[Mollocephalus]

cool idea choof!

i also think that charting abilities comes into tiers, my personal road to become a proficient step artist would be something like this:


Novice:
- Learn to read waveforms, apply BPM and offset in AV
- Correctly sync music that drifts, has mutiple bpms, has cutting issues, has difficult to read waveform
- Cutting songs flawlessly
- Basic music theory and common timing mistakes to avoid (e.g. blue or yellow note syndrome)

Intermediate:
- Stepchart analysis from reputable stepcharters
- Learning to choose songs with charting potential
- Choosing songs that are compatibile with your charting experience
- Basic layering, following the main beats and tunes
- Learning about basic patterns and how to use them

Advanced:
- Advanced layering, learning how many and which instruments to follow
- Advanced pattern usage with emphasis on how much each hand is stressed at any time
- Difficulty fine tuning, learning how to balance layering accuracy with target intensity
- Meaningful usage of mines, rolls, and all other special notes
- Learning when to intentionally drop the layering of an instrument or keep partial layering to emphasise something else

Expert:
- Learning to chart dense songs, or songs with complex tempos
- Learning how to set a consistent difficulty thfoughtout the chart
- Learning how to use specific patterns in conjunction with the music for the maximum artistic effect
- Learning how to make concept charts which creatively interpret the music without following the actual rhythm (e.g. dumps)

And lastly, this is something purely optional, but in my personal experience you understand much better how to bring out the song's harmonic dynamics when you work with limitations. 4Keys are already a big limitation, but i got drastically better at 4key charting after spending a long time charting for pad, which is even more restictive on the amount of patterns and combinations you can use.