Buying and Reading Comics (help!)

I've tried all of the ways to buy comic books (single issues, trades, and digital comics). I have decided that I want to trade wait comic books. Is it alright if I just buy trades not starting with vol 1? Or say for example, I bought the 1st volume of a certain series then I skipped the 2nd and 3rd volumes. I proceeded with the 4th volume. Is that alright? Will I not understand what is currently going on with the stories?

Bump

For the most part, I would say skipping around is not a great idea. It's kind of like skipping episodes in a show or chapters of a book. You might be able to gather what's going on from context but you'll certainly be at a disadvantage. Unless rather than going as one contiguous story, each volume is a different arc and a different story.Then I don't think it would be as much of a problem. Or if the creative team changes on a book, it's usually okay to skip to the team you like if the one that preceded them wasn't as good. That's just my advice though. It's your money. You can read whatever you like.

It is not so bad if you read volumes out of order, because they are usually somewhat self contained. I do my best to read everything in order, but some comics are hard to find. I am reading the New 52 comics and don't have some of the tie ins that I need for Superman, but I am still reading through.