Learning to drive a stick shift isn’t as simple as just ‘push forward, pull back.’

If you’re new to it, the gear stick can feel like a strange puzzle, and sometimes it feels like it’s working against you.

But trust me, with a few tips, shifting can actually feel pretty natural.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the basics of using the gear stick—no magic tricks, just simple, practical steps to get you shifting smoothly.

It’s normal for new drivers to struggle with the gear stick; they can get the wrong gear sometimes, and they can find it stiff and awkward, but it doesn’t need to be difficult.

Gear Lever Explained

Nearly all manual cars these days have an “H-pattern” gear stick.

If I cover up these lines and numbers, you can see the letter “H” between the numbers.

But cars have more gears these days, so they had to make more space. Most cars have between five and six gears, and the reverse can be in different places.

What’s important to understand is that when the gear stick is in neutral, it’s between three and four and centers itself in neutral.

That’s important because if you want to find gear three or four, it will show you where the middle is, so you can go forwards for three and backwards for four.

If it didn’t show you where the middle is, you’d be trying to guess, and you might end up getting five, or you might end up getting one when you actually wanted three.

If you want gears one and two, hold the stick fully to the left—don’t let it go back to the middle.

I see a lot of people do that; they let it spring back. No—hold it left, and then push forward for one; then for two, hold it left and pull it back.

If you want to go from two to three, move it to the middle, then push it forward gently until it pops to the middle; now you know where three is. Just push it forwards, and it goes into three. For four, simply pull it back. For five and six, let it center in the middle again, then hold it hard right and push forward for five, or pull back for six.

In my car, reverse is over to the left and forwards, but you can’t get to reverse, no matter how hard you push left, unless you push down. Then it goes further to the left, and that’s how you access reverse in this car.

Some cars you push down, some you pull up, and in BMWs and Mini Coopers, you simply push very hard to the left, allowing you to go further to the left to get reverse.

But the reverse can be in different places, so look at your gear knob to know where it is.

Frequent Mistakes

Here are some examples of where new drivers go wrong when using the gear stick. Most don’t have a problem getting gear one—usually, they’re stationary and not under pressure.

But when it comes to going from gear one to two, instead of holding it hard left to keep it in the left gate, they hold it to the left a little bit—not hard enough—so it springs a little into the middle.

Then it gets stuck between two and four. They pull back really hard, and sometimes it’s just luck whether it eventually goes into two or four; often, it won’t move at all.

So, make sure when you go from one to two, you hold it hard left so it stays in the left gate, and then you get two.

Another mistake is going from two to three. Instead of listening to the gear stick and letting it show them where the middle is, they grip it hard and try to guess. They end up in one, three, or five.

Make sure you let the gear stick show you where the middle is—let it go to the middle, then push it forward into three. From three to two is another common mistake. Usually, when approaching junctions, drivers are under pressure and want to get to two quickly.

But they end up in four. Experienced drivers tend to hold the gear stick left as they pull it back, going diagonally into second. This doesn’t work well for new drivers, though.

My advice is to pull it back, let go so it self-centers, then move fully left and pull back into second.

Yes, normally I would have my palm on the gear stick when using it, but I’m doing this just so you can see the numbers.

Tips

Here are some tips to help you with the gear stick. You need to know when to be firm and when to let go. You need to be firm when you’re holding the gear stick either left or right—hold it left to go between gears one and two, and right for gears five and six.

If you don’t hold it fully right or left and let it move to the middle a bit, you may end up in one of the middle gears, which isn’t what you want. You also need to know when to let go of the gear stick.

Let go when changing between the banks. You’ve got the left bank (one and two), the middle bank (three and four), and the right bank (five and six). When changing between these, I recommend letting go of the gear stick in neutral.

If I’m in gear four (the middle bank) and want to go to gear five (the right bank), I push it forwards, let go, move right, then push forward for gear five.

New drivers sometimes push it forward and hold it, then lean on the gear stick just that little bit extra.

If they do that, it won’t go fully right, and they end up in three because they’re stuck in the middle. What they should do is push it forwards, let go, move to the right, and it will then go fully to the right, so they can select gear five.

This approach applies to any gear when changing banks.

For example, if I want to go to gear four, I push it back, let go, and then pull back. To go to gear two, push it forward, let go in neutral, and then go left and back.

When I say “let go,” I don’t mean take your hand off entirely—just give a little clearance between your hand and the stick.

By far the best piece of advice I can give you is to take your time. If you try to rush, you’re likely to get the wrong gear, and it won’t be smooth.

If you’re struggling to change gears when approaching junctions, I recommend slowing down earlier.

This gives you more time to get the correct gear, increases your confidence, and improves your skill in gear selection.

Mastering the gear stick takes a bit of practice.

Slow down and give yourself a moment—it’s better to get it right than to wrestle with the gears.

With a little patience, soon you’ll be shifting without a second thought. Happy driving, and enjoy the ride!