FREE LESSONS
Free typing lessons for beginners, from the home row up
A course for learning to type without looking at the keyboard, built for adults who are starting from zero. It is not a fixed list of lessons: you begin with six home-row keys and the course adds one new letter every time you have mastered the ones you have. Free, in English and Spanish, on a computer with a physical keyboard.
Your first lesson, in a few minutes
Open the trainer on a computer and sign in free with Google so your progress is saved. Pick English, your keyboard, and answer that you have never touch typed: the course shows you where your hands go and starts on the home row.
The path, step by step
Step 1 — Set up your keyboard
You choose the lesson language, your keyboard layout (US English or Spanish), the key sound and a daily goal, which is 15 minutes by default. Then the course asks whether you already touch type.
Answer “never” or “a bit” and you get the beginner path: home-row order and posture reminders during the first five lessons. If you already touch type, you skip that part (see below).
Step 2 — Hands on the home row
Before anything is measured, a short lesson shows the resting position: left index finger on F and right index on J, the two keys with a small bump you can feel. The other fingers sit next to them on A S D and K L ;. Thumbs rest on the space bar.
Then you type one short calibration sentence. It is not a test; it only tells the coach where you are starting from.
Step 3 — Six keys: F J A S D K
The first lessons use only six home-row letters, starting with F and J. With so few letters the words are short and sometimes made up, and that is the point: each finger learns its key without you looking down.
By default the text does not move on until you press the right key, and the on-screen keyboard tints every key with the colour of the finger that presses it. Finishing a round at 85 % accuracy or better counts as a clean round.
Step 4 — Finish the home row
The next letter to unlock is L (and, on a Spanish keyboard, Ñ). Once the home row is complete, your hands have a fixed place to come back to after every reach.
Step 5 — The rest of the alphabet, by frequency
From there, letters arrive in the order they are most used in English: E, T, O, I, N, H, R, C, U, M, W, G, Y, P, B, V, X, Q and Z. If you practise in Spanish the order is E, O, R, N, I, C, T, U, M, P, B, G, V, Y, Q, H, Z, X and W, with the accented vowels last.
In every lesson, the letter that is costing you the most right now (often the newest one) shows up more often in the text, so you practise it while it is still new.
Step 6 — When the next letter unlocks
There is no fixed schedule. The next letter arrives when three out of four of the letters you have hold the target speed for three lessons and none of them is far behind.
If you start from zero, the target begins at about 25 words per minute per key and never drops below 24. From the fifth lesson on it moves with you: 15 % above your recent pace, in small steps.
If a letter gets stuck, the coach changes tactics after 20, 30 and 40 lessons without progress: first it aims at the jump between two keys that is slowing you down, then it offers a focused drill, and finally it eases the target for that one key. One hard letter cannot block the whole course.
Step 7 — With the whole alphabet
Once you have every letter, the course does not stop: the target keeps rising, letters you had mastered come back if they slip, and the coach focuses on the key pairs that cost you the most time. It is a good moment to retake the speed test and compare it with your first number.
Which finger presses each key
This is the map the course uses and the one the trainer’s colour guide paints. Letters go in columns: each finger covers its home-row key and the keys straight above and below it.
| Left pinky | Q A Z |
|---|---|
| Left ring | W S X |
| Left middle | E D C |
| Left index | R F V · T G B |
| Right index | Y H N · U J M |
| Right middle | I K , |
| Right ring | O L . |
| Right pinky | P ; / (Spanish keyboard: P Ñ -) |
| Thumbs | Space bar |
Each index finger covers two columns. T G B and Y H N sit one step towards the middle, and they are the keys beginners mix up most.
How long it takes
We will not promise you a date: it depends on how many minutes you practise and how many days a week. What we can tell you is how progress is measured. Each letter has to hold the target speed for three lessons before it counts as mastered, so the course moves at your pace, not a calendar’s.
Short, frequent sessions usually work better than one long one a week. Ten focused minutes beat an hour of tired typing. If one day goes worse, that is normal: the coach looks at the trend, not a single round.
Who this course is for
Adults who type while looking at the keyboard, with two or four fingers, and want to stop: students, office workers, anyone getting ready for a job that lives on a computer.
There are levels, streaks and challenges so progress is visible, but practice is the centre: after every round it tells you what slowed you down. It does not work on a phone or tablet, because you need a physical keyboard.
What is free and what is not
The whole course is free: every lesson, the adaptive coach, the speed test and the practice modes. You only need a Google account to save your progress.
Pro is optional (US$6.99 a month or US$49 a year) and adds review tools such as the session archive, week-to-week comparisons and saved routines. You do not need it to finish the course.
Keytrainer does not issue certificates. The speed test gives you an honest number for your pace, but it is not an official qualification.
Typing in Spanish too
The course is fully bilingual. Pick Spanish as the lesson language and the Spanish keyboard if you have one: the home row then ends in Ñ and the accented vowels arrive last. Latin American keyboards have the letters in the same places as the Spanish one; only the accent key and a few symbols move.
On an English (US) keyboard, the Spanish lessons leave out Ñ and accents, because that keyboard has no key for them.
If you already touch type a little
Answer “a bit” or “yes” at the start. With “a bit” you keep the home-row order with a slightly higher starting target. With “yes” you start with twelve of the most frequent letters and a target of about 50 words per minute, and the calibration and first lessons tune the rest.
FAQ
Are these typing lessons really free?
Yes. The lessons, the coach and the speed test are free. Pro is an optional subscription for review tools and never locks a lesson.
Do I get a certificate?
No. Keytrainer does not issue certificates. If you need to prove your speed, check which test the person asking will accept.
Can I take the lessons on my phone?
You can read this page on a phone, but the lessons need a computer with a physical keyboard. On a phone the trainer tells you so instead of letting you practise on a screen keyboard.
Do I need to know anything before I start?
No. If you have never touch typed, the course begins by showing where your hands go, with only six keys.
How is this different from a typing test?
A test scores one run. The course changes your next lesson based on how you typed: which letter or which jump between keys cost you the most.
