Hello everyone...I'm new here, and would like to get some more advice on learning the viola. First let me tell you about my musical background as I think that would help. I come from a musical family(Dad played many instruments; namely saxophone and my brother DJs.) I played piano for many years, but sadly gave it up as my musical interests changed. I then got into electronic music.(I grew up on classical and hip-hop). Now I am creating my own experimental electronic compostions on my home pc. I recently acquired the software Max/MSP, which is a graphical/programming/sound design sort of work environment. I do still play the keyboards; namely synthesizers. Now I want to get back to learning another instrument, and decided that the viola seems like the right choice. The reason for wanting to learn the viola is simple, and that is to add a different dynamic to my compositions. I eventually would like to write my own music for viola. Now that I've gotten that brief history out of the way what advice can you give me when first starting out on the viola?

get a good viola (not too old and not too new)
get a good shoulder rest (depends if you are serious or this is for a hobby)
get a tuner and a metronome(sp?)
get a private tutor

and your tutor will help you with all your problems