Stippling, or any type of FMQ design, is similiar on a regular machine as it is on a longarm, thus alot of the advice is the same. Here's how I learned:
1) Practice with pencil and paper 20 minutes a day. This will 'train' your small muscles...and it WORKS!
2) Practice on the machine, going 1/2 speed more or less, wherever you're comfortable, 20 minutes a day. Really WORKS!
3) Listen to music to help relax - this works too! Or a book on tape, or TV. Music seems to help me the most.
4) If you make a mistake, don't worry - just keep on going. Don't stop, just keep going. There are no perfect stipples and if you look at the 100,000 winners, they have points or not great curves in their stipples too! (I did look, and it was true!)
5) Keep that Day 1 practice so you can see you're own improvement. You'll be surprised that in as little as a week, you'll see a massive improvement if you do these things. This is true, and I use this today for longarming freehand now - so that I can remind myself this practice does pay off when learning something new.
6) Think 'dog bones'. That's how I learned. Make the ends of a dog bone over and over - and you've got a great stipple. I had the hardest time making a 'stipple' until I heard this, then the shapes made sense. I can draw a dog bone!
7) If you cannot FMQ at all and stipple seems too hard, that's really OK. Start with loops! It's easy, fast, cute and you're learning more than you think you are!
8) Some people simply decide stippling isn't for them, and that's all right. There's lots of beautiful patterns. But don't give up too early, and stay with the practicing. That's the only way to learn any quilting - practice. No matter what pattern you desire to learn, you will always be required to practice, except straight lines (but these are hard on a longarm!).
I do hope this helps. If you have a specific questions, please do not hesitate to ask - we'll try to help. It really is all about the practicing and doing it daily so that you and your muscles don't forget. Do it at red lights, at the dr. office, everywhere! I keep a pad and pencil in my purse since I'm always learning new patterns. And I have to practice. I was surprised, myself, at how big of a difference this really made - and it is what will make you successful at any machine quilting - or hand-quilting, for that matter :)
Debbie in Austin