I'm At a Bit of a Road Block

[RB_IcePh0enix]

At the beginning of the summer, I realized that my level rank was a complete mess. I decided a good way to try to clean it up was to a rank of under 2000 for every song. I worked on it for a reaaaaally long time, and I've finally got all of the songs under 2000, except Vertex Beta, Classical Insanity, Flight of the Bumblebee, and AIM Anthem, as well as six secret songs I haven't unlocked yet.

I'm in a few tournaments trying to earn credits, so it hopefully won't take too long to obtain the required amount of credits to get the secret songs. What I'm frustrated with is not being able to get decent scores on those other songs. I've played them all numerous times, but I am not able to get decent scores because the songs have patterns which I simply can not do. My fingers do not move fast enough.

I've realized that before I can get good scores on these songs, I have to strengthen my fingers and arms. What are some good techniques, SM or FFR songs, or even work out drills I can do to help strengthen my arms, especially the left one?

tl;dr version: my arms are too weak for some FFR songs. What do I do?

[who_cares973]

play more ffr. if you want to get faster play sm dumps

[DossarLX ODI]

Yeah, most FFR songs have dense bursts and normal streams. Counter clockwise chant pattern is a great example; slow paced, but some very fast bursts. (RATO and Death Piano are a different story, however)

Stepmania helps with speed. FFR is mainly control.

[MinaciousGrace]

how to get better at ffr:

play stepmania

[RB_IcePh0enix]

Originally Posted by who_cares973

play more ffr. if you want to get faster play sm dumps

What are SM dumps?

Originally Posted by 0

well, this is all based on assuming you play spread, but...
vertex beta: try practicing long/fast streams
classical insanity: don't really see where you're having trouble on this one, but practicing jumpstream might help for some parts
flight of the bumblebee: try switching to two hands to hit the trills (index), especially the long down/left trill, then quickly switch back to spread to hit the streams
aim anthem: for the part in the beginning that goes (12)(23)(34)(23)(12)(23)(34)etc, I find it easier to hit the (12) jumps with my left hand and the (23)(34)(23) jumps with my right hand. try hitting all the jump-jacks one handed, and for the jack/trill combos in the middle section, hit the jack with one hand and the trill with the other hand.
also practicing fast songs like reality lolo ehhs etc. will most likely help you get better at speed in general

Thanks! I was having trouble on the running man patterns for Classical Insanity, but after whoring it for a little while I FCd it. What spread keys would you suggest for switching to index? I usually play d f i l.

[MinaciousGrace]

Originally Posted by RB_IcePh0enix

What are SM dumps?

http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...p?songid=31121

[DossarLX ODI]

http://izzy.bemaniso.ws/StepMania%20Songs/

These are the Hard Song Megapacks, which are good for speed training.

Unfortunately, many songs in FFR are 200 bpm based 16th streams. Stepmania has a variety of songs.

[RB_IcePh0enix]

0, with your help I now have AIM Anthem, FoTBB, and Classical Insanity under 2,000. For Vertex Beta, I can usually combo it up until the left handed trill somewhere around 800. It's reaaaaally irritating.

Thanks for all the help you guys.

[Ghakimx]

Force your wrist backwards with your opposite hand and then have your wrist oppose the force for 10 to 20 seconds, and repeat every few hours. You can do this for your fingers too.

[OneHandNow]

whore CCCP all day

[SKG_Scintill]

Either mash harder parts or try playing SM, my most recent skillboost was because of playing SM

[OneHandNow]

dont mash harder parts NEVER that will never improve you

whore CCCP/Schmollbluk for burst practice
whore kidney stone / necropotence for speed/stamina
whore synthlight songs for patience LOL

then combine them all
and whore crap like eclipse, strawberry sweetz, lgc, ketsarku, etc

[MinaciousGrace]

uhhh thats like the worst advice possible

[RB_IcePh0enix]

One more thing, do you guys know how many credits I need to have to obtain:
Summer -Speedy Mix-
Gaussian Blur 3
K8107
Shihen
Mute City Remix
Midnight Dragon

[hi_top]

26. Summer -Speedy Mix- (25,000)
27. Gaussian Blur 3 (30,000)
28. Shihen (35,000)
29. K8107 (40,000)
30. Mute City Remix (45,000)
31. Midnight Dragon (50,000)

[Garquillex]

Every SM file I play is either too damn hard or too damn easy. -_-

[roundb0x]

Originally Posted by MinaciousGrace

http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...p?songid=31121

why is my op so bad

[rushyrulz]

OneHandNow, stfu. Quit advising people to whore songs. It's only okay to whore if you can FC comfortably and need the AAA and u have a blackflag or something. If you whore without a FC, you get mental blocks. So instead of eventually clearing those levelranks out, you keep them there forever. (*looks at EHHS)

As for your left hand strength training, I suggest you (sounds like a hypocrite) whore Radio Heads. Whoring Radio Heads is okay because it's a strongly left handed song and you can only play it so many times in a row before you get a hernia on your left forearm. For right hand training, play M.A.M.A.

My overall advice is to forget about those songs for a while, get better as a player and come back to them. You should be able to catch onto vertex beta and classical insanity in a few weeks, but the jackier songs FOTBB and AIM Anthem will take a bit more jack training (Radio Heads and M.A.M.A.).

Good luck. Now focus on getting the rest of your levelranks under 1500!

[_REDYOSHI_]

Originally Posted by rushyrulz

OneHandNow, stfu. Quit advising people to whore songs. It's only okay to whore if you can FC comfortably and need the AAA and u have a blackflag or something. If you whore without a FC, you get mental blocks. So instead of eventually clearing those levelranks out, you keep them there forever. (*looks at EHHS)

As for your left hand strength training, I suggest you (sounds like a hypocrite) whore Radio Heads. Whoring Radio Heads is okay because it's a strongly left handed song and you can only play it so many times in a row before you get a hernia on your left forearm. For right hand training, play M.A.M.A.

My overall advice is to forget about those songs for a while, get better as a player and come back to them. You should be able to catch onto vertex beta and classical insanity in a few weeks, but the jackier songs FOTBB and AIM Anthem will take a bit more jack training (Radio Heads and M.A.M.A.).

Good luck. Now focus on getting the rest of your levelranks under 1500!

I agree totally. If you can't get a better rank on a certain song just don't play it for awhile, play something else, then come back to that song. I've recently been trying to get all my level ranks under 1000 and I'm down to about 20 or 30 songs left. Good luck and just keep playing, you will get better it just takes practice.

[rushyrulz]

All my ranks are under 500 so I must be doing something right, take my advice.