The pedal steel is played horizontally on a stand with attached tuning pedals that are connected by rods. In this manner, the instrument could easily change tunings on the entire instrument or just retune one or more strings. With the pedal steel, the strings are stopped over the neck of the guitar with a hand-held steel bar (hence the name), rather than fretted with the player's fingers on the fingerboard. Pitch-changing knee levers were later added to the instrument, allowing for even greater versatility. Pedal steel guitars are often played with thumb- and fingerpicks, rather than with a "regular" guitar pick.

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