Mandolin or Keyboard?

[HowardHanderson]

Hi everyone. My son wants to learn to play the keyboard, but also has interest in the mandolin and at some point the guitar. I know it's an unusual circumstance, but what do you suggest we start him with first?

I've found different resources, but haven't decided yet.

This resource is for guitar and piano, but it's kind of all I could find so far.

Any help is appreciated,

Cheers

https://keyboardkraze.com/is-the-pia...for-beginners/

[Bob Visentin]

Both. Keyboards are cheap. Every mandolin player should have one. (Just my opinion.)

[Timbofood]

I’m with Bob, after he gets his teeth into the Mandolin, he can use the keyboard to tune!

[trodgers]

My daughter took piano lessons for 2 years. She learned ukulele from YouTube. The keyboard is her preferred place to keep folded laundry. Her uke is played daily. Your mileage may vary.

[Marty Jacobson]

I agree. My eight-year-old picked up a ukulele, then guitar, then mandolin in about a three month period doing play-alongs. A keyboard/piano needs a little more instruction, but uke/guitar can be learned on youtube these days quite readily.

[DaveGinNJ]

Storing laundry on a keybaord! What a waste! That is what banjos are for.

[Seter]

I feel like a keyboard is a handy thing to have around even if it doesn't end up being a primary instrument. Friends visiting may play it, and also a lot keyboards have accompaniment tracks that you can play along with on mandolin or whatever instrument. You can get a decent used Yamaha 61 or 76 key for pretty cheap. Having at least a general familiarity with piano though is a good skill for any musician to have though I'd say.

[Randi Gormley]

Does she have a preference? Not one of those "mom and dad prefer i play X so maybe that's what i want" preferences but something she really would like to do? That's the best way to .. er .. maximize your profit. Otherwise you buy something she'll start out with, lose interest, have to get nagged, get stubborn and give it up. If she doesn't have a real preference, you can always try renting something, or do the fast/cheap route (you can get a Rogue mandolin for $49 that works perfectly well once it's set up -- see Rob Meldrum's ebook, he sends it for free on request) and I know we picked up a keyboard at a warehouse store for something reasonable. We have a piano and the keyboard, both dust covered (the piano was for me and I do occasionally play around on it), although the keyboard does have its uses (yes, laundry is one); my daughter decided she wanted to play harp instead and there is NO cheap alternative to that, but she really wanted to and played it from age 15 to 22 (including lessons at college). Me, I took piano lessons as a kid. It's one of the reasons I played flute in school, baroque recorder in college and mandolin as an adult. (although I did go back and take piano lessons in my 30s and enjoyed them a lot).

[gtani7]

If you get a decent used brand name instrument e.g. for mandos a Kentucky km505 or a Yamaha P105 or up piano, there's not much risk financially, you should be able to sell either at about the same price as long as you haven't damaged/worn it out .

So I'm going to say both. My first instrument was piano, 2nd flute/clarinet, 3rd percussion, mostly mallets

[allenhopkins]

Ask at a mandolin website, and the answer is "mandolin."

Eventually, most people who play stringed instruments for vocal accompaniment end up playing guitar, at least part of the time. The tonal range of the guitar makes it well-suited to accompany singing. You can do that with a mandolin, but it's pretty trebly, leading some mandolinists to take up mandola or octave mandolin.

You didn't mention it, but you might also consider ukulele -- easier to play than either guitar or mandolin (in my opinion, anyway), and enjoying a surge of popularity. Ukulele chords are semi-transferable to guitar, as well.

[Randi Gormley]

oops! my apologies. turn all those "shes" into "hes"

[John Bertotti]

Both, do you have a budget in mind? I have three Korg synths/keyboards and a Roland RP301 piano. All of them are great boards with varying prices. I also use a controller and soft synths and pianos which are also very good, incredible really. A nice inexpensive controller and a soft option might be the way to go the keyboard is such a nice way to visualize intervals and chords etc.

[Gan Ainm]

I play mandolin, my wife plays and teaches piano so I am of course completely unbiased.
If he currently has passion and energy for one or other of course go with that. But really, a solid grounding on piano with a good teacher is invaluable for all future musical endeavors, and perhaps more likely to give him greater understanding of the building blocks along the way. All contingent on the right teacher with an open mind to interests other than "just" classical (which I love). Now if you are fortunate enough to live near a Tom Espinola or a Matt Flinner or... who can convey with a mandolin the whole range of melody harmony chords and rhythm and guide practice approaches to an eager young mind then that's great. Sometimes the best choice for an instrument (or martial art, or ....) is the quality of the teacher available. Maybe interview a few with your son for both instruments?

[MikeZito]

I personally found the keyboard easiest to learn, because the chord formations are easy, and follow the same pattern all the way up and down the keyboard . . and as Bob said in post #2, a pretty decent one can be found very inexpensively.