The new wave of music in the late 19th and early 20th century was the steel guitar. This was a type of instrument also associated with a certain way of playing the instrument. The steel guitar was adopted by Hawaiian musicians who began putting the instrument on their laps, tuning it, and playing it on a steel bar. In the 1950’s, country musicians developed the pedal steel guitar which allows users of the steel guitar to be able to utilize a higher amount of chords and scales without having to move the bar originally used by the steel guitar.

Music in America at the time though was highly racialized, even Hawaiians had this issue. Certain music was meant for certain people such as country, pop, and race music. As a result of this racialized music, people weren’t allowed to buy music from a different race group.