Hey Áine.

Glad to help. If you want some really good information, you should join the Comando mailing list (CLICK). There are a lot of folk on there who really know their stuff. You will receive between 20 and 80 emails a day, but after you get used to the various characters and subject lines, you will quickly be able to separate the grain from the chaff. I unsubscribed a few months ago due to an extremely busy schedule: tax season (you won't tell any of the other folkies that I'm an accountant, will you?), first baby on the way (he was born on June 6; now I'm REALLY busy).

Another thing I can't recommend enough is to take some lessons. I had played the guitar for years, then traded it in for a mandolin three years ago. I just pissed around for two years, then started taking lessons in August/99. My improvement has been phenomenal (although I'm still no roaring hell). I stopped taking lessons in February (see reasons above), but now I have a good solid knowledge-base to build on. If you have the time and money, TAKE LESSONS.

If you would like to correspond on mandolin-related topics, send me a personal message, and I'll give you my email address. Even if we're both mando-idiots, we might surprise ourselves with what we can learn from each other.

Paul.