so ive been putting off learning CW for probably three years now and i finally just ordered a cheap dual paddle and a MFJ keyer to go with my old FT-817. got it all hooked up last night and i was messing around with the iambic mode and honestly im a bit confused. like i get the concept, squeeze both paddles and it alternates dits and dahs, but when i actually try to use it my letters come out completely garbled. does it just take a ton of practice or am i missing something with the timing? i set the speed to like 12 wpm thinking that was slow enough to learn on but maybe that's still too fast. also someone told me to learn with the keyer in mode A vs mode B but i have no idea what the difference even matters at this stage. any advice from folks who went through this would be really appreciated, im kind of starting from zero here

12 wpm on a paddle when you're just starting is actually probably fine for the keyer speed, the issue most beginners have is muscle memory just isn't there yet. your brain knows what letter you want to send but your thumb and finger dont cooperate. honestly the best thing i did when i learned was just spend 20 minutes a day doing nothing but individual letters over and over, not trying to send words, just get the feel of each character until it felt automatic. the iambic squeeze stuff clicks eventually but it took me probably 2-3 months before i stopped thinking about it consciously.

as for mode A vs B, at your stage it really doesnt matter, pick one and stick with it. most people end up on mode A but youll find experienced ops who swear by both. dont let that be a thing you overthink right now.

I went through exactly this about a year ago. What helped me more than anything was using an app called Morse Mania to get the characters into my head first, then moving to the paddle. Trying to learn the characters AND the paddle feel at the same time was too much for my brain to handle at once. once i had the code pretty solid from listening and typing on a keyboard, the paddle started making a lot more sense because i wasnt also trying to remember what dah-dit-dah-dit even was lol