General Advice

[5thBeliever]

Hello all! I just purchased an Eastwood Mandocaster, and am having fun with it already. However, I'm pretty much a beginner even on acoustic mando, and a total newcomer to electric instruments, amps, cords, etcetera. Anybody have any good bits of advice for a newbie? Thanks in advance...

[Soundfarmer Pete]

I`d probably go for an amp simulator such as the Line6 Guitar Port.
Loads of different choices of amps and effects to experiment with plus.......you can use headphones and deafen yourself without having to share the fruits of your progress with the neighbours.
Finding YOUR sound may then help shape your choice when getting a real amplifier.
Have Fun!!!!
CheeryBye

[rico mando]

I strongly recommend you have fun with it . theory is good but just having fun with what you can do is very important . i saw the dandy worhol's last nite and they looked like they were having lots of fun up on stage. what they were doing was not overly complex or requiring virtuoso ability but they had a good time and it came through the music to the crowd.

[Elliot Luber]

My advice is like Rico's, don't sweat it. Learn by making mistakes. Try things that give you options like a modeling amp mentioned above. I just bought a Vox VT30 amp, and I like it, but it's going to take a while until I really know how to get the sounds I want out of it. Experimenting is not stressful, it's the fun part.

[rico mando]

oh and at some point you may want to have your mandolin checked by someone who can set it up for you . i have heard that they need a little tweaking to play at their best.