Rolls

The fastest thing a hand can do on a keyboard is a roll: two or three adjacent keys pressed by neighbouring fingers in a single sweeping motion, like drumming on a table. The pairs as, we, re, er, io, op and lk are rolls; so are longer runs like sad, wer, ion and oil. A roll can be typed faster than a single key repeated, because the fingers are already in position and the movement is one motion rather than two.

Rolls come in two directions. An inward roll goes from the little finger toward the index: as, sd, df on the left hand; lk, kj on the right. An outward roll goes the other way: fd, ds, sa on the left; jk, kl on the right. Most people find inward rolls easier, and most typing layouts are arranged so that common pairs roll inward. Practise both, but expect the outward ones to be a little slower.

The drills here are the opposite of the same-finger lesson: they are the pairs that can go fast, and the point is to let them. When you see a roll coming, sweep through it. A typist who takes rolls at the same careful pace as everything else is leaving speed on the table, and this is the lesson to pick it up.

as sad was sew wed we were rest io ion oil op pop lop lk ilk silk