Hey all! I am new to touch typing and only recently finished a basic practise of the whole keyboard. Before I move onto more extensive practice, one issue that I face is that my fingers fly away from their default positions while touch typing. By default positions I intend to refer to an image like this.
For example, while typing “bazaar”, I manage to press the “r” with my middle finger instead of the index finger. This is simply because the middle finger at that position of the hand is more conveniently near to the “r” key than the index finger is. However, this messes up my balance of the hand and I have to pause for almost a second restoring my hand position back to the home row with index finger at the f key.
Similar case applies to “secret” or “raced” (pressing c with index finger)
How do I avoid this?
I guess it just comes down to a bit more practice. I also tended to press the C key with my index finger before.
Don’t move your whole hand off the home row (always keep at least one finger anchored in its default position), always return to the home row between letters, and don’t anticipate future letters. It seems more efficient to put your hand in position for the whole word you’re going to type, but when you’re touch-typing effectively you’re doing it without thought. It’s better to type slowly and error free with good habits. The speed will just increase on its own.
And if you ever want to go down the fancy keyboard rabbit hole… try an ortholinear layout.
If you are considering learning how to touch-type, then you’re probably aware there is a certain base position in which to rest your fingers so they can reach all of the keys on the keyboard. But becoming a pro at typing requires more than just knowing which finger sits on which key.
The position of the hands is much the same as it was when the method was developed back in the 1880s for use with a typewriter. In fact, the modern day keyboard layout, commonly known as [QWERTY], hasn’t changed much over the years. Perhaps the most relevant difference for typists was the addition of the delete key with the advent of the computer!
Posture really matters (perhaps counter-intuitively). When I lose my default position, I just lightly glide my index fingers over the keyboard until I feel the keys with those protrusions on them. Those are f and j. That’s what the protrusions are for. Problem solved 
Also, I think an under-rated tip is to know where the backspace key is. If you know where it is without looking, you can quickly erase mistakes. That’s how I taught myself how to type.
