Alternating hands

Typing speed does not come from one fast finger but from the overlapping work of two hands. When the next letter belongs to the other hand, that hand can already be on its way while the previous one is still pressing. Two movements run partly at the same time, and that overlap is the speed.

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In the words here the hand changes after almost every letter, which makes them the fastest words there are to type. Look for that feeling: an even, alternating rhythm in which neither hand waits for the other.

This is the opposite of one-handed words. There the same hand made every movement in a row and the word dragged; here neither hand ever presses twice in a row.

If the alternating words flow while the one-handed ones do not, that is normal and the right order of things. Real text sits between the two, and the rhythm you pick up here carries over to it.

Practise

• Left little finger
• Left ring finger
• Left middle finger
• Left index finger
• Right index finger
• Right middle finger
• Right ring finger
• Right little finger

The drill uses alternating words only. Try to hold an even pace for the whole line, without letting any spot tempt you into a burst.

Touch typing lessons

Introduction

• Where speed comes fromFast typing is not fast fingers but overlapping movements and learned sequences.

Home position

• The home rowEight keys the hand never has to leave. Every keystroke starts here, and the finger comes back here.
• Home row wordsThe first real words, typed without moving a single finger off the home row.
• The index finger keysG and H are the only home row letters that make an index finger step aside.

Letters

• The top rowThe finger goes up and slightly left, the hand stays where it is.
• The bottom rowThe most awkward of the three rows, and for that reason the one most worth drilling.
• The little finger keysThe little finger has the most keys and the least strength.
• All the letters togetherThree rows at once, in real words. This is where typing actually begins.
• Same-finger sequencesTwo letters with one and the same finger are the slowest thing in typing, and worth a drill of their own.
• One-handed wordsWords that come out entirely with one hand. This is where the weaker hand shows itself.
• Alternating handsWords where the hands change over after almost every letter. This is where the rhythm comes from.

Capitals, punctuation and digits

• Capital lettersA capital always uses the shift on the opposite hand. That is the whole rule.
• PunctuationA comma or a full stop is part of the word, not something beside it.
• DigitsThe digit row is far away and out of sight. The only thing that helps is the right column.

Speed and accuracy

• Frequent letter pairsSpeed comes from a pair becoming one movement, not from a single keystroke getting faster.
• Frequent wordsA couple of hundred words cover most of everything you will ever type. They are worth a drill of their own.
• An even rhythmAn even pace beats bursts and pauses, even when it feels slower.
• Accuracy before speedA wrong letter costs more than a slow one. In the game too.
• Whole sentencesCapital at the front, full stop at the end, and every part working at once.

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