1. Tunefox.com
  2. Banjo songs
  3. Red Wing

Red Wing banjo tabs

Back
  • Tablatures

    Scruggs Style

    Traditional

    A classic and fun melody to play on the banjo. Once you get the down-the-neck version solid, try to figure it out up the neck!

    Learn
  • Melodic Style

    Traditional

    Red Wing melodic break demonstrates how you can blend melodic style and single string to create your own creative and interesting solos!

    Learn
  • Backup

    Traditional

    This rolling backup arrangement of Red Wing teaches how you'd play behind a fiddle player. It's got a good mixture of 16th and 8th notes.

    Learn

More about Red Wing

"Red Wing" is a famous song written in 1907 with music played by Kerry Mills and lyrics by Thurland Chattaway. Mills derived the melody of the verse from a piano composition by Robert Schumann's "The Happy Farmer, Returning from Work" from his Album for the Young, Opus 68, released in 1848. The song talks about the death of her sweetheart by a young Indian girl who died in the war. "Red Wing" is sometimes also known as "Red Wing Polka" (being in 2/4 times); although it sounds like a traditional song, it was actually written as recently as 1907; with music by Frederick Allen (Kerry) Mills (1869-1948) and lyrics by Thurland Chattaway, it is a song that demonstrates the respect with which those who replaced the original inhabitants of the Americas were treated. The original F.A. music plate. It is referred to as An Indian Intermezzo by Mills of New York (its composer). In reality, the melody is taken from a classic piece, Robert Schumann's "The Happy Farmer," something many contemporary writers have done, such as Al Stewart with "Palace Of Versailles" and "Rocks in the Sea," and perhaps most popular Procol Harum with "A Whiter Shade Of Pale." "Red Wing" is lyrically a song in the same vein as "The Ash Grove" or "The Unquiet Grave", but without the latter's supernatural connection. Squaw Red Wing is weeping for her battle-lost love. It has to be said that in addition, this fails a little; "brave and homosexual" doesn't mean the same thing in the 21st century as it did in the 20th generation. "Red Wing" is a lovely song, but one of its most memorable performances is anything but melodic; a Capella is performed in the 1961 movie The Comancheros by an intoxicated John Wayne a...nd Lee Marvin.

Here on Tunefox you’ll find 3 versions of Red Wing for banjo. The Scruggs style tablature will teach you how to play slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs. In the melodic arrangement of Red Wing, you’ll learn some fancy up-the-neck melodic work. The third variation of this song is a forward roll based-backup arrangement. In every Tunefox tablature arrangement you'll find measures where you can switch out licks to see different options to use for your improvisation. This feature is called the Lick Switcher. How do you find the Lick Switcher? Look for text that says "Original Measure" over different measures in the Red Wing tab you are learning and click on that text. It'll open up the Lick Switcher where you can select a substitute measure for that spot in the song. You'll find that there are different styles of licks like Scruggs, Melodic, Bluesy, and more. Want to see a completely different version of this song? Click on "Shuffle Licks" on the bottom of tool panel to randomly shuffle the licks in the song. Be sure to check out all of the great learning tools that Tunefox has to offer such as "Hide Notes", "Memory Train", and "Speed Up". These tools can be found in the "Tools" menu at the bottom right of your screen. Want to learn some of Red Wing by ear? Use "Hide Notes" to hide some or all of the notes in the tablature. Once you’re finished learning with the tab use the "Memory Train" tool to commit the song to memory. Then practice with "Speed Up" to improve your technique and speed in no time. Using backing tracks for practice should be an essential part of every musician’s routine. With Tunefox, you can practice Red Wing as fast or as slow as you want and mix the volume of the tracks with the instrument to your liking. There’s also a metronome so you can always feel the pulse of the song with or without the band track playing along. When you’ve finished creating your arrangement of Red Wing, export your song arrangement to PDF file. This feature is for members of Tunefox, only.

Red Wing lyrics

There once lived an indian maid
A shy little prairie maid
Who sang a lay, a love song gay
As on the plain she'd while away the day
She loved a warrior bold
This shy little maid of old
But blythe and gay, he rode one day
To battle far away Now, the moon shi...afar neath his star her brave is sleeping
While Red Wings weeping her heart away She watched thru the day and night
She kept all the campfiles bright
And under the sky, each night she would lie
And dream about his coming by and by
But when all the braves returned
The heart of Red Wing yearned
For Brave one day, her warrior gay
Fell bravely in the fray * Refrain