Bottleneck guitar playing was influenced by the lap steel.
Bottleneck guitar playing was influenced by the technique used by lap steel guitar players. Lap steels, commonly known as steel guitars or Hawaiian guitars, are held in the lap, or placed on a stand while playing. The musician uses a steel bar laid across the strings to play notes, which is where the name "steel guitar" is derived. Players of regular guitars adapted the steel bar technique and replaced it with a glass or metal tube called a bottleneck.
Lap Steel Guitars
Lap steel guitars are designed solely for slide playing. They were invented in the late 1890s by Joseph Kekuku, a Hawaiian guitarist. Kekuku took a standard acoustic guitar and raised the strings higher than normal. The raised strings prevented the steel bar from coming in contact with the guitar neck, resulting in easier playability. Electric lap steel guitars and special "resonator" guitars are now the preferred type because of the increased volume they produce, and are used in Hawaiian, country, rock, blues and other musical styles.
Bottleneck Slide Guitar
Bottleneck slide guitar is a playing style rather than a dedicated instrument. Bottleneck playing is done on standard guitars with normal string heights, and both electric and acoustic guitars are used. When guitarists heard the Hawaiian slide-style of playing, they used cutoff bottlenecks or metal tubes to achieve a similar sound. The bottleneck slide is placed on one finger of the note hand, allowing the player to use the remaining fingers to play in the traditional guitar-playing style of pressing strings against the guitar's frets. Slide playing in used in most every musical genre.
Resonator Guitars
Resonator or resophonic guitars resemble standard acoustic guitars, but are fitted with metal resonating chambers for sound projection. Resonators guitars are used by many lap and bottleneck guitarists because of the increased volume they provide. Manufacturers of resonator guitars make square-necked versions with raised strings for lap steel-type playing, and radius-neck models with lowered strings for bottleneck slide players who prefer both the traditional and slide-playing methods. Players of square-necked resonators may either sit or stand with the aid of a strap, with the body and neck of the guitar facing upward to facilitate the original slide steel guitar style.
Differences in Playing Styles
Lap steel players are bound to the slide method, because the raised strings are too high to contact the fretboard. In fact, many lap steel guitars contain no frets at all, but feature printed marks representing the frets for player reference. Bottleneck slide players may play with the slide or fret the strings with the fingers as they wish, because they use standard guitars.
Types of Slides
There are a number of slide types to suit different playing styles. The term "bottleneck slide" originated with players cutting the necks off wine bottles. Bottleneck slide players adopted glass apothecary jars, brass, steel, glass, ceramic and copper tubing for slides, which are all currently available for purchase. Bottleneck slides are cylindrical, and are designed to fit over one finger. Each material yields a specific sound, and is a matter of preference. Steel guitar players prefer a metal bar, sometimes called a "tone bar," which is held between two fingers. The bars vary in metal composition, and are usually chrome- or nickel-plated to produce a brighter string tone.
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