[Mahou]

I wrote a guide on overall improvement awhile back. There are a lot of things I tried to cover in it, but I feel like these factors stood out the most to me - meaning, they helped me improve over the time I've played SM/FFR

1) Trying out different play styles and figuring yourself out.
Don't copy what people do. Do what you feel is the most comfortable. Ask yourself questions and try to figure them out by doing it. Example - Are you a wide spread player? Are you a close spread player? Do you play better as concave? Do you play better as linear? Do you see what I'm doing right now?
2) Play stuff that is outside of your comfort zone.
You will not improve if you don't try to do harder things. The only limitation of a player is their mind.
3) Getting in better shape.
Probably doesn't really get heavily talked about around here, but your overall health effects your play dramatically. Believe it or not, this game burns calories just like a normal workout. I feel it's important to have good foods/good eating habits if wanting to play. Maybe try running? Maybe try lifting weights? It doesn't matter...getting into a routine of exercising once in awhile is good for you and can help your overall gameplay.
4) Set new goals all the time.
This is pretty much the vicious cycle of arrow smashing. You're always establishing new personal goals for yourself. Do not get upset if you don't meet those goals in a certain time frame. The importance is to just keep practicing and keep playing if you're really wanting to get better. The only people I know who are stuck at the same level of play are the types who aren't really open to push themselves outside of their comfort zone or have some mentality that "I will never get better."

Something else that I forgot to mention. When I actively started playing FFR for a little bit, I remember Dossar said something about "mindlessly playing." At first, I didn't really understand what he meant; however, when I started getting more experience with the game, it really started to kick in. You should be aware of how you are performing, and how you feel at all times. If you're just picking random songs all day without any reconciliation, you can sometimes easily hit a wall. This usually doesn't start to happen until you start to become an intermediate player (from what I've seen).