Home row typing practice: where every finger starts
The home row is the middle row of letter keys. On a US keyboard your left fingers rest on A, S, D and F, your right fingers on J, K, L and the semicolon, and both thumbs hover over the space bar. Every other key is reached from here and your fingers return here afterwards.
Find the home row without looking
Most keyboards have a small raised bump on the F and J keys. Rest your index fingers on those bumps and let the other fingers fall into place beside them. Do this before every session: if your hands start one key off, every word comes out wrong.
Which finger presses which key
The on-screen keyboard above is coloured by finger. On this lesson only eight keys are in use: left pinky A, left ring S, left middle D, left index F, right index J, right middle K, right ring L, right pinky the semicolon. G and H belong to the index fingers too, but they come later.
How to practise this lesson
- Type slowly enough to stay above 90% accuracy. The results screen shows a green pass when you get there.
- Say the letters in your head as you type them. It sounds silly and it works.
- Do two or three rounds, then stop. Short, frequent practice builds muscle memory faster than long sessions.
The drill mixes key patterns like asdf jkl; with real home row words such as salad, flask and falls, so you practise reaching for whole words from the first day.
What comes next
Once you pass, move on to lesson 2, the top row, then the bottom row. When all three rows feel familiar, take a 1 minute typing test to see your starting speed.