Severe finger anxiety?

[LordCarlos]

I have now recently developed finger anxiety while playing FFR and it causes me to become very aware of where my fingers are, and how the keys feel on my hand. I sometimes need to rub my fingers around the keys compulsively because even the slightest misplacement of the fingers will distract me.

I am highly aware of how anything touching my fingers feels while playing FFR and get distracted by how my how my hands/fingers feel when the keys/keyboard touches them. I'm especially bothered by the feeling of the edges of the keys when my fingers touch them.

Is this normal?

[icontrolyourworld]

yep

[DarknessXoXLight]

hahahahHAHAAHHAHAAHAHAHAH congrats you're fucked. i haven't been able to get rid of this feeling for three years. it's honestly the only thing keeping me in D5.

[FF_rules]

This is actually a thing? Try play a stepmania clone on a touch screen tablet; it feels so different you might just break out the habit before it becomes semi-permanent.

[gold stinger]

I do not know what this feeling is like, honestly.

[reuben_tate]

Perhaps you can do something to numb your fingers so the sensation of the keys don't distract you?

[reuben_tate]

Although to be honest, I feel like being able to feel the keys is essential to being able to maintain rhythm for some reason. Like I can't play ffr if my fingers are super cold and I can't feel anything.

[FF_rules]

Originally Posted by reuben_tate

Although to be honest, I feel like being able to feel the keys is essential to being able to maintain rhythm for some reason. Like I can't play ffr if my fingers are super cold and I can't feel anything.

I find it really difficult to play on a touch screen too. Since there's no real feedback on where you touched on the screen.

[gold stinger]

yeah if fingers are cold you're going to play like crap, best just to stop playing and play some other time if your fingers start to go cold.

What you want is to literally start heating up, to the brink of sweating. The entire point of 'warming up'.
And usually in the process from reaching here to there hope for a skillboost & stick to it.

[Trumpet63]

I play EFJI, and if I'm using too small of a keyboard my thumbs will touch -- totally breaks my concentration. I like, lose track of my fingers.

Another thing though, if your default finger position is all fingers on, you might have to lift them before hitting a note. This is what I do and I feel like it holds me back. I've heard the optimum finger function described as a series of piston actuations.

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by DarknessXoXLight

hahahahHAHAAHHAHAAHAHAHAH congrats you're fucked. i haven't been able to get rid of this feeling for three years. it's honestly the only thing keeping me in D5.

Omg. This was a little scary.... (the laugh)

[Funnygurl555]

I used to have this thing where I flexed my fingers during songs and it would ruin scores. The only thing you can do to stop these is to not give a crap or tell yourself to stop thinking about it long enough that you stop doing what you're doing.

It's not like this will ruin your fiffer career though, but of it really bothers you you can try changing your setup or get a new kb =)

[mrpreggers]

this probably sounds stupid but try chewing some gum while you play

[s1rnight]

have your fingers seen a therapist about this

[FF_rules]

Originally Posted by Funnygurl555

I used to have this thing where I flexed my fingers during songs and it would ruin scores. The only thing you can do to stop these is to not give a crap or tell yourself to stop thinking about it long enough that you stop doing what you're doing.

i have a thing where if my keyboard gets pushed even a centimeter I lose my shit and probably drop the AAA.

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by FF_rules

i have a thing where if my keyboard gets pushed even a centimeter I lose my shit and probably drop the AAA.

Duct tape man.

I used to have terrible nerves when I was going d4 to d5. Stepmania got rid of those nerves for me though.

[Candor]

i have the same habits pretty much, just stop trying to AAA lol
its better on your nerves though it wont fix the problem :v

[Arch0wl]

This is actually an extremely common phenomenon to anyone who has extensive development of a muscle. It's not unique to your fingers. If you start bench pressing a lot, you will notice you have more control over your pecs than you ever have in your life and can make your tits bounce.

And, since you've done an activity that develops these muscles a lot, you're more aware of factors affecting performance, such as the placement of the keys or the responsiveness of the keys to your touch.

The catchall term for this is proprioception. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception

[Wayward Vagabond]

neat. that explains a lot actually

[Riotpolice]

Arch, you are the answer to some of my most mysterious questions. I've asked users before about this exact thing and none of them could tell me what it was.