so ive been licensed for about 8 months now, got my general, and i keep seeing people doing CW on the bands and honestly it sounds really cool but i have no idea where to even begin. like i dont even know my alphabet yet. i tried a few youtube videos but they just show you the dots and dashes visually and that doesnt seem right, i feel like youre supposed to learn it by sound? anyway i downloaded like 3 different apps and none of them really clicked for me. is there a specific method people actually swear by or is it just grind until it sticks. also how long did it take you, realistically, because i see people saying stuff like oh i learned it in 6 weeks and that seems either impossible or they already had some background. just want to know if theres a reasonable path here or if its one of those things that just takes forever

yeah the visual dots and dashes thing is basically a trap, dont do that, youll just end up translating in your head which slows you way down. the Koch method is what most people actually recommend now, theres a program called LCWO dot net that walks you through it for free. basically you start with just 2 characters at a relatively high speed, like 20wpm character speed, and you dont move on until you can copy them at like 90% accuracy. the idea is you learn the sound of each letter as a whole thing instead of counting dits and dahs. it feels slow at first but it builds the right muscle memory. i spent about 15 minutes a day for maybe 3 months before i felt comfortable enough to actually try a QSO and even then it was brutal but possible. the farnsworth timing thing helps too where the characters are fast but theres extra space between them, gives your brain time to process without teaching you to rely on slow character speed. just dont skip ahead when youre tempted to, that was my mistake the first time i tried to learn

im kind of in the same boat as you actually, started working through LCWO about a month ago and its going ok i think. one thing thats helped me is just listening to actual CW on the bands even when i cant copy it yet, like just getting used to what it sounds like in a real environment with QSB and QRM and whatever. W1AW does code practice broadcasts on a schedule you can find on the ARRL site and they go through different speeds so theres something for beginners. also there is an app called Morse Mania that some people like, feels a bit more gamelike if the straight lesson format isnt doing it for you