Muscle memory and bad habits.

Rllink

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I'm sharing with beginners. Sometimes I think that the fear of learning bad habits almost paralyzes people's ability to learn. I thought about it yesterday as I was unlearning and relearning a chord. I'll not say specifically what chord or instrument because it didn't happen to be a ukulele, but just the same I've experienced the same thing many many times learning to play the ukulele. But in this particular case I had learned to play a particularly difficult chord fairly well. But then I learned that chord was an abbreviated fingering and there was another open variation that had a fuller voice. So I set myself to unlearn the automatic response to go into the abbreviated chord that I had spent the last three weeks learning and learn to go to the fuller voiced chord instead. So two days later switch made. Now this isn't the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last, that I have broken a habit or had to relearn something. I mean, just learning to fret an A with the second And third finger instead of the first and second so that the first finger is free to slide into a Bm. We do it all the time. And in fact, in every case I've come out of it with something. If nothing else, I'm good at breaking bad habits. Just saying, don't let the fear of learning something wrong hold you back.
 
I mean, just learning to fret an A with the second And third finger instead of the first and second so that the first finger is free to slide into a Bm. We do it all the time.
And in fact, in every case I've come out of it with something. If nothing else, I'm good at breaking bad habits. Just saying, don't let the fear of learning something wrong hold you back.

Rllink, I read, I re read, I formatted the text and I pulled out the above to store in memory. That seems like good stuff right there. Do you like John Martin?
 
Is learning an alternate way of playing a chord a bad habit? Can you not continue to use both? And use one or the other that is best for the moment?

Serious question. I've been practicing alternative chords along with first position chords. Which means I haven't learned some of the non-standard chords.

Yes, I'm also trying to remember moveable chords. I know how to find them. I have to think about them and consequently, they don't come quick enough as I'm playing.
 
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