I have a new mando also, and am just picking up a few chords. My instruction book (good ol' Mel Bay) mentions taking closed chords such as A up the neck to change to Bb,B,C# etc. Im wondering...is it typical to also bring barre chords, such as C and G up the neck? I know the tension on the mando strings makes barring more difficult than on guitar, but it seems to work for me.
And one other query...how do you amplify the little bastards? (I need to play Ripple with a bunch of amped Dead heads.)