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...
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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 * * * * * * *
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 thefirst part of the song just to get you started. I used mostly strings 2, 4 and 6 as Lloyd specified. The possibilities areendless. 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 ofachieving the half-stop. Personally, I prefer a dedicated mechanism under the guitar, which allows me full controland tension adjustment for my half-stop. If you don't have a half-stop, you should contact the manufacturer and askthem 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 ________________________________________________________________________________________
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 
