When Should I learn inversions right away and why?

The way I would approach your situation is that I would learn some of the inversions now, and try to play or mess around with them to see how they work with acoustically to some of the root 251's you've already learned. Don't stress too much about learning things in all the keys, or establishing some "fundamentals" before you allow yourself to move on. I believe there is no curriculum to improvisation. The foundation for improvisation should not be musical theory or a chord progression, but rather your own experimentation with sound (though of course, those things can help build a base).

I think it's much more beneficial, for instance, to start in C major, improvising off 251's, playing/singing some simple melodies on top, then putting in one or two inversions in a way you think sounds good. Play around with chords, and think about how they make you feel. What sort of ways can you play around with their rhythm? How can you break them up? Once you play around with the ways you can break them up, you will probably even "discover" inversions on your  own. Once you get comfortable improvising in C major, have tried some funky things out, sorta have an understanding of how each chord plays into each other, then maybe move on to a different key. The only way to "understand chords/harmony" as you say, is to come to your own understanding, based off your own interpretation of the sound, which comes from having fun and messing around. The only way to pick chords out right away comes from having played around with those chords long enough to know their form and function. If you wanna get better at scales, use them when improvising melodies on top of the chords! The more you use all these things, the more naturally all of it will come in due time.

Though of course, this is just my personal opinion on your situation. Other methods might work better for you and where you're at right now. Hope this perspective helps though!

Hi Margaret,

In the beginning stages, it’s definitely easiest to learn chords in root position first, at least to get to know them by themselves.

Practicing arpeggios is a great way to get to know all the chords—including inversions if you start on notes other than the root too.

As soon as you start playing chord progressions, which you’re already doing, you’ll need to use inversions to get smooth voice leading.

Jazz harmony is significantly more complex than classical harmony in that chords are based on at least 4 notes rather than 3. Also, what is called chord “voicing” in jazz has a completely different meaning from “voicing” a chord in classical piano playing, and it adds to the complexity.

It’s generally a good idea to start simply (fewer chords, fewer notes per chord, less complexity such as inversions). This will give you a solid foundation and make it much easier to build on your knowledge base.

Hope this helps.

Dear ‘Margaret, as one who has “played by chords” his whole life, please let me add to the very good advice above, by giving you my very simplified take on inversions and chord voicings: It may be summed up by saying, that once you know the notes of a chord, you already know all of its inversions.  For example, the Notes C, E, and G, comprise a C major chord . And OK if you add a B, you have a C major seventh chord. (But it’s easier to explain here, if we only refer to triads). Those notes played together, will express that harmony, no matter where they are played on the piano. Even if you have a C at the very bottom of the bass, a G in the middle of the piano, and a E towards the top it is still a C Major harmony. If you are trying to keep the entire chord within the span of a hand, then you usually will have a close voicing, with the thirds stacked on each other, etc. but the notes are the same no matter where you start. So  if your LH pinky finger is on the E then you know that you need a G & a C above it to complete the C triad, And if you reach for the closest ones with your other fingers, and you are going to have your first inversion.. If your pinky is on the G you need the, C & E to fill out the harmony, and there is your second inversion; and so on, but in each case, it is the exact same combination of notes.

My experience is that most informally/self taught jazz and pop musicians simply think of the chord notes, and play their chords, at least when starting out, where ever it is most convenient to fit in the hand along with whatever else they  are playing.  
 

I for one, never gave the slightest thought to the concept of “inversions”, but I could  play any of them automatically, because I knew the notes of the chords themselves. 

Years later, in reading theory books, I learned that these were referred to as “inversions,“ but I didn’t find much use for the concept in playing Pop music. I know I will make many better trained musicians cringe when I say, I never thought the inversion mattered at all, so long as you were playing a Notes of the chord somewhere on the piano. As you get more advanced, voice leading, and the positioning of various voicings becomes much more important. For example, now I find myself trying to achieve nicer, smoother voice leading, or to introduce tasty dissonances into my chords, and to be conscious that my chord voicings don’t conflict with whatever is being played in the bass. There’s no question that the pros are thinking of these things along with many other factors as they whiz through their solos. but you can go a long way in starting out by just thinking of the actual notes that are in the chords rather then separately trying to memorize each inversion. . So as you cycle through your II-V-I’s, make sure you are learning the NOTES that make up the chords, to the point where they become AUTOMATIC. This is a good reason to follow the advice above not to try to cycle through all 12 keys too soon. Memorize the actual notes that make up each of those chords, perhaps not moving on to the next key until you’ve done that and can fluently plunk your hand down on a Dm7 for example no matter which of its notes is on the bottom. Sorry to go on for so long, but I hope this is helpful. Good luck with your progress.