shifting from 1st to 2nd
 

This if my first time really driving a stick, so I'm wondering if this is me or if its the car.

Basically everytime I from 1st gear to 2nd gear, my car jerks pretty harshily, I can prevernt the jerking if I roll off the clutch and add gas very slowly, but then I lose a lot speed.

Is it possible to go from 1st to 2nd smoothly while still quickly accelerating? or is the jerking motion normal? I don't have any issues while changing from other gears. I'm watching all these old sedans dust me at the red lights because I don't feel like going full throttle to accelerate and jerking my car like crazy.

Release the accelerator completely when switching gears.

Release Acc. Hold clutch down completely, shift, Accelerate

That jerking is the result of the engine spinning faster than the transmission. The clutch is the disc that connects the engine to the transmission. When you press in the clutch pedal, you are disengaging the transmission from the engine. This is why you can accelerate with the clutch pressed in, and not go anywhere. Try to visualize it in your head, it makes the whole learning process easier IMO.

When you roll of the clutch, you are smoothing out the engagement of the transmission to the engine.

When you're learning manual, just relax and take it easy. Don't try and shift fast if you're just learning because you'll just hurt the car. Get used to it first and get that muscle memory.

Once you get the muscle memory, you'll be able to shift a lot quicker, and not have any jerk at the same time.

Trust me... I almost killed myself a couple times learning manual in a 426hp camaro.

The other key is to rev match.

Try to get your engine revs to match how fast the transmission is going. Too much and the car wil jump. To little and you'll lug the engine.

It's possible to change without clutch if you rev match properly.

This is a great technique for new drivers to learn their clutch/flywheel better.

Don't force it in gear (!!!!1) but lift off the gas and bump it up from 1st into neutral, and very gently push the stick towards 2nd. Modulate revs gently until you feel it start to slip in and you'll find where you should have had the engine for the change.

I would not advise that for a new driver... I can do it, but I already know how to. If you're putting pressure on the next gear, you're working the synchro pretty hard. Also, if you get it wrong, you will be welcomed with a harsh crunch.

OP, work on releasing the clutch at the right time, when the revs drop to the point where they will be in the next gear. This may be quicker or slower than what you are doing currently.

Please don't try this until you get really comfortable. Too many things can go wrong if you don't know what you're doing :(

I'm going to guess you're going through what I did when I was first learning stick. I learned stick only after driving an automatic for a long time.

You're at a stop light. You're a stick noob. You don't want people to know you're a noob and embarrass yourself, especially in a nice car. You want to get off the line and accelerate just as fast and as smoothly as the other cars, so as not to show off your noobness. So the light turns green, you slowly start rolling in first, and you see the other cars around... they're all flying by because you spent so much time starting from a stop. Now you want to accelerate and move with the flow of traffic, and after you've accelerated some, you want to shift to 2nd. But you still have in your mind that you need to go faster and keep up with the other cars. You make the shift, and it's terrible. But somehow all the other gears afterwards feel easier.

What I commonly did was not release the gas all the way because my natural inclination to go faster is not to release the gas. I got so caught up in trying to keep up with other cars that I would alter my shifting behavior, which was not good. I eventually learned on my own what I was doing, but if I could do it again, I would've spent more time focusing on doing it right than doing it fast. Honestly, the speed will come naturally after learning it the right way. 1-2 shift is not that different from other shifts if done correctly. It's just in your head that it's different.

It's you.

All that you can really do is just keep practicing the 1-2 shift to smooth out your shifting technique to get rid of the problem.

Awesome! thanks for all the responses. I was glad it was me and not the car, at least this way I can fix that and still say I haven't found any issues with the car yet haha.

If you want to be sure, find someone else who is pretty good with stick and see if they can do it. Obviously everyone has to adjust to a different car since not all sticks are exactly the same, but anyone who really knows how to drive stick will adjust to it in no time.

Wow, breaking in a new clutch while learning stick. You guys got balls.

this is my first manual car to learn on, and what he said is exactly what was going through my head. I was afraid that im not accelerate fast enough on a start, and tend to stalled the car because of my mind playing trick on me. Now I just take my time to slowly release the clutch and push in gas.

The 1-2 shift is typically the most difficult shift on almost every car, one thing that may help is finding a safe spot where you can watch your tach as you release the clutch. If the needle drops suddenly, you need to release the throttle more as you shift. If the needle jumps up, you may want to leave your food gently resting on the gas as you shift to slow the drop in revs.