Regardless of style, you'll need to be a good 'rhythm player'. The more you understand chords, the freer you will be to both play interesting, effective accompanyment and more musical soloing. See my Tips for Improvisors page for more ideas on soloing. Instrument Choices There are a lot of mandolins on the market today, both vintage and newly built. As always, your choices will depend on what you have access to physically and financially.
Some instruments are very percussive, 'woody' sounding, with little sustain.
Others, which I prefer, are warm, fat and round sounding, with lots of sustain. I play a range of styles on mandolin, from bluegrass to celtic to jazz, so I need a very versatile instrument. I am not a paid endorser of J.R. Zeidler, I just find his instruments to suit my needs perfectly, and I've never had my hands on a better instrument. Part of the magic is having large frets and a radiused fingerboard. In a perfect world we'd be paid what we're worth, have big beautiful homes etc.