Everything else in this course rests on one thing: your hands starting and returning to the same eight keys every time. It feels slow and unnatural at first, and that feeling is not a sign you are doing it wrong. It is the sign you are doing it right.
Find the two bumps. Almost every keyboard has a small raised bar or dot on the F and the J. They are there so you can find your position without looking. Put your left index finger on F and your right index finger on J, and let the other fingers fall into place beside them.
Left hand: A, S, D, F. Right hand: J, K, L, and the semicolon key. Both thumbs rest on the space bar. That is the home row, and it is where your hands live.
Every finger owns its keys. When you reach up or down for a letter, that finger goes and comes straight back. The hand does not travel. If your whole hand is moving around the keyboard, you are still two finger typing with more fingers.
Sit so this is possible. Wrists up, not resting on the desk while you type. Screen roughly at eye level. Elbows at about a right angle. If you are working on a low table with the keyboard high, none of this will feel right and it is the table, not you.
The first week is the hard part. You will be slower than your old method and it will be frustrating in a way that feels personal. It is not. Every person who types properly went through the same fortnight.
Three days in, you are typing at half your old speed and it is frustrating.
What happens: This is the most common way people fail at this, and it feels completely reasonable. Switching back keeps the old habit alive, so the new one never becomes automatic and the frustrating stage never ends.
What happens: Right. The new method only becomes automatic when it is the only one you use. Two uncomfortable weeks buys a ceiling that is twice as high.
I cannot feel the bumps on this keyboard
Some older or cheaper keyboards have very shallow ones. Feel along the middle letter row for them, and if there is genuinely nothing, mark F and J with a small piece of tape or a dot of correction fluid. You are training your hands to find home without looking, and anything you can feel will do.
My hands are small and I cannot reach comfortably
Keep the home position and move the whole hand only for the far keys, then bring it straight back. Reaching for a distant key with an adjusted hand is fine. What costs you is leaving the hand in the new place.
Does it matter if I use the wrong finger for a letter?
At first, less than you think. What matters most is that your hands return to the home row and your eyes stay on the screen. The finger assignments sort themselves out with practice, and chasing them perfectly from day one makes people give up.
Before you move on
- Find the bumps on F and J by feel, without looking
- Rest all eight fingers on the home row
- Use the new method for everything, including messages
Check what you know
4 questions. Have a look at what this lesson asks.
Sign in to take this quiz
Reading is free and always will be. Answering counts towards your progress and your certificate, so we need to know who you are.
Sign in or create a free accountIt takes a minute and costs nothing.