VARIATIONS OF A THEME
Tabs by David J. Stewart | March 2016

LLOYD GREEN MASTERPIECE TABS COLLECTION

  

Tablature: Lloyd Green uses a standard setup (see above). The only exception is that he doesn't lower string 4 a half tone. 
Instead he uses string 2. I designate lowering string 2 with either "LL" for a whole tone drop, or "L" for a half tone drop. 

VARIATIONS OF A THEME
(A new awesome song composed & performed by Tommy White & Lloyd Green for E9th Pedal Steel)
Here is my best humble attempt to tab out the song: “Variations Of A Theme (YouTube). Here's the MP3 of the song. Having said that, I have something even more invaluable to help you learn this wonderful song, which is, Lloyd himself has graciously provided some important comments about how the song was composed. There's no doubt in my mind that I have not correctly tabbed everything. It was challenging to learn. The "trick" to figuring out what Lloyd and Tommy are doing for any particular chord, is to listen to each note individually by itself. Listen to the chord repeatedly until you figure it out. I've at times spent a whole hour studying just one chord, and then some. By doing this you can pick apart the chord and learn what makes it work, studying the individual notes...
Lloyd Green says:

“Tommy White and I wrote this tune, but mostly Tommy and it’s virtually all his melody. More importantly than this beautiful melody though is the fact that around 50% is played with pedals B and C and the knee lever lowering the 2nd string a half and whole tone, and the E to F lever. The strings are mostly 2, 4 and 6. This is a wholly new concept of how to use the pedals and strings on the E9th. It gives different voicing to the normal triads played, with the melody often being on the 2nd or 3rd rather than top string and no 3rd string is involved in the new segments of the tune. When playing it much will be counter-intuitive and mirror imaged, which initially was confusing to both Tommy and me, unusual in itself. I’m only putting this out there because Tommy and I wanted to add some missing elements and dialog to the language of the E9th tuning. Russ Pahl played the rhythm guitar, the only other instrument, and produced and mixed it.” —Lloyd Green

SOURCE: Steel Guitar Forum, Variations Of A Theme - Part One

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ABOVE: Lloyd Green with Willie Nelson at the 2007 BMI Awards

Partial Song Tablature for Variations Of A Theme . . .

Tablature: Lloyd Green uses a standard setup (see above). The only exception is that he doesn't lower string 4 a half tone.
Instead he uses string 2. I designate lowering string 2 with either "LL" for a whole tone drop, or "L" for a half tone drop. 
Keep in mind for this song that Tommy White DOES lower the 4th string using a knee lever (see above). I tabbed the 
first part of the song just to get you started. I used mostly strings 2, 4 and 6 as Lloyd specified. The possibilities are 
endless. You can apply some of the great sounding parts from this song into many other songs, which will raise eyebrows 
(as Jeff Newman used to say). I've tabbed just enough to give you the basic idea of what Lloyd and Tommy are doing, 
so that you can work on it from there if you'd like. A lot of the song is repetitive, so once you learn the basic chops you're good.
 
Obviously, you'll need a good working half-stop on your 2nd string. Some guitars are better than others in their method of 
achieving the half-stop. Personally, I prefer a dedicated mechanism under the guitar, which allows me full control 
and tension adjustment for my half-stop. If you don't have a half-stop, you should contact the manufacturer and ask 
them to sell you a half-stop kit assembly. They're fairly easily to install. You've got to have a firm and accurate half stop!
F#_____________________________________________________6_____________________6____________
D#_________________________________________________________6__6~6B___5B___6_________6_____
G#________________________________________________________________________________________
E _______________________________________________6E~6______6~~~~~~___5A__________6~~~_____
B ____________8___8~8A__8A~9A__8A__8A~8___6~~~____________________________________________
G#________8B___________________8___8~~~___6~6B___________________________________6~~~_____
F#___6~8__________________________________________________________________________________
E ________________8~~__________8F__8F~~___6E~~___________________________________NEXT-->__
D ________________________________________________________________________________________
B _______________________________________________________________________________6A~~_____
 
F#________________________________________________________________________________________
D#_______________________________*3L~~~~1~~~6LL__4~4LL___3L~~3LL__________________________
G#_______________________________________________________3B~~~~~__________________________
E ______________________________*3C~~3~~1C~~6~~__4F~~~______________________6_____________
B ___6A~8A~9A___13~13C~13~~~_____________________________3A~~~~~___1A~~6_________NEXT-->__
G#______________13B~~~~~~~~~___*3B~~~~~~1B~~6~~__4~~~~_____________1B~~6____6_____________
F#________________________________________________________________________________________
E ___6~~8~~9F__________*ABOVE: Pick the strings as a triplet._____________________________
D ______________________Use your thumb, forefinger and middle finger to pick harp_________
B ______________________across them, staggering the notes a split second in timing._______
 
 
F#____________________________________________1___________________________________________
D#___3L~~~~~~~~~1LL_*1LL~1~~3L___3L~~4___4________1LL~1L__________________________________
G#________________________________________________________________________________________
E ___3C~3~~~~~~~1C__*1C~~~~~~~___3C~~4C__4F___1___1~~~~~__________________________________
B ____________________________________________1A__________________ENJOY!__________________
G#________3B~3~~1B__*1B~~~~~~~___3B~~4B__4B_______1~~~~~__________________________________
F#______________________________________________________________________________END_______
E ___*When sliding up from the 1st fret to________________________________________________
D ____the 3rd fret, I use my thumb and forefinger_________________________________________
B ____to silence strings 3 and 5, from overtone noise.____________________________________
 
 
F#________________________________________________________________________________________
D#________________________________________________________________________________________
G#________________________________________________________________________________________
E ________________________________________________________________________________________
B ________________________________________________________________________________________
G#________________________________________________________________________________________
F#________________________________________________________________________________________
E ________________________________________________________________________________________
D ________________________________________________________________________________________
B ________________________________________________________________________________________
 

LLOYD GREEN MASTERPIECE TABS COLLECTION

       I'm an avid Lloyd Green fan and want to do what I can to help new steelers learn quickly. These tabs are invaluable. If you'd like to learn Lloyd Green's music style, then the most important thing to do is start listening to lots of Lloyd's Performances. Get the sounds into your brain. As time progresses, you'll discover the sounds on your steel guitar. You can't play it if you haven't heard it. Become familiar with the sounds. Like anything else in life, the more time that you spend with something, the more you will get out of it. My advice is to crank up your amplifier's volume so you can FEEL your music. That's very important to developing great tone. The best playing in the world is totally useless if the tone is not there. Hopefully, these tabs will help you by opening your perspective to new things on the steel guitar. The possibilities are only limited by your mind and desire to learn more. Also, I use a great program called MixCraft regularly to change the pitch in songs (so I can play in tune with the song), slow down riffs that I want to learn to play, or my own steel guitar recordings, et cetera. It's well worth the $89 for the basic version. God bless!

MAKING BELIEVE

LOOK AT US

SWEET MEMORIES

THE WHITE LIGHT

STORMS NEVER LAST

COLD, COLD, HEART - SUPER JAM 1995

VARIATIONS OF A THEME

ONE HAS MY NAME, THE OTHER HAS MY HEART

COLD, COLD, HEART - AN EVENING OF E9th

Lloyd Green Page

More Lloyd Green Tabbed Masterpieces

(Lloyd Green uses a standard E9th setup. The only exception is that he doesn't lower string 4 a half tone.
Instead he uses string 2. I designate lowering string 2 with either "LL" for a whole-tone drop, or "L" for a half-tone drop.)

Great E9th Pedal Steel Tabs
(Tabs for short amazing pieces from Farwell Party, Does Your Ring Hurt My Finger, Borrowed Angel,
Sweet Memories
, Petals, Blue Bonnet Spring, Sleeping Beauty, et cetera)

Cool Things To Perform On E9th Pedal Steel (Lloyd style licks & more)