New player - Trouble linking combos

[Swanky]

So... I've gotten this with the current humble and having just played through the goofy but fun story mode I'm now trying out different characters and trials to get a feeling which character I like.
So far - Ken, Cammy, Juri, Menat. I usually tend towards the faster characters.
While I'm not super new to fighting games in general I'm having a very hard time linking any combos together. The timing feels super strict, as if this game doesn't have a buffer?
Chaining & cancelling seems fine when you know the cancel window for each move (like Juri sMK -> 214MK cancel on first hit), but linking gives me a heap of trouble with any character.
Been playing on keyboard for ages now, anyone have any tips on how you link your combos?