The Red Haired Boy.

The first song that I'd ever learned to play was The Wildwood Flower.  I could not see a guitar in fifteen years, and still pick one up and flub through The Wildwood Flower.  Now, The Red Haired Boy wasn't the second song that I ever learned how to play, but it was one of the first songs that I really loved that I could play.

This is a song with some true Celtic flavor to it, everyone in the world knows it, and it's never going to go away.  It's something with all kinds of ability for interpretation, and should be played using variations whenever possible.  You like to state the melody, and then show off a bit with a song like this.

Why?

Because everyone has heard it already a million times - so you use a song like The Red Haired Boy to show people....you.

Now, I can't tell you how much I like this guy, Banjo Ben, because I really like this guy.  He's GOOD!

Not only can this guy play, he can teach, and he's always got a great presentation put together.  Banjo Ben, I friggen salute you!

 Because The Red Haired Boy is a fiddle tune from the start - you should definitely enjoy hearing and seeing some lovely young women playing it on the fiddle.  I could look at and listen to women playing bluegrass all day long.  It's just pretty, and it takes talent - there is no getting by via model good looks in Bluegrass - that's what pop and mainstream "music" are for.

Would you like the tab and music to Red Haired Boy for guitar?

You're one click from it!

http://www.guitarnick.com/red-haired-boy-flatpicking-acoustic-guitar-tab.html

I can assure you that Banjo Ben was on the money for being a hell of a flatpicker, but one more for the road so far as lesson vids couldn't hurt, could it?

I can't claim to play the fiddle at all, and I don't own a mandolin, but if I did own a mandolin - then I'd be able to play the mandolin, at least as well as I can play a guitar.  How about some mandolin tab for this one?