How I did it:

1. First thing I did was to find a picture that told me what finger pressed which keys (like the one i've attached, which I found on google). Also, think about which finger presses the space and shift (see tips below).
2. Then, I had to force myself to type accordingly, VERY slowly. Try to look at the screen and not your fingers as much as possible. I would recommend using an online website that gives you sets of letters, to help your fingers memorize where each key is - alternatively, just type series of letters, numbers and punctuation marks. It may help to focus on one row of the keyboard at a time. I actually coloured in the keys on my keyboard to help me.
3. When your fingers know where the keys are, you can practice typing text. There are websites to help, or just copy up any text you like. Expect to be very slow, still. Your "muscle memory" remembers whole words, not just letters, so don't use a website that just throws up random letter formations.
4. If there are any words or letter/key combinations you often get wrong, it would be worth typing a paragraph or so of those words / combinations of letters, to train your fingers to remember the correct order. (Do this slowly, building up speed.)
5. Test your speed, there are numerous tests online, find one you can work easily. You might want to do this as you go along, to see your improvement.

Lessons & tips:

• Learn when you don't have any important things to type up, because you will be too slow in the beginning to do them efficiently, and reverting back to how you used to type will reverse your learning.
• Check your spellings, you don't want to memorise the wrong spelling!
• Don't forget to learn numbers punctuation marks and capitals too.
• When typing a capital letter, press the shift button with the opposite hand to the letter. So if you are typing 'A', press shift with your right hand; if you are typing 'P', press shift with your left hand.
• The same logic applies to the spacebar too - use the opposite hand to the last letter. So a space after an 'a' is pressed with the right thumb; a space after a 'p' is pressed with the left thumb.

Resources: I use http://www.keybr.com/, because it lets you put in your own text. I use lyrics, because that way I'm just teaching my fingers, and am not slowed down by not knowing what words are coming up. (Remember, in real typing use, this is not the case.)

Most of the websites I tried, I didn't like, so have a search.

Alternatively, you could type what people around you are saying, copy from a newspaper, ask someone to read something aloud for you to copy, or ask someone to give you random letters/numbers/punctuation marks to type. You could wear a blindfold or cover your hands to stop you looking.

Jan 01, 2010, 07:48AM PST | 0 comments | 2 cheers