A lot of my learning touch typing on keys I don't use often is how much strain my fingers are used to. On a happy hacking, to hit the & symbol, I should be holding shift, and extend my index finger as far as it could go. That's just enough to hit &. For * it's the same thing, except I don't strain as much. Half the time, I feel like I'm not even going to hit the right key, and I do.
That said, it's still a nice piece of hardware for learning the row, especially with all the wonderful blank keycap sets Elitekeyboards has started offering