Joel Katz's lyrics & chords

I was drawn to the steel guitar by its versatility in articulation, pitch, and tonal color—second only to the human voice. Hawaiian-style steel guitar makes use of the instrument’s full, expressive range. The picking touch on the strings affects the tone and harmonics, while the motion of the metal bar mimics a singers’ vibrato and the subtle pitch fluctuations of everyday speech. No other instrument can do this with whole chords. The steel guitar evolved in Hawaii in the late 1800s. Back then, many Hawaiian musicians played conventiona...read more