Hello everybody,  just got my new Mandolin, Epiphone MM50VS, Never held a Mandolin until today,  and never learned to play any instrument.  My question is,  what 3-chords to I have to absolutely have to know ?  And what can you tell me about my Mandolin, is it a good one for a beginner ?

Thanks,

Debrunsky

Three chords, well to get started you probably want to try some "open" chords.  These are chords where some of the strings are open in that you don't put fingers on them.  You may eventually use closed chords where you always use three or four fingers but let's start easy.

G
0023

C
0230

D
2002

The way to read that is from low to high so for G, you don't put a finger on the two lowest pairs of strings.  On the highest, you put your second finger on, actually just behind, the third fret.  On the second highest, you put your first finger on the second fret.

Those three chords give you a I, IV, V in a very common key and you could play any of tens of thousands of folk songs.  G is the I chord, C is the IV chord and D is the V chord.  There called that because of where they fall if you count up the scale GABCDEFG; they rooted in the the first, fourth and fifth degrees.

That mando I know nothing about but I think it's in a decent entry-level range without being too much of a cheapy.  The best thing you could do is find a local shop or an experienced player around and have them check the setup.  See if it needs any adjustment to make it comfortable to play.  As long as you are not playing a cheap piece of junk, set-up is probably more important than which mando for a beginner.  If the strings are too high or two low or anything like that, it's a minor inexpensive adjustment at the shop to fix and will make you chances for success much better.  If you bought it at a decent shop, they should check if for you.  If you bought it used or online, it might or might not be set up well.

Oh, if you have never ever played any instrument, you might want to find a little help.  Maybe take lessons.  If you don't have a lot of time, maybe every other week instead of every week.  Or maybe if you can find a local player to just show  you some basics.  There's lots of little thinks like how to hold the instrument and your pick and how to strum the strings.  If someone shows them to you, you'd save hours, days or even years, of experimentation trying to get it right.

You do have some picks, right?  Mandos typically aren't finger picked.  Try many different shapes and sizes until you find what you like.

An electronic tuner for about $25 is also a good investment.  There's a new clip-on one out called the Intelli or something like that that is supposed to be great.

Also, don't try to play to much when you start out.  The fingers of your left will get sore until you build up calluses and that will take several weeks.  Maybe twenty minutes at a time is right.  If your fingers aren't hurting, then do another twenty minute session later in the day and if they are, give it a rest until tomorrow.

Good luck, stop back for more questions if you need to.

Thanks for repling to my questions, this really helps alot.