It could be posture but it's more likely to be tension - it's easy to get your forearms all tensed up when you're concentrating so hard on getting it right. Take frequent breaks at first; shake your arms out; make a fist, then stretch your fingers wide (a few times) and keep an eye out that everything stays loose and relaxed while you're typing.

Good luck.

ps - she sells jade flakes; he sells old oak.

wd

That's easy for you to type.
// I can't yet do O's or H's.

In that case: a sad lad had a glad fad.

Or G's. Why do you mock me so.

asdfjkl;eit

Yep. That's my lot.

a flat tit; a fat ass; a sad lass

a flat tit; a fat ass; a sd lass
Nearly.
With practice, Grasshopper.

Man I've tried to learn to touch type so many times it's just not funny. I was even in a secretarial college for two months where I would sit at an old manual typewriter (that had the letters painted out) for four hours solid every day and I never got faster than 35 wpm. I can type faster than that with two fingers without looking at the keyboard so it was pointless.

I think I'm a bit of special case though. When I'd start picking up speed my brain would get kind of freaked out and I'd start confusing my left and right hands and I'd feel kind of ill. Erm, it's hard to explain but it was seriously fucking weird.

Anyway I've been tapping away with two digits since I was eight or nine so I'm not likely to change now.

Good luck seanyboy!

In my highschool typing class I got just over 40 wpm with my right hand on the home keys covering the right side of the keyboard and covering rest of the keys with my left index and ring fingers. I don't watch the keys as I type, but I glance down a lot.

After about fifteen minutes practice, my left forearm really starts to feel the strain. Like it really hurts. Is this normal? Is it just unused muscles? Is it caused by not sitting properly? AM I A FREAK???

What Wolfdog said about posture and relaxing. Also, the Qwerty keyboard is known to have the more frequently used letters on the left side. People complain about it since most people's left hand fingers are not as strong as the right hand ones and it seems like it would make sense to put the more used letters on the right side.

But the Qwerty keyboard was made to slow down people's typing so they wouldn't jam typewriters up by typing too fast. Have you ever played a musical instrument like piano? I think touch-typing is a little like piano. You've got to sit just right, you've got to hit the keys just right, and your weak fingers will be asked to do the same things your strong fingers do.

Good luck. I learned to touch-type in eighth grade (on a 30 pound hunk of steel typewriter, too!), and I never regretted it. Also I can unnerve my co-workers by talking to them while also typing on my computer. That can be a valuable skill.

I learned to "touch-type" because I'm in the "computer generation" - which means I never use my ring fingers when I'm typing, except to hit quote marks, periods, etc. Very Bad Form.

But the Qwerty keyboard was made to slow down people's typing so they wouldn't jam typewriters up by typing too fast.

Not so.

get Mavis Beacon (i took typing in school--it shows how old i am)

Mavis Beacon won't let me download from the UK.
All hail the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor.

Also, the Qwerty keyboard is known to have the more frequently used letters on the left side

This probably explains why it is that, although I use all four of my fingers on my left hand to type (though admittedly mostly just the first three), I only use my forefinger and middle finger on my right hand.