This lesson closes out the beginner track. After it, both index fingers will cover every key assigned to them, and you will have enough letters to type a large slice of ordinary English.
The new keys
- B — left index finger, bottom row, reaching down and right. The longest single stretch on the keyboard.
- H — right index finger, one column left from
J. The mirror of G. - M — right index finger, one row down from
J.
About B
B deserves its reputation. It sits in the middle column on the bottom row, which means the left index finger has to travel further for it than for any other letter. Some typists use the right index finger instead, and on some keyboards that is genuinely more comfortable — but it breaks the symmetry of the system and causes collisions with N and M. Learn it with the left hand. The stretch stops feeling long after a few hundred repetitions.
H is worth getting right
H appears in the, this, that, what, when — the connective tissue of written English. Like G, it is a sideways reach into the middle column, and like G it tempts the hand to drift. Anchor the right little finger near ; and the drift disappears.
Testing your foundation
You now have b c d e f g h i j k l m n r u — enough to write real sentences. Before moving to the intermediate track, check three things honestly:
- Can you type without looking at your hands at all?
- Do your fingers return to the home row between words?
- Is your accuracy consistently above 95%?
If any answer is no, the fix is to repeat the beginner lessons rather than push forward. The intermediate track adds the outer fingers, which are weaker and less coordinated, and it assumes the home-row habit is already solid. Building speed on a shaky foundation is the single most common reason people plateau around 30 words per minute and stay there.