Ordering my first mandolin- KM156

Well I don’t know that much about mandolins and I ordered an Epiphone Mm30s thinking just having a solid top would be fine for a beginner. And it probably is but knowing myself and how i’ve Been with guitars I figured I’d be wanting to “upgrade”quickly thus wasting time and money so I canceled the order. So I’ve a message into one of the forum sponsors with some questions but i’m Sure I will order from them. They advertise a full set up which is important to me.

I’m not very good at guitar so I probably shouldn’t be taking up another instrument but what the heck I enjoy it. I’m sure i’ll Be spending time on this forum. Actually lurking here for the past few days has influenced my decision. I have a feeling my GUild M20 will feel like a dreadnought after spending some time on a mandolin

Hello and welcome to the forum. What kind of music do you want to play? Are you going to take lessons? Do you plan on learning on your own? By the way, either of those methods will work. It’s just that one is more expensive and the other takes a bit longer, but they both work. I heartily recommend that you visit the Social Group Song of the Week on this forum. You will find an ocean of material and a whole bunch of videos, some of which are either inspirational or intimidating depending on how you view them. Others are comforting in that they depict players just like you and me that slowly and painfully pick put a simple melody and then get an expression on their face that says, “There you go! I got through it one time without any major errors!” Which brings up a point. Don’t get discouraged. Playing the mandolin is easy, very easy. It just takes a long time to figure out how easy it is. Remember that no matter how many times you make mistakes or how slowly you need to play, you sound EXACTLY like (insert the name of your mandolin hero here) when he/she was at your stage of development. Every one of us sounded like that when we first started, and some of us still do, so have faith. It gets better. Good luck and remember to enjoy what younger doing. Don’t make work out of it. This is supposed to be enjoyed, not endured.

Thanks for the encouragement. I agree the key will be to enjoy the process. I'm thinking of taking some in person lessons. We'll see. At the last second I decided on A Kentucky KM 252. For $50.00 more it has some nice extra features including better tuning pegs and I just like the lighter finish. Maybe because I already have two dark mahogany guitars. Anyway, I'm glad I'm starting with a good mandolin. I just hope it gets delivered before the long weekend.

A 272 is a good instrument for the price point. I got one in January because I have an F5 and an A5 but was lacking an oval hole and didn't have a big budget. I've been satisfied.

Taking lessons at the beginning will save you some heartache latter. It is all too easy to teach yourself some really bad techniques, especially with the fretting hand. You said in your OP that you played guitar, so you already know how hard it is to “unlearn” a bad habit. What you learn in your head can fairly easily be corrected, but once it is embedded in your muscle memory, it is there for a loooong time. I believe that you will fInd the mandolin much more intuitive than the guitar, at least I did. My fingers just seem to go,to,the right notes more often when I’m learning something new. I think that it’s the 5ths. tuning rather than the 4ths. tuning that makes it easier. One thing for sure though, learn and get proficient with your chop chords. With chop chords, even if you don’t know how to play a song, you can play along. Don’t forget to check out the videos on the Song of the Week social group. You’ll be glad that you did.

More good info. Thanks. Man I hope it gets here for the weekend. Odds are it won't get delivered by UPS until next Tuesday.

Welcome, A-style!

Your M20 is a good sign. It means you have good ears.

It's also good that you went with a budget mando for openers. Unlike guitars, differences in the sound of mandolins are subtle, and it takes quite a while playing them to get to the point where you really know what you like. Wood type, neck length, f-holes versus oval, flattop versus carved, radiused versus flat, wide neck versus thin? They all sound and feel pretty much the same at first.

All good advice above. And one more thing: You don't have a mandolin until you post a picture of it here. Just sayin'!

Yes I'll post pics when I get it. Unfortunately it is in the local UPS hub until Tuesday.

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Originally Posted by A-style newbie

Well I don’t know that much about mandolins and I ordered an Epiphone Mm30s thinking just having a solid top would be fine for a beginner. And it probably is but knowing myself and how i’ve Been with guitars I figured I’d be wanting to “upgrade”quickly thus wasting time and money so I canceled the order. So I’ve a message into one of the forum sponsors with some questions but i’m Sure I will order from them. They advertise a full set up which is important to me.

I’m not very good at guitar so I probably shouldn’t be taking up another instrument but what the heck I enjoy it. I’m sure i’ll Be spending time on this forum. Actually lurking here for the past few days has influenced my decision. I have a feeling my GUild M20 will feel like a dreadnought after spending some time on a mandolin

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Congrats on the purchase. The A-style is a great way to go. I'd suggest setting a goal of playing it until you know you need an upgrade to a better A-style :)

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Originally Posted by tuhker

. . . I'd suggest setting a goal of playing it until you know you need an upgrade to a better A-style :)

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Yup. That just what I was getting at. Play it until it's not good enough anymore.

Welcome! I am quite new to the mandolin myself and after starting a thread on what to begin with I ended up getting a Kentucky KM-250 and I'm very pleased with it this far. However I've come to understand that MAS is escalating quickly...

Anyway, hope you'll be satisfied with your new instrument. :mandosmiley:

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Originally Posted by andy.back

Welcome! I am quite new to the mandolin myself and after starting a thread on what to begin with I ended up getting a Kentucky KM-250 and I'm very pleased with it this far. However I've come to understand that MAS is escalating quickly...

Anyway, hope you'll be satisfied with your new instrument. :mandosmiley:

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I’m getting it tomorrow and really looking forward to it. If I take to it then I could see an F-style 9-12 months down the road. We’ll see.