The Steel Guitar is an electric guitar set up horizontally, and played with a steel bar in one hand, resting over the strings, then the strings are plucked with the fingers of the other hand. The steel bar, about 3/4" thick and around 31/2" long, is used as a slide or fretting device, to change the pitch of the plucked string or string groupings-- Hence the name 'steel guitar'. For more information goto www.steelguitar.com