Long Lasting Lessons Learned

When it comes to anything with a keyboard, be it a typewriter or a computer, “touch typing” is basically all that I’ve ever known. (To be clear, I do not consider the “keyboard-like” interface appearing on a smartphone to be an actual keyboard or even a fake keyboard for that matter.) Though I likely did some hunting and pecking whenever I first sat down at a typewriter, I don’t remember doing so.

I took typing lessons when I was in high school, sometime between 1976 and 1980. Were I forced to pin down an exact year then I would guess that this occurred in 1976, but I certainly wouldn’t swear to it. Regardless, my typing class occurred a very long time ago. Sadly I am unable to recall such details as who my teacher was for that class or what type of machines we learned on. What is worse is that I couldn’t teach someone else how to touch type if they begged me.

I do not believe that this is tied to my advancing age or my declining memory. You see, I learned to ride a motorcycle even earlier and have shown some one else how to do so. I’ve also taught someone else how to drive a car with a manual transmission and I myself learned how to drive stick around the same time that I learned how to type. Though I learned how to play the guitar earlier on, I did not learn how to fingerpick (what some call fingerstyle guitar) until a few years later. Though I haven’t taught anyone else how to do this in detail, I have shown others the basics. It was enough to get them started at least.

I was thinking about this recently and initially thought it to be a bit of a mystery. Riding a motorcycle and driving a car with a manual transmission, or fingerpicking the guitar, or touch typing all just sort of happen for me as an adult at a subconscious level. I don’t tend to put any thought into these things, I just do them. So why is it that I could teach others how to do any of these things with the exception of touch typing?

Feeling puzzled by this, I began to break things down in my mind to see if I could come up with an explanation for why this might be. When it came to riding a motorcycle or driving a car with a manual transmission, my father was the one to teach me how. In the case of riding a motorcycle, he made sure that I had all of the information that I needed and was confident enough to proceed. After that he pretty much set me free to figure it out as best I could and it went off without a hitch, there were no problems. When it came time to teach me to drive stick, he was able to sit there next to me in the car (well sort of, I learned how to drive in a 1969 El Camino equipped with a “three on the tree” column shifter).

There was a bit more on the line when it came to learning how to drive as obtaining my license was laying on the line in this case. But again, all went well with no problems — essentially my dad was a very good teacher. When it came to playing the guitar, I learned on my own. Though I was self-taught as far as the basics were concerned and planned to do the same when I decided that I wanted to learn how to fingerpick, I ended up taking lessons for about six months. This occured after I accidentally overheard someone else taking a lesson at the music store where I had gone to buy a book with hopes of teaching myself. As soon as I heard this lesson in progress, I knew that I wanted this same instructor to teach me how to play in this style.

As I already noted, my memories of typing class are rather vague at best. Though I did not hate them and wouldn’t even say that I minded them, the lessons learned in typing class represented something that was forced upon me. Though I did not receive one-on-one instruction as I had when it came to riding a motorcycle, driving a car, or playing a guitar, the class sizes at my high school tended to be on the small side. (My graduating class was 100 students in size.) So I do not believe that this played into my inability to teach someone else how to touch type.

There is only one other differentiator that comes to mind for me as it involves these skills. This is the one that I think plagues me when it comes to my inability to break down how touch typing works for someone else. When it came to motorcycles, cars and guitars (sounds like a great song name to me), I was incredibly passionate about these things. Therefore I was genuinely interested in learning everything that I could about these things. Operating a bike, car or a guitar was key to making them work. That was all the inspiration that I needed. Unfortunately, I simply wasn’t all that fired up about typewriters at the time that I learned how to type.

Yet here I now sit, typing away on a piece that I am writing for my typewriter-related blog. What can I say, life is weird. It’s incredibly ironic that this skill of touch typing, one of the skills that I was least excited about learning in my life, has proven to be one of the most used skills that I possess. It has been all along ever since I learned how to do so.

I idolized my father. Though he died way too early at just 52 years old, I was sure to let him know that I was grateful for all of the things that he did for me in life when I was still a young person. My guitar instructor and I became friends. We even stayed in touch after he and his wife moved to Colorado. I reached out more than once to let him know that I was still playing and to let him know how much I valued the lessons that I took from him (even though they were cut short by his move to Colorado). So it’s really a shame that I can not recall who my typing class teacher. was all those years ago. The skills that she helped me to acquire have definitely proven to be worthy of the effort needed to learn them. For this I am certainly grateful. So I will bring this to a close by simply saying “thank you” to anyone who ever taught others how to type, along with anyone out there who might be doing so today.

AFTERTHOUGHTS: Manual transmissions are quite the rarity here in the United States these days. Unlike typewriters, I imagine that they will be a thing of the past worldwide in just a few more decades. Fingerpicking is a method of playing the guitar where the guitarist uses multiple fingers (and the thumb) on the picking hand to pluck the strings instead of using the picking hand to hold a flatpick (or plectrum). Here are some examples of my playing if you care to listen.