How do YOU arrow?

johnnyhoney0 · 11-2-2006, 05:47 PM

I've been wondering something for a while, and I want to ask an open question so I can get some ideas.

I used to play one-handed, and that worked for a while, but I realized that I was missing out on the harder songs, so I switched to two-handed (four-fingers). That's been working out very well for me, and I've progressed fairly well in my ability to do more and more difficult songs.

I saw Arch0wl's (in?)famous video of him AAA'ing Quasar using just his index fingers (indexing). So I tried to learn how to index, but I hated it, so I just went back to four-finger. The problem now is I'm having a bit of trouble with doubles using the arrow keys. My fingers all bunched up so it's hard to get everything when I see it. I can read the arrows and understand what I'm supposed to push, but I can't get all of them.

I thought at first that maybe it was because my arrow keys were worn out from so much use, so I got a new keyboard (I had been needing a new one anyway). But when I got the new keyboard, it didn't really help much. That's when I heard someone talking about a spread set, or at least that's what they called it. So now I have my left and down keys on B and N and my up and right keys on 8 and 6, respectively. Arms father apart = less bunched up = more accuracy. This is working well, and I'm starting to see myself improving a little bit.

Now, my question is, how do you have your keys set up to play? Do you play one-handed, two-handed, index? Also, what would you say are the pros and cons of playing any way?

Long post, I know. I'm a bit of a rambler.

Tibs · 11-2-2006, 05:50 PM

I mainly play index on arrow keys. I sometimes play spread on qw89, but not nearly as well.

Generally you'll find that Index = Accuracy, Spread = Speed and One-Hands lets you drink coke while playing.

**MagicCarpetRide** · 11-2-2006, 06:09 PM

I miss the old days when i played one handed and ate cheez-its the whole time that i played. Now i have to eat **** in between songs that i play, It sucks but it is helping me lose weight......although i am underweight... Play one handed if you want to get fat... spread if you want to be cool... and index if you want all the ladies to like you.

johnnyhoney0 · 11-2-2006, 06:32 PM

LOL, I'll keep that in mind.

Especially the part about the ladies. /sarcasm

ddrfreak925 · 11-2-2006, 06:45 PM

Why do people think that they are cool just because they play sm/ddr/itg all of a sudden?

**Megmo** · 11-2-2006, 06:46 PM

I used to play one handed with my right hand. Then I switched to two hands three fingers. That works by hitting the left arrow with your left index and with your right hand hitting the up and down arrows with your other index and then the right arrow with your middle finger on the same hand. That's what was comfortable for me cuz I'm a righty. That was better than one hand but not good enough so I learned spread. I place two fingers on the 8 and 6 keys on the number pad and my other two fingers and the left and down arrows. This works best in my opinion but it takes a while to get used to. If you want to sacrifice the time to get better at this method it is worth it as spread is what most of the better players use from what I hear.

johnnyhoney0 · 11-2-2006, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddrfreak925

Why do people think that they are cool just because they play sm/ddr/itg all of a sudden?

Unnecessary comment? Off topic?

Anyway, I tried left arrow, down arrow, 8, 6 for a while, but I think my arrow keys are worn out, because I started hitting quite a few ups and rights and fewer lefts and downs. So I switched the arrows to B and N. Works a little better for me now.

**dore** · 11-2-2006, 09:39 PM

qw89, although I'm probably going to switch to zx23 since those keys are more responsive on this keyboard.

johnnyhoney0 · 11-2-2006, 10:45 PM

I don't know, zx23 and qw89 and left down 86 all seem too bunched up still. If I had one of those keyboards that had the letters split down the middle and slanted, that would probably make things easier.

**dore** · 11-2-2006, 10:59 PM

zx (numpad) 23

Those are on opposite sides of the keyboard lol

If you want each individual finger further apart, you can try qslp or qxmp or something like that.

**Patashu** · 11-3-2006, 12:13 AM

QWOP spread

And my mind is incapable of processing the movements required for index so that's out of the question.

ddrfreak925 · 11-4-2006, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyhoney0

Unnecessary comment? Off topic?

Anyway, I tried left arrow, down arrow, 8, 6 for a while, but I think my arrow keys are worn out, because I started hitting quite a few ups and rights and fewer lefts and downs. So I switched the arrows to B and N. Works a little better for me now.

00ps i forgot teh quote... Its that I read A post on this thread about it.

Tibs · 11-4-2006, 05:53 AM

Just to clarify, when I said qw89, I meant 89 on the Numpad.

DraikRoan · 11-4-2006, 08:28 AM

I have a weird setup. I play with both hands, but I only use my left index finger for key 4(Left). I plant my Right thumb on the 2 key(Down), my right index finger on the 8 key (Up) and my right middle finger on the 6 key(Right). One of the grievences of my setup is that is theres ALOT of down notes in a long series (lets say a jackhammer) my thumb starts to hurt a bit. I play on both the number pad and the directional keys respectively. Im currently trying to learn the spread setup so I dont need to use my thumb.

johnnyhoney0 · 11-6-2006, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patashu

And my mind is incapable of processing the movements required for index so that's out of the question.

Hah, I know what you mean. I saw that age-old Arch0wl video and I'm thinking...oh man. Since I can barely FC Quasar on 1.4x music, I don't even want to think about everything it takes to be a good indexer.

And yea Draik, that is weird. I've never heard of anyone using their thumb, at all. But I put my fingers (and thumb) where you have them set up and tried playing, it was impossible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dore

qslp or qxmp

Well, that's too spread, for me at least. I just have to have my hands spread, but if my fingers are spread out more than right next to each other, my arms get tired more easily.

Krazl · 11-6-2006, 02:39 PM

Back in the day when I started playing on FFR, I was a one hander. After downloading stepmania and wanting to go faster and faster (you know everyone loves messing with song rates) I decided that the one hander needed to go and I started indexing. The only time I've ever been tempted to play spread is when trying to FC a song that has triples or quadruples. I noticed a problem though, using a USB keyboard sometimes when doing a triple with the up arrow it won't work, the up arrow never gets registered in stepmania

. After the shenanigans of triples and quadruples in destined marionette I realized that on the default judge setting it is possible to quickly hit all 3 keys with index and still get a great

Never looked back at spread after that <3 index [though someday I'm sure I'll have to switch to spread for speed

]

Iwhaiwnfi · 11-6-2006, 08:22 PM

Similar to Patashu's setup. AS KL Spread.

**dore** · 11-6-2006, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Era

I use two places. One is the number pad. The other is the arrow pad.

6 fingers. Index, middle, and ring finger on each hand.

In my opinion, this is the perfect way because all the arrows are covered.

FYI more than 4 fingers is considered cheating.

**Shashakiro** · 11-6-2006, 10:14 PM

I use <V86, has always worked for me.

Index is a bad idea unless you have a good deal of DDR experience.

WillTalbot · 11-7-2006, 05:51 AM

My computer is a laptop so I don't have a number pad so I use
zx./ (hotkey) works best for me, got the spread for smitty.

11-2-2006, 05:50 PM	#2
Tibs FFR Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: UK Age: 37 Posts: 5,235	Re: How do YOU arrow? I mainly play index on arrow keys. I sometimes play spread on qw89, but not nearly as well. Generally you'll find that Index = Accuracy, Spread = Speed and One-Hands lets you drink coke while playing. __________________ Metal covers of vidya game songs

11-2-2006, 06:09 PM	#3
MagicCarpetRide Skware One Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Vermont Age: 35 Posts: 1,125	Re: How do YOU arrow? I miss the old days when i played one handed and ate cheez-its the whole time that i played. Now i have to eat **** in between songs that i play, It sucks but it is helping me lose weight......although i am underweight... Play one handed if you want to get fat... spread if you want to be cool... and index if you want all the ladies to like you.

11-2-2006, 06:45 PM	#5
ddrfreak925 FFR Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: 8\| Posts: 522	Re: How do YOU arrow? Why do people think that they are cool just because they play sm/ddr/itg all of a sudden?

11-2-2006, 06:46 PM	#6
Megmo FFR Veteran Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 250	Re: How do YOU arrow? I used to play one handed with my right hand. Then I switched to two hands three fingers. That works by hitting the left arrow with your left index and with your right hand hitting the up and down arrows with your other index and then the right arrow with your middle finger on the same hand. That's what was comfortable for me cuz I'm a righty. That was better than one hand but not good enough so I learned spread. I place two fingers on the 8 and 6 keys on the number pad and my other two fingers and the left and down arrows. This works best in my opinion but it takes a while to get used to. If you want to sacrifice the time to get better at this method it is worth it as spread is what most of the better players use from what I hear.

11-2-2006, 09:39 PM	#8
dore caveman pornstar Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: ridin on a unicorn Age: 35 Posts: 6,317	Re: How do YOU arrow? qw89, although I'm probably going to switch to zx23 since those keys are more responsive on this keyboard. __________________ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IREnpHco9mw

11-2-2006, 10:59 PM	#10
dore caveman pornstar Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: ridin on a unicorn Age: 35 Posts: 6,317	Re: How do YOU arrow? zx (numpad) 23 Those are on opposite sides of the keyboard lol If you want each individual finger further apart, you can try qslp or qxmp or something like that. __________________ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IREnpHco9mw

11-3-2006, 12:13 AM	#11
Patashu FFR Simfile Author Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: we traced the call...it's coming from inside the house Age: 35 Posts: 8,609	Re: How do YOU arrow? QWOP spread And my mind is incapable of processing the movements required for index so that's out of the question. __________________ Patashu makes Chiptunes in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu/8bit-progressive-metal-fading-world http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Mechadragon/smallpackbanner.png Best non-AAAs: ERx8 v2 (14-1-0-4), Hajnal (3-0-0-0), RunnyMorning (8-0-0-4), Xeno-Flow (1-0-0-3), Blue Rose (35-2-0-20), Ketsarku (14-0-0-0), Silence (1-0-0-0), Lolo (14-1-0-1) http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee301/xiaoven/solorulzsig.png

11-4-2006, 05:53 AM	#13
Tibs FFR Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: UK Age: 37 Posts: 5,235	Re: How do YOU arrow? Just to clarify, when I said qw89, I meant 89 on the Numpad. __________________ Metal covers of vidya game songs

11-4-2006, 08:28 AM	#14
DraikRoan FFR Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Louisville, KY Age: 37 Posts: 64	Re: How do YOU arrow? I have a weird setup. I play with both hands, but I only use my left index finger for key 4(Left). I plant my Right thumb on the 2 key(Down), my right index finger on the 8 key (Up) and my right middle finger on the 6 key(Right). One of the grievences of my setup is that is theres ALOT of down notes in a long series (lets say a jackhammer) my thumb starts to hurt a bit. I play on both the number pad and the directional keys respectively. Im currently trying to learn the spread setup so I dont need to use my thumb.

11-6-2006, 02:39 PM	#16
Krazl FFR Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 13	Re: How do YOU arrow? Back in the day when I started playing on FFR, I was a one hander. After downloading stepmania and wanting to go faster and faster (you know everyone loves messing with song rates) I decided that the one hander needed to go and I started indexing. The only time I've ever been tempted to play spread is when trying to FC a song that has triples or quadruples. I noticed a problem though, using a USB keyboard sometimes when doing a triple with the up arrow it won't work, the up arrow never gets registered in stepmania . After the shenanigans of triples and quadruples in destined marionette I realized that on the default judge setting it is possible to quickly hit all 3 keys with index and still get a great Never looked back at spread after that <3 index [though someday I'm sure I'll have to switch to spread for speed ]

11-6-2006, 08:22 PM	#17
Iwhaiwnfi FFR Player Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 224	Re: How do YOU arrow? Similar to Patashu's setup. AS KL Spread.

11-7-2006, 05:51 AM	#20
WillTalbot FFR Player Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: West Orange, NJ Age: 33 Posts: 579	Re: How do YOU arrow? My computer is a laptop so I don't have a number pad so I use zx./ (hotkey) works best for me, got the spread for smitty.

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