Does having multiple (scale) instruments confuse muscle memory?

With my recent addition of a tenor guitar (23 inch scale,) I have noticed a little bit of confusion with my muscle memory. I noticed that with three scale lengths, 17, 20, and 23, I now "miss" on some chords when fretting up or down the neck. Going between the baritone and tenor uke isn't bad, but the larger difference (6 inches in scale) in the fret spacing on the tenor guitar has me "missing" quite a bit. Not the chord shapes, since they remain the same (I'm in DGBE on the tenor guitar,) but where they are at.

I'm going to assume as long as i keep practicing, my muscle memory will adapt to the scale differences. Anybody else have the same problems bouncing around between instruments or scale lengths? If so, any practice tips to minimize it?

Yep hammer, initially it's a bit of a hassle, but I found it didn't take too long for the fingers to adjust quickly. Just a time thing, and getting the feel for each individual instrument too, which again, is part of the same puzzle and a time thing.

I justified my UAS habit by trying three sizes of ukes. My soprano "Bill Bailey" arrived yesterday. I spent much of my playing time the ls 36 hours or so plaing Bill. I found switching to "Suzy" my concert very confusing. I find rotating the position of the instrument helps. Its an analytic geometry application but it works. I recorded my SOTO 151 offering on both. Bill won the contest. Suzy is annoyed. It has been less of a problem with suzy and Izzy my tenor but after a couple of weeks the problem is lessening. Izzy plays at 3 oclock, Suzy at 2 o'clock, Bill at 1 o'clock. BUCaroo Banjolele Plays at 3 o'clock as well. "Rock around the clock" at NoMan's House.

I actually have more of a problem with my banjos but that is starting to subside.

I conducted the UAS experiment to see if I could speed up my learning curve with chording and it seems to help some. The real benefit though is I'm moving up the neck very quickly. I like that. It also seems efficaious in dealing with diminished chords.

hammer40 said:

Anybody else have the same problems bouncing around between instruments or scale lengths? If so, any practice tips to minimize it?

Click to expand...

Yeah, once in awhile I scare myself. My bass is a 34" scale, guitars are around 25 1/2", and you already know about the ukes. I've found myself doing all kinds of crazy, embarassing stuff when switching. Usually, it's the string spacing that trips me up more than the scale. But, after a few minutes of getting into it (and making bizarre noises), things settle down and the muscle memory gets un-confused.

OregonJim said:

Usually, it's the string spacing that trips me up more than the scale. But, after a few minutes of getting into it (and making bizarre noises), things settle down and the muscle memory gets un-confused.

Click to expand...

The tenor guitar string spacing is much narrower than the uke. I thought I would really struggle with that, but turns out it has not been bad at all. A few chords are a little tough because of it, but a straight up barre is sa-weeet, easier than the ukes!

hammer40 said:

The tenor guitar string spacing is much narrower than the uke. I thought I would really struggle with that, but turns out it has not been bad at all. A few chords are a little tough because of it, but a straight up barre is sa-weeet, easier than the ukes!

Click to expand...

Yeah, but play it for awhile (like a week or two) and then switch back to the uke. That's what gives me fits. If I were constantly switching, it might not be so bad, but I get in a guitar mood, or a uke mood, or a bass mood, or a violin mood... and they last for weeks or months before my mood switches...

OregonJim said:

Yeah, but play it for awhile (like a week or two) and then switch back to the uke. That's what gives me fits. If I were constantly switching, it might not be so bad, but I get in a guitar mood, or a uke mood, or a bass mood, or a violin mood... and they last for weeks or months before my mood switches...

Click to expand...

Yep, I can see where that would give you some trouble Jim.

Four years ago I sold off everything but my tenors in order to focus on one scale length. It has helped my playing by not having to adjust my playing style. But I still suck.

Roflmao!!!

dkcrown said:

four years ago i sold off everything but my tenors in order to focus on one scale length. It has helped my playing by not having to adjust my playing style. But i still suck.

Click to expand...

I've often wondered about this too. It seems to me that one would be way better off playing Ukes that are all the same size. I might even say that it would be better to buy one really good Uke and just play it all the time. Unless different Ukes are used for different purposes or perhaps different keys, we'd probably all be better off with just the one. It's the music that's important and not the number of Ukes one has.

One person, one ukulele, less confusion! ld:

"Does having multiple (scale) instruments confuse muscle memory?"

Yes, in the same way as does playing any single instrument. In fact each step we take is a new confusion to the muscles.

Are you sure muscle memory is the correct term for the challenge of playing different widths and scales of a neck? I think it is a higher cognative disfunction. I would call it a not paying attention to what you are doing disorder.

TheCraftedCow said:

Are you sure muscle memory is the correct term for the challenge of playing different widths and scales of a neck? I think it is a higher cognative disfunction. I would call it a not paying attention to what you are doing disorder.

Click to expand...

Nah! Different Ukes feel different. Baritone frets are a much greater stretch than a concert. Also, one is already concentrating on the chord shape and the melody he/she is singing and the words. Feeling for the correct place to fret is just another duck to get in our row. Perhaps some of use have more cognitive disfunction. Paying attention to what we are doing sometimes troubles some of us mortals. Especially we older ones.

One size for each Uker! Size matters!! ld:

Not only do I move between different sizes of ukulele without major problem, but I can switch from gCEA to GDAE tunings and back without really thinking about it.

My "method" ... simple

Pick up the instrument and, whilst looking at the fretboard, play a few scales and a couple of chord sequences. Within a minute or so my muscle memory has "re-attuned" and I no longer have to look where to put my fingers to fret accurately and can get on with following the music (notation or tab) on my music stand.

Moving from soprano ukulele or mandolin to 5-string banjo or full-size guitar can be a "bit of a leap", but the more I do it the easier it gets and the easier it gets the more I do it

As always, YMMV, but it's really just another "practice, practice, practice ...."

I honestly find going from one instrument of the same type can confuse ...if I switch guitar from squier strat to epiphone 175 (I've always been cheap)
the whole experience takes some while to settle down....flat solid to hollow body arch etc...the necks feel different ...


Ukes , I swap between Concert and Soprano fairly easily ....Banjolele takes a bit more thought for both Left and Right.....so yes there is a degree of adjustment required .....but once that has been settled then the MM kicks in ....and it all goes downhill from there !!!!!

Having posted this I re-read the original question,yes going between the different scale lengths does require adjustment .....depending on which way though..go from uke to geetar ...easy ..except I get bothered by the two shipping hawsers under my nose ....but you can take a walk between the frets....5 string Banjo similar ...though I have to remember not to strike or pluck the strings as hard as the uke or BU...boy them things are loud.......

Mandolin from uke not really a problem ...Mando to geetar ...hmmmm......as kypfer says a few scale playing adjustments.......go from geetar to uke

....ah now, fingers clash and argue about whom has the right to be where doing what and a period of cacophony settles in .......well ...more than normal.....:nana:

I've thought about this a lot, not in the sense of different instruments, but in different strumming styles, or different finger picking styles, or different ways to play chords. I really like mixing things up. I think that in the long run you will benefit. The "learn one way first" is not for me. When I was a youngster, we had cattle, and horses to herd them. I bought a colt, raised it up, and decided to break it to ride myself. One of the first things I taught it was to turn to the right. We worked on that all day one Saturday, and all afternoon on Sunday. The next weekend I was going to teach that colt to turn left, but when I gave it the signal to turn left, it would turn right. The harder I tried, the harder the horse would turn the wrong way. The problem is, the two signals are the same, except from different sides, and we had been turning right all the time, and that colt thought that is what I wanted to do, so it was giving me everything it had. Finally my dad stepped in and got us both straightened out. It about killed us, but eventually the colt learned right from left. I remember sitting on that horse, both of us covered in sweat, and my dad giving me this big lecture on mixing things up, so as not to get stuck. That has followed me for fifty years. I'm going right, left, forwards and backwards every day. I don't want to go through that untraining/retraining again. It was hard enough when I was young.

TheCraftedCow said:

Are you sure muscle memory is the correct term for the challenge of playing different widths and scales of a neck? I think it is a higher cognative disfunction. I would call it a not paying attention to what you are doing disorder.

Click to expand...

I am pretty certain that muscle memory is the reason for the challenge. I tend to rotate through different scale lengths in the course of a day. The scale lengths are typically 13.5, 15.5, 17.5 and 26. I have just started playing soprano and am not yet comfortable with the cramped fretting area yet. Ignoring that I have found a couple of things:

1. Concert ukes seem to be the right size for me, except when I'm playing tenor banjolele. That is very comfortable, more so than tenor uke.
2. When playing the banjo I have a certain amount of difficulty with intonation, (since picking up the uke). I have to think about what I'm doing pretty much all the time. My banjo intonation is improving because I am constantly changing scale lengths.
3. I frequently try to use uke chord shapes on the banjo and vice a versa. I attribute this both to muscle memory and not paying enough attention.
4. (drift), I have Just Pitch. - Oh boy my wife is jealous, she doesn't! Any way the same song, played the same way on different scale lengths sounds better or worse to my ears, (there is solid physics behind this phenomenon). I have noted this when a grab songs on Ultimate Guitar. The posters will tab a song for guitar then make a ukulele version using the same chords, (uke tabs though). The Uke version simply sounds wrong, and is according to my ears.(end Drift).
This is a good reason to consider using different scale length instruments, Muscle Memory not withstanding. St Cecilia patron saint of musicians, singers and UAS smiles down on me.

Rllink said:

I've thought about this a lot, not in the sense of different instruments, but in different strumming styles, or different finger picking styles, or different ways to play chords. I really like mixing things up. I think that in the long run you will benefit. The "learn one way first" is not for me.

Click to expand...

I'm not so sure muscle memory is a help here. I am by no means an accomplished strummer. Memorizing strum patterns doesn't work very well for me. I change my strum according to the rhythm of the song, Not the pattern. My ears anticipate a rhythmic change and my fingers change the strum to accommodate them. I don't think this is muscle memory.

Down Up Dick said:

One person, one ukulele, less confusion! ld:

Click to expand...

Bite your tongue!

IamNoMan said:

I'm not so sure muscle memory is a help here. I am by no means an accomplished strummer. Memorizing strum patterns doesn't work very well for me. I change my strum according to the rhythm of the song, Not the pattern. My ears anticipate a rhythmic change and my fingers change the strum to accommodate them. I don't think this is muscle memory.

Click to expand...

There is some muscle memory involved in strumming patterns. That's why beginners often struggle with keeping a pattern going. They can feel the rhythm, but their hand won't synchronize. I agree with you, though - the rhythmic patterns of a song are more of a "feel" than anything else. Keeping a strict pattern throughout a song gets boring. Switching it up adds flavor. It does help to commit the patterns to (muscle) memory so that you can switch between them without thinking about it.