When I try to play chords I always play the first inversion of the chord because I'm used to the shape. How do I learn how the 2nd an 3rd inversions because I get confused if my right thumb isn't on the root of the chord. Do good players somehow just really quickly process in their head what position their fingers need to be or did they practice every inversion on every key?
you really need to get this. it might seem scary at first but it doesn't take long. look at it this way, take a small range -- like the range right around middle C, (because that's actually the range the probably most chords will want to be) -- and make every chord fit right in there. because this is actually what your inversion skills are going to be used for. playing multiple chords in 1 range without having to jump the range just because you only know a certain inversion. so just pick one small range and make all the chords fit in there. then slide the range up by a 5th or so, and then do it again, find all your chords in that range. you need to be able to do this and i think you can actually learn it very quickly