Learn Gregg Shorthand from scratch. Most popular shorthand system worldwide.

Why Gregg Shorthand?

• Smooth, cursive strokes
• Easier to learn than Pitman
• Most popular in USA
• Fast writing speed achievable

Basic Strokes

Vowels

• Short a = small circle
• Long a = large circle
• E = small curve
• I = small dot
• O = small hook
• U = small hook

Learning Plan

1. Week 1-2: Basic strokes practice
2. Week 3-4: Vowels and blending
3. Week 5-8: Common words
4. Week 9-12: Speed development

How to Practise a Single Outline Until It Sticks

A new stroke should not be learned by writing it twenty times in a row; that only trains your hand to repeat a motion it has not yet understood. Work it in three passes instead. First, write it slowly and deliberately, checking the shape against the model every time. Then write it inside short, familiar words so the outline starts to attach itself to meaning rather than to an exercise. Finally, use it in a sentence of your own, at a normal pace, and notice whether the shape still comes out clean when your attention is on the words.

Keep sessions short and varied. Ten focused minutes on four or five outlines, spread across the day, beats a single long sitting where the last outlines are the only ones your hand remembers the next morning.

Reading Back What You Wrote

Writing is only half of shorthand. If you cannot read your notes a day later, the system has not been learned — only performed. Build reading into every practice session: at the end, close the notebook for a while, then reopen it and transcribe the passage back into ordinary script. Mark any outline that makes you hesitate, even if you eventually decode it correctly. Hesitation is the same as failure under time pressure, and it is a much earlier warning than an outright mistake.

Reading printed shorthand counts too. Working through exercises written by someone else forces you to recognise outlines you did not create, which is exactly the situation you face when revising old notes or checking a transcript.

Where Beginners Usually Go Wrong

• Drawing outlines instead of writing them. Shorthand rewards a flowing, single movement; sketching produces shapes that look right slowly and fall apart at speed.
• Learning a shape once and assuming it is permanent. Outlines that are not revisited within a few days have usually gone by the end of the week.
• Writing full outlines for every common word. Efficient writers lean on brief forms early, because those are what buy speed in real dictation.
• Comparing their messy early pages with the neat specimens in the book. Those were written by professionals at rest, not by a learner under pressure.
• Skipping reading practice entirely and then wondering why transcription feels like starting from scratch.

Common Beginner Questions

How much practice is enough in the beginning?

Consistency matters more than volume. A modest daily session that covers strokes, reading and a little dictation will outperform an occasional marathon, because shorthand is a memory skill that decays quickly between sessions.

Should I perfect every outline before moving on?

No. Aim for recognisable and consistent, then let refinement happen through use. Waiting for perfection on one lesson stalls the entire programme and drains the motivation you need for the later stages.

What do I do when dictation feels too fast?

Drop the speed until every word can be written cleanly, and rebuild from there. Missing half a passage teaches resignation; writing it slowly and correctly teaches the outlines that eventually become fast.

Final thought: write with a loose arm, read back every session, recycle old material constantly and judge yourself on clean, readable notes rather than on impressive-looking speed. The learners who reach usable shorthand are almost never the most gifted — they are the ones who kept the loop of writing, reading and reviewing running day after day.