Lap slide guitar is essentially playing a regular acoustic in the same way you would play a lap steel guitar only it is not on a resonator. It is the least commonly used style of slide playing due to the development of the louder electrical instruments. The lap slide guitar technique is different to the bottleneck style because it is played in the lap steel position and so a tube slide is not used. For lap slide guitar playing, a solid bar or “bullet” with a hand grip on top is used. In this position the fingers are pointing away from the chest and are not wrapped around the neck of the guitar.

To make a normal acoustic suitable for lap slide guitar playing, certain adjustments must be made. The action (level of the strings above the fret board) must be raised much higher than when it is being played normally. This allows for the bar to be pressed harder down on to the strings to create a clearer sound and avoid any unwanted fret buzz. The action is raised by replacing the nut and bridge with higher extensions so the strings are raised up much further above the fret board. The Weissenborn guitar was manufactured specifically for this style of playing. Ben Harper is a modern lap slide guitarist of note and he uses a Weissenborn. The Weissenborn is not too unlike a regular acoustic only it has a hollow neck as well as body so it can produce a greater level of volume.

As the term suggests, the lap slide guitar is played horizontally with the strings facing up vertically. It can be played flat on your lap, on a stool/table or using a long strap and wedging the guitar underneath the elbow of the arm of your picking hand.

As with regular slide playing, chords are played on the lap slide guitar by pressing an object against the strings and using an open tuning. Instead of using tube or bottleneck slides, as in regular slide guitar playing, lap slide guitar players use solid metal bars that are heavier and will press more heavily against the strings creating a clearer and cleaner tone. In general these bars are made from steel and coated in chrome to give a smoother slide over the strings. This is where the term ‘steel guitar’ was derived from. Dobro and pedal steel players use the same slides to get their sound.

When playing lap slide, make sure you set up your guitar as previously described or use a guitar such as the Weissenborn which is built with a high action. Get a good grip on the bar and place it directly above the fret marker with the convex, smooth curve of the bar pressing against the strings. Make sure the bar is placed parallel to the fret bar.

Now you can move the bar up and down the strings, changing the pitch of the notes as you move. The further up the neck you move towards your picking hand, the higher the pitch will be as you are shortening the resonance distance for the strings. Use your free fingers to mute unwanted strings and tones so you can get a clearer sound. You can also use the edge of the palm of your picking hand to mute the strings near the bridge. For more accurate muting, try using the tips of your free fingers. This is especially effective when soloing.

For some suggested tunings, see our slide guitar and Dobro tuning tutorials.