Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

So, I've been playing Stepmania now for ..... 6 years roughly. In that period of time, it's helped me boost in FFR a lot in skill, however I'm having major issues in a few areas:

First is in Speed. It's ALWAYS been my biggest weakness, and I've tried whoring out songs on rates, and doing 300 BPM songs etc. etc. but it seems nothing is working or being consistent.

Second is in vibrating... This urks me especially when I tried playing Shanghai... lol

So, my question to you SM players, any advice? I've switched to playing SM over FFR now for about a month, and just something that keeps my attention longer than an hour lol So any and all advice would be extremely helpful, thanks in advance :)

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

Play out of your reach, yatta yatta yatta, do it repeatedly, not just a couple times, it takes a month or two to notice.

Make a goal to be D7 for example, but makes objectives to pass song A with grade Z or SDG or AAA or something of the sort.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

three words:

use the editor.

(seriously, the step editor is a very powerful tool for training)

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

Reaper - I'm always playing outta my reach, and been doing that for a while, it seems that doesn't necessarily work as much ... if anything, my hands just give out >.<

AJ - Okay, I'll try that out

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

from one non-vibrator to another

vibrating is gay

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

dont learn to vibrate learn to wrist jack

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

also treat training like you would going to the gym. you're working out your arm and hand muscles so just doing something casually once in a while isnt going to show. dont just play stepmania but do hand and arm workouts etc

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

mina training routine guaranteed results or your money back!

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

was mina the dude who taped pens to his fingers in order to strength train or was that someone else

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

mina taped batteries or coins to his fingers idr which

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

Lol, I know dude, let me re-word it as Carlos said, wrist-jack

It's frustrating when doing hard songs on SM and my hands are like NOPE

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

What's mina training? >.>

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

do these before and after playing
http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercise...uscle/forearms

not all of them obv but pick one or two and do them

after that fully open and close your hands as fast as possible for 30 seconds

tape coins onto your fingers starting with nickels and adding more as you go

play whatever you can normally do and add .2 to the rate

play for at least 2 hours every day

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

Mina is very technical and meticulous about how he plays and trains. It may be worthwhile to talk to him about some of these problems. He will definitely tell you to keep playing files that challenge you (files you aren't quite fast enough to play yet) this is how you improve. Also keep on raising your speed mod, this will help your brain adjust your muscle memory and help you read better.

As for vibrating, I used to be really into it. Rivaled dossarLX back in the day. I have to tell you it is more of a talent than a skill. I would just work on wristjacking.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

when i was in africa i taped elephants to my fingers

barring this resource any attempt to get better at stepmania is ultimately fruitless

like the rest of our lives

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

Use the Step Editor.

Train Mina style. The End. Enjoy your skillboost.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

Does raising your speed mod actually work though?

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

If you don't make huge jumps and actually stick with it despite sucking for weeks then yes.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

hmmm, right now I'm on receptors -180 so the arrows are at the very top, and I play on Xoon 4, speed mod is 850.

So basically if I went up 50 every 2/3 weeks, that would work ?

How high should I go to then stop?

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

hmmm, right now I'm on receptors -180 so the arrows are at the very top, and I play on Xoon 4, speed mod is 850.

So basically if I went up 50 every 2/3 weeks, that would work ?

How high should I go to then stop?

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

Raising receptors helped my MA. Lowering them helped my speed.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

Use distant/hallway if you want to be able to read fast streams easier.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

I already use Distant.

As i stated before:

Speed Mod = 850
Distant
Receptors = -180 or -144 whichever I feel like playing with
Noteskin = Delta V2

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

I have to ask, how the hell do you use the editor to train?

Considering i've gone into player options and made it how i'd usually play, it just feel weird. There has to be something i'm missing right?

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

I'm kind of wondering the same thing....

Do you mean use the editor as persay, an isolation tool?

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

I think they mean that you pick a song containing patterns/stuff you cannot do, open it in editor, and play the hard part over and over until you get it right.

I'm thinking of doing similar things, it's my 3 month of playing spread and I'm already at my limit.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

use the editor as in make your own files to train what you think you need work on.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

if you cant for the life of you do 13431 patterns at 234 bpm you can go into the editor and make 13431 patterns at 234 bpm

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

when i want to read a song that is too fast for me... i do this weird thing were i focus like just behind the notes and it makes them appear to be moving much much slower... idk i think i have decent speed for someone of my skill set.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

^

bingo

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

just force yourself playing files way too hard for you till you get carpal tunnel and are force to quit

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

Alright, I get it. If I have to use the editor I will.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

Your secrets are mine! D7 better watch out! XD

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

That's actually pretty hilarious to look at lmao

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

hahahahhaahha thats the best thing I've seen all week

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

play with those on and see if your hands dont get tired. you all laugh until he actually gets good

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

In all seriousness, I tried playing with them on for about 20 or 30 minutes. It was pretty difficult, and it sounded like I was going to crack my keyboard in half from how hard I was hitting the keys, haha. By the end of it, the batteries actually ended up rubbing off some skin on my index fingers, so now there's nice little raw spots. After I took them off, I noticed that it felt like I was barely even touching my keyboard even though I was still bottoming out. Got some decent scores afterward, too. I gotta find a better way to attach them so I don't hurt myself if I really wanna try this. XD

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

Haha keep us updated, might end up a new thing training method for us all

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

#gloves
dampening finger senses to make playing with them off feel incredibly light on the keys

that sentence was so grammatically hard to get right that i don't think i got it right even

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

learn to jackstream proficently at 150 bpm (or a bit more) and you should be able to do 300 bpm streams

i'm not that good but i feel that i'm improving by doing that

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

To be honest, I can already jackstream that fast.... it's just my accuracy blows .... And I'm already able to "semi" stream 300 BPM. Like when I play Jigsaw Puzzle, I can combo up to roughly 350 in each stream, but once I CB, i CB rush the rest of the stream lmao

I just need more consistency lol

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

if you're cb rushing that just means you can't correct yourself after a mistake. cb rushing or good rushing should never be a thing if you have control

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

At 300 BPM, you're damn right it's a bad recovery.

That's why I even made this thread. When I do miss, my reading ability doesn't help me recover at ALL.

Now, on any given day, normally I can recover better than anything, but not on speed files past 280 BPM.

EDIT: Also, having control on that fast of BPM comes with not just finger control but reading control and correct eye placement with the arrows. That's where practicing and figuring out better ways to improve is where I'm trying to get to.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

I used to play with gloves on when it was too cold here in my room, it made it a little harder to play. I realised that once i took them off, i was able to hit things a hell of a lot faster and it didn't even feel like i was hitting the keys at all despite bottoming out. Along with the opening and closing hands thing, i'm going to start playing with my gloves on again too and see what happens in say, a months time.

Re: Feel it's time to ask other SM players...
 

taping batteries to the fingers is fucking genious.