatility.

I'm not much of a lap steel player but an open D tuning is what a lot of more rocky guys I know play.

Welcome to the forum and have fun.

Open D seems more popular with my blues pals who use Nationals, but have a look at E7th (lo to hi - B-D-E-G#-B-E). That is pretty bluesy and will make instant sense to a guitar player. Working off the 3rd fret is G, 5th fret A and so on.
Good luck, Tony.

Hello and welcome

An even less demanding instrument you might have a look at is the three string or cigar box guitar . There is plenty of demo's on YouTube. Have a look at pople playing in low G.