But to get back to my comment #4, above, is this instrument a ukulele mandolin or a banjo mandolin? The OP calls him or herself a "newbie" so this is...
Neil Rosenberg told me some years ago that he'd been to Japan to address a bluegrass conference, and said that there was a thriving bluegrass scene....
Have you considered a tuba rather than a mandolin? ;) Seriously though, you'll have to have fine hearing to pick out the sound of your mandolin with...
From Nova Scotia, living in Ottawa. Play old-time (Canadian old-time, that is) and Cape Breton fiddle. Play mostly blues on mandolin and banjolin.
Location:
Ottawa, Canada
Occupation:
retired (academic) folklorist
Signature
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.