Which style is right for you? (New players read!)
 

Since there are lots of threads by n00bs asking which style is better, I thought I'd bring forth the pros and cons of all styles.



What are the styles?

4-Finger: Right-Middle finger on right, Right-Index on up, Left-Index on down and Left-Middle on left.

Spread: Finger positioned so that they match the setup of the arrow receptors. An example would be vbnm. This kind of setup has to be joymapped (manually set up).

Index: Index fingers only on all arrow keys. Left-Index always hits left, Right-Index always hits right and up and down are hit alternatively with either.

One Handed: Three fingers (Index, Middle and Ring) setup on left, up and right.

Three Fingers, Two Hands: Index and Middle from one hand (likely your right), Index from the other. Set up on the standard arrow keys.

Double Setup: THIS STYLE IS CHEATING! You map two sets of keys and play on each one with one hand. That means you have two keys for each direction. It is cheating because you have two options as to which key you can hit, making you twice as fast and you'll never have to do jacks as you can do them as trills.


General Strengths/Weaknesses:

Index:

Index players naturally have a much better accuracy because you only have to learn to co-ordinate two of you fingers. The downside is that you only have two fingers at any given time. This slows you down considerably.

4-Finger:
aka Spread when played on letters and not dir. pad.

4 Finger players naturally have a higher speed. This means that the rate at which they can hit arrows without stumbling is much faster. This is because they already have a finger hovering over each key. You don't need to move around as much. The downside is that co-ordinating your brain to have all 4 fingers in perfect sync is a bitch. This causes a lot more greats.

One Handed:

If you want to be part of the small "cult" of one handed players and get special recognition, you can try playing one handed. There are, however, no real benefits to playing one handed and many see it as a handicap. Still, if this interests you or you want a challenge, go for it.

Three Fingers, Two Hands:

This style literally blends both 4-Finger and Index as you have one Index hand and one 4-Finger hand. They have the trilling abilities of an Indexer Unless it is a 34 trill. Not as limited when trying to do interrupting jumps. The lack of the 4th finger can cause some streams to be hard to get used to and you don't have as fast a streaming capability because you have to sometimes double-step (hitting one key with a finger and then having to hit the next with the same finger). Not a very common style.

It all comes down to what you think is most important to you.

If you are a perfectionist or if you want to be the guy/girl who gets all the flashy AAAs and AAAAs, then you should play Index.

If you want to be the guy/girl who passes the insanely fast songs that make people stare and go "wow...", then you should play 4 finger.

If you want that special recognotion of playing with the most difficult style and want people to go "wow! he can do that with only 1 hand!". Then give one handed a shot.

The following strength/weakness analysises are shown only for Index and 4-Finger as they are the most common and the opposite extremes.


Groove Meter Strength/Weaknesses:

Voltage: The maximum intensity of the steps. Hands down 4-Finger wins this. Their speed makes taking bursts of arrows much easier than the others.

Stream: The average intensity of the arrows, also long runs of single arrows. This is really a tie. While Indexers have much better accuracy on streams, 4-Finger players can handle much faster streams (esp. 4286 and 6824 runs).

Air: More than one arrow at the same time. Again, 4-Finger players take it. If you only have two fingers out you can hit two arrows at the same time. This makes it extremely difficult to go from a single to and air and back very quickly. Also, Indexers have to switch temporarily to 4-Finger when trying to hit triples or quads (3 or 4 arrows at the same time).

Chaos: Any notes that are above 8th. Any notes that aren't red or blue. The less the steps follow the quarter note beat, the higher the chaos. Indexers are better at handling chaos. Since they hit much more accurately it is less likely that they will be off timing when trying to hit a "chaos" note.

Freeze: Hold notes. Has a tail. It really is very close on this one but 4-Finger has the slight edge. They don't have to worry about crossing over their finger to hit notes while holding another. They can also hit airs more easily when coming off of freezes. Still Indexers are good at freezes as they are not very hard to do.


Pattern Strengths/Weeknesses:

(The arrow set up is easiest to recognize when shown as 1-4. 1 is left, 2 is down, 3 is up and 4 is right. This way they are set up like the arrow receptors.)

Staircases: 1234321234321... These types of patterns are actually very easy with any style. Indexers simply have to alternate fingers and spread players just have to press down in order from left to right or right to left.

Jackhammers: 11111111111... These patterns are very Index biased. It can be hard for 4-Finger players to hit keys as fast if they have to use their middle fingers (1 or 4) as they are not accustomed to it naturally (If you ask someone to tap their finger as fast as they can which finger do you think they'd use? Index.).

Trills: 12121212, 3434343434... HANDS DOWN Index are better. There is no harder barrier for a 4-Finger player than having to trill. Especially when it is a 1212 or 3434 trill as they have to use the same hand. This takes a lot of time to be able to do well. Trilling to an index player makes no difference if it is on 12121 or 23232. The same two fingers always trill.

Interrupting Jump: (stream)1+2(stream)2+3... This is the biggest problem for Indexers. There is no other pattern that requires them to move as much as they do with interrupting jumps. When there is stream, they can take the finger from the arrow they just hit and get it ready to hit the next arrow. When there is an interrupting jump, they have to move the finger that hit the latest key twice as fast to get to the air at the same time as the first finger. These are no problem for 4-Finger players as they already have a finger over every key.

Triplets: 121 323 414... These quick three note pattens are taken more easily by Indexers. As they are essentially "incomplete" trills. The same rules apply. More difficult for a 4-Finger player to hit 121s and 343s as they have to use the same hand.

Gallops: 1(quickly)2, 3(quickly)4... (think of a horse galloping, one two, one two, one two...) Gallops are somewhat rare and are mostly easy to 4-Finger players, assuming they understand what a gallop should be like. It may sometimes be more difficult to do 34 and 12 gallops as they are done with the same hand. Indexers have a harder time thought because they have to sometimes have to double step (hitting keys with the same finger two times in a row) when going from one to another. As in 12, 43. Try it to better understand.

Crossovers: 13421342... If you try doing it on your keyboard now with your index fingers, you'll see that you have to cross you finger over the other when trying to hit 4. The aptly named crossover is only difficult for Indexers. 4-Finger players are unaffected because they already have a finger over each key. Indexers have to double step or cross over to hit them.


None of these characteristics are absolutely definite. There are 4 finger players that have better accuacy than Indexers and vice versa with speed. It all comes down to how you want to be considered good.

It's also important not to be driven away when a style is "awkward". Give them all a shot before you choose which you are best with. Who knows, you may be naturally better at Index but have never tried it.

Tell me anything you think should be added.

Hope this is useful! :D

RE: Which style is right for you?
 

You forgot 1 hand 3 fingers.

RE: Which style is right for you?
 

No I didn't, read it. I mentioned it but it isn't a good style to play unless you want a challenge.

omg, one handers please don't come and be like: liek OMG! 1 handuurs roxorz!1. I'm sure there are plenty of threads for that.

RE: Which style is right for you?
 

Updated with groove meter analysis.

Add a bit more details to one hand, then it'll probably be stickied

:x WTF one handed is not a handicap!.it really shouldnt matter if your two handed play index four finger two finger 1handed three fingers whatever! its how comfortable you are with your style.I only look at skill.(veryone acts like it matters if you play with a certain amount of fingers or hands but it doesnt!)
this one hander two hander steriotype has got end because its pissing me off.(No offense to anyone. :)

Well, decribe to me the benefits of playing one handed and I'll add them in.

Updated with pattern analysis.

Updated with styles definitions. (How the hell could I forget that)

Don't be stupid. It is a handicap.

We're not referring to piss easy DDR songs either. We're talking about the 11+ foot keyboard only songs. One-handers are limited to what they can do, end of story. Everyone who's good knows this.

Replace n00bs READ with this as a sticky.

plz.

this was very helpful... you are quite a writer, smashman.

this should be stickied.

one handers have great accuracy like index players...im one hander and 4-finger player...4 fingers is great for fast streams...one handed is great for accuracy and rolls...and is pretty good with gallops(cant forget those now can we *winks*)theres some pros for one handers...cons for one handers its a bitch playing songs with a crap load of jumps especially ones that are 1/8 notes...i still cant do those too well and ive been playing for about a year...but any style is good...just train your hands...and if your like a piano player or play an instrument that requires fingers...ie trumpet mellophone french horn flute clarinet any sax type...ur fingers will have some speed to them...all it is is PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!

What about 3 fingers/2 hands? It's not as common as most styles, but there are still a few people that use it, including me. Probably the best player that does is Eggman, I think. I like it because it's a nice "halfway point" between index and 4 finger, so that you can hit trills well but still not be stuck only using 2 fingers for fast jumps within streams and such.

That counts, doesn't it? :?

Well, write a quick description of it and its pros and cons and I'll add it in.

Single hand Three Fingers
 

Pros=Like index players, you have good accuracy, decent speed, you can handle rolls(Final Fantasy 7 Battle),gallops are standardly hard(is standardly even a word?(Final Fantasy 7 Battle(again)))

Cons=It's a bitch doing 1/16th note streams and some jump streams are hard like cement to do(Lethal Injection...in the middle of the song)and jumps faster than 1/8th notes are hard...and just to say its not a challenge...there all challenges when you first learn them XD

RE: Single hand Three Fingers
 

Wow...
I think all of the styles have pros and cons and none are really better than the others. It is more a matter of comfort. Even if index or 4 fingers are more accurate, your fingers might occasionaly get mixed up and tangled together. That is why I am a one-hander because it is impossible for your hands to get mixed up and you can hit the arrows better. A con for one-handers are the jumps and constant streams of 232323232323232323...
So, therefore, all of the ways you play have pros and cons. Comfort is the most important thing when deciding which playing style is right for you.
O_o

3 fingers, 2 hands like I was talking about:

Description: Use of two fingers from one hand and 1 finger from the other on the standard arrow pattern (usually index and middle from one hand plus just the index from the other). Basically halfway between being index or standard 4 finger.

Pros: Good control of trills and triplets like an index player since you can almost always prevent yourself from having to hit them fully with one hand. But still, not as limited in fast jumps/jumps within streams/doublestepping as an index player, because you have an extra finger available to hit them. Also, generally better timing than that of 4 fingers.

Cons: Still probably not quite as accurate as index, but pretty close. The biggest con is the lack of a 4th finger for some of the hardest/fastest patterns, and the fact that you may be forced to doublestep in some places.

If anyone disagrees with me on any of this, please let me know.

EDIT: I would also argue that in the strenths/weaknesses for "staircase" steps (123412341234) a 4 finger/spread player would have the advantage since they already have a finger on each key. While it may be no trouble for an indexer to hit them on most songs, when you find staircases that are really fast like 32nds in some harder keyboard songs, it can be much harder for an indexer to cover all the keys as quickly. I've found this myself even with 3 fingers... staircase 32nds/64ths are probably the hardest for me to hit (besides trills/jacks).

If you read the section on steams, you'll see that I did say that streams were about equal because Indexers have more accuracy and 4-Finger players can do them faster.

Will add all that stuff now.

If anyone thinks of any other patterns, feel free to tell me.

EDIT: nm, thought you meant the 2468, you're using the 1234.

Do you think (using 1234 thing) that 4132413241324132 should be a pattern? It is found in fotbb, caprice, and maybe a few others.