so ive been licensed about 8 months now and finally decided to take the plunge into cw after putting it off forever. been using the G4FON trainer and also just keying around on the air a bit but honestly my sending is all over the place. some days it sounds decent and other days it just sounds like garbage, like my spacing between letters is terrible and i rush through words when i start to panic a little.

im using a cheap set of paddles i picked up used, pretty sure they're a MFJ something or other, paired with the keyer built into my IC-7300. the paddles feel okay i guess but i dont really have anything to compare them to. my question is mainly about the sending side -- is inconsistent spacing just a practice thing that goes away with time or is there something specific i should be working on. also does paddle tension matter a lot because mine feel kinda loose to me but again not sure what normal feels like

any help appreciated, CW feels like learning to play an instrument and im not sure im musical haha

yeah the instrument analogy is pretty spot on actually, and like any instrument it really does just take time and repetition. the spacing thing you mentioned is super common when you're new -- your brain is still thinking about what letter comes next while your hand is trying to finish the current one, so everything gets rushed or mushed together. one thing that helped me a ton early on was slowing way down, like uncomfortably slow, and just focusing on clean spaces between letters rather than speed. speed comes on its own later.

on the paddle tension -- yes it matters quite a bit. if they're too loose you'll get accidental contacts and your dits will start doubling up on you. snug them up a little and see if that helps. the MFJ paddles are fine for learning honestly, i started on similar and worked plenty of contacts before upgrading. once you get to a point where you feel like the paddle is actually fighting you or holding you back, then maybe look at something better, but you're probably not there yet.

also try sending along with a good cw audio recording sometime, like old contest audio or whatever. kind of like playing along with a record, helps your ear and your hand get calibrated together.

im pretty much in the same boat as you, been at cw for maybe 6 months. what helped me was switching to a straight key for a while actually, feels weird at first but it made me slow down and think about each element more deliberately. then going back to the paddles felt more natural somehow. might not work for everyone but worth a try if you have access to one