so ive been at this for about three months now, finally got my general and decided CW was something i actually wanted to learn for real, not just pass a test or anything. picked up a used Bencher BY-1 paddle and been using the built-in keyer in my IC-7300 and honestly i feel like my sending is just... mush. like i listen back to recordings i make and i cant tell where one letter ends and the next begins.

im running the speed around 18 wpm which maybe is too fast for where i am, i dunno. a buddy told me the iambic mode B on the keyer might be part of the problem since im squeezing when i shouldnt be but i dont fully understand what that even means. do i just slow down? mess with the weight settings? im not even sure what to practice at this point, just going through the alphabet over and over feels pointless

yeah 18 wpm when youre still building muscle memory is gonna sound exactly like what you described. your brain cant keep up so your fingers are doing whatever they want. drop back to like 13 or even 12, get the letters sounding clean and crisp at a slower speed before you push it up again. the Koch method stuff everyone recommends really does work for this, start slow get it solid then bump.

on the iambic mode B thing your buddy is onto something but honestly for most people just starting out mode A is less confusing. mode B inserts an extra element when you release the paddle which can add characters you didnt mean to send if your timing isnt tight. try switching to mode A in the 7300 menu and see if it feels cleaner, you might not even notice a difference yet but its one less thing to fight against while youre still learning.

also the Bencher BY-1 is a solid paddle so thats not your problem, that thing will outlast both of us probably

I went through the exact same thing last year and what actually helped me more than anything was listening to a LOT of CW, like just having it on in the background while doing other stuff. W1AW practice sessions are free and they do them at multiple speeds. My ear started getting better before my sending did and then the sending kind of followed, if that makes any sense.

Also someone told me to record myself and compare it to W1AW or one of the practice MP3s and that was honestly a little painful but really useful haha. You can hear exactly where your spacing goes wrong.