📖 4-minute read

The home row and your ten fingers

Touch typing means every key belongs to one finger. Your fingers always start from the same place, the home row, and return there after each key. That's how you can type without looking.

Find the home row

Put your left index finger on f and your right index finger on j. These two keys have a small bump you can feel. Your other fingers rest on the keys beside them, and both thumbs hover over the space bar.

Which finger presses which key on English (US QWERTY)

Each colour on the keyboard matches a finger in the picture above. A finger moves only up and down its own column, plus the index fingers cover the two middle columns.

` 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - =

q w e r t y u i o p [ ]

a s d f g h j k l ; '

z x c v b n m , . /

thumbs

Pinky fingers Ring fingers Middle fingers Index fingers Thumbs: space bar

Three rules that make it work

Always return home. After each reach, the finger goes back to its home key.
Use the right finger, even if it's slower at first. The wrong finger feels faster today and holds you back for years.
Shift with the other hand. For a capital typed with the left hand, hold the right Shift with your right little finger, and the other way round.

In every lesson, switch on Finger guide under the keyboard. The finger to use next lights up on the hands, and the helping little finger shows when you need Shift.