Art of Chording

# Left side D, B, and L

# Left side D

"D" is made on the left hand using TK

# S T K P W H R A O * E U F R P B L G T S D Z
  • TKOG: dog
  • TKROP: drop
  • TKAFT: daft
  • TKUL: dull

# Left side B

"B" is made on the left hand using PW

# S T K P W H R A O * E U F R P B L G T S D Z
  • PWUD: bud
  • PWUT: but
  • PWED: bed
  • PWAD: bad
  • PWART: Bart

# Left side L

"L" is made on the left hand using HR

# S T K P W H R A O * E U F R P B L G T S D Z
  • HRARD: lard
  • HRAF: laugh
  • HRUL: lull
  • PWHROB: blob

# Order of D, B, L

D, B, and L are all made with a single finger's column. If the order sometimes escapes you, just remember that it's the same order as the consonants in "DOUBLE" as these columns are double the trouble now that you need to use two keys to hit them!

# Briefs

Chord Translation Notes
TK did
TKO do Spelling
PW about
PWAUS or PWAUZ because
PW-FR before
HR will
HREF leave
PWHREF believe
HR-R already
HR-RT all right
HR-S also
HR-BG welcome

# How to practice

When you hit a sound on the left hand such as D, B, or L, you will need to press both the top and the bottom column at once with one finger. The best way to do this is to have your fingers curled such that you are pressing the keys with your fingertips. Contrast with a regular keyboard where you might use the fleshy part of your finger.

Using your fingertips makes it easier to hit tricky combos, like PWH- and -FPB which often cause problems for beginners.

# Practice

# 1. Translate

Write the English sentence represented by these outlines, including punctuation.

  1. HR-RT KW-BG TKO T TP-PL
  2. HR U -B AT -T START OR HR U HREF PW-FR THA H-F
  3. HE HR WET -T PWED TP-PL
  4. HR-S KW-BG K U TKO THA H-F
  5. TK U TKO WHA HE SEZ U TK H-F
  6. HE HR HR-S TKO -T HRAP W HER TP-PL
  7. TK U PWHREF WHA SHE TK TO HER TKAD H-F PWAUS T WAZ AUFL SKP PWAD TP-PL
  8. PWHREF HER HR-R TP-PL
  9. AUL -F TH- STUF S SO HARD TO HRAF PW TP-PL

Remember that if you can't figure out an outline, you can look it up in the theory dictionary.

# 2. Find outlines

Find steno outlines that will write these English sentences, including punctuation.

  1. Did you believe what she was about to do?
  2. Will you pick the raft and the deck?
  3. All right already, leave us out.

← Both sides CH and TH →