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@Streaming and singletapping (bad) habbits

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chiefhero
Ayo.

Ive built up 2 habbits/patterns while playing Osu!, and I'm wondering whether I should get rid of them or not.

1st habbit: I'm constantly alternating between z and x, whereas most other players seem to singletap everything apart from streams. In other words, I basically don't "singletap", i treat any chain of notes like a slow stream pretty much. Should I start singletapping instead, and why?

2nd habbit: I'm starting all of my streams on my middlefinger, whereas most other players start it on their index finger (the finger you point with :D). this wasn't such a problem before, but when i tried to singletap with my indexfinger, it was really weird when streams came. I either had to start my streams from my index finger (which I never did before), or i had to switch fingers when going from singletapping to the start of a stream, which was hard at fast maps.

What do you think I should do, and why? I'm aiming for long-term benefits, and I want to get change my patterns if they are worse than what most other players seem to do.

Thanks in advance for replies. :oops:
boat
they're taking the habbits to isengard

Neither are bad habits as each to their own. The only solution to this would be to stop and tap in the way you'd like to.

Both singletapping and alternating have their advantages, neither is better nor worse but I can with confidence say that learning to alternate is ridic hard if you're used to singletapping, and it's probably the same deal vice versa so get to practicing.

From a "performance" sort of point of view, alternating is only really useful for what is too fast to singletap but too slow to comfortably stream. This is clearly either solved by practicing singletapping or slow streaming; alternating, where as the former is probably easier to learn but harder to master.
winber1
Many pro players prefer using their middle finger over their index finger to start. There is no problem with that. I do it too.

There is also no problem with alternating, but as previous threads have stated, the thing about alternating is that although it is more relaxing than single-tapping, it often time doesn't force the player to push themselves. This doesn't really have much effect on accuracy and cursor movement, but it will affect you in terms of stream speed and stamina. Those two things require the player to really practice and push oneself in order to improve. If you are alternating all the time, it is usually harder to improve in those aspects. There have been pro players who alternate and can do like everything, but there are very few.

Don't be intimidated by the majority, but learning to alternate tends to be harder as far as I know.
d777b

winber1 wrote:

Don't be intimidated by the majority, but learning to alternate tends to be harder as far as I know.
I have also never understood how alternating makes a player "not push themselves"... If you can stream a bpm, you can single tap that bpm (tempo wise, all other factors such as aim, AR, ect aside). The reverse is not always true as you need to train the other finger to play in concert with your tapping finger. To gain stamina and speed, you simply play songs that are physically challenging to you. This is regardless of single tapping or alternating.

IMO, the real reason(s) alternating is "harder" is all mental (transitions, rudiments, metric speed changes, ect).

however, it all comes down to what makes sense to you and what you want to put in time learning.
enik

d777b wrote:

To gain stamina and speed, you simply play songs that are physically challenging to you. This is regardless of single tapping or alternating.
To be physically challenging it must be a reasonable low bpm streamy map (since single tap speed is not needed at all while alternating). But most alternaters ignore those maps because they're boring to play and rush super crazy maps (simply because they can do it) which would be already mentally challenging, but they can't really FC those maps, not only because of inability to stream that high bpm but also because it's really hard to keep a mind focused for a long time while your body is fairly relaxed. They exceed at speed, reading high bpms and ARs but lack other important things such as consistency, fingers stamina and accuracy (maybe rhythm understanding too?). If you can properly balance those things and overcome mental struggles you mentioned you'll succeed and become pro alternater like SiLviA :)
winber1

d777b wrote:

I have also never understood how alternating makes a player "not push themselves"... If you can stream a bpm, you can single tap that bpm (tempo wise, all other factors such as aim, AR, ect aside). The reverse is not always true as you need to train the other finger to play in concert with your tapping finger. To gain stamina and speed, you simply play songs that are physically challenging to you. This is regardless of single tapping or alternating.
You can still increase speed and stamina, but generally it is not as convenient. Generally people don't just play things like the death stream compilation or other solely streaming based unranked maps. However, you usually do play regular ranked 170+ BPM maps, and with alternating, I can literally breeze through the map completely relaxed and not tired at all. However, single tapping at 255BPM is a different story. Because most maps are not just streams, generally people who alternate don't actually push themselves as hard as single-tappers because you do not need to tense your arm and wrist to play consistent 1/2 tick notes at 255 BPM whereas the single-tappers do.

And basically, you aren't actually training your arm muscles as much as you could have. I have experienced this myself. I used to just alternate 240+ BPM because I said holy crap this is too fast, I'm going to alternate these things. I could never stream 240BPM or play that tempo very well for the longest time. However, after I decided I needed to practice my stream speed, I began to single tap mostly everything at high speeds, and I can now play 240 -270 BPM beatmaps.
iiYuusuke
After reading a lot of tips from you guys and from some other players,
i think i'll practice with singletapping to increase my speed and accuracy, (cause i used to alternate too D:)
silmarilen
there is no problem with alternating, look at people like sapphireghost and silvia.
learning to both alternate and singletap is probably the best thing you can do in osu.
RaneFire

silmarilen wrote:

there is no problem with alternating, look at people like sapphireghost and silvia.
learning to both alternate and singletap is probably the best thing you can do in osu.
Agreed, but don't learn them both at the same time.
Learn single-tap, then alternate... don't mix early on - I did this myself and ffs was I frustrated by some habits I had developed.
You need to build the muscle memory for single-tap first imo, because alternating triplets can sink into your habitual playstyle quite deeply... and requires speed to single-tap. (zxz zxz VS. zxz xzx)
Zexous
I'd just like to point out that singletapping and alternating are not exclusive, many players including myself incorporate both elements into their playstyle. An obvious tenet of alternating that I'm surprised no one has mentioned is this: lots of notes are harder to alternate than lots of sliders. So typically, "hybrid" players will alternate on slider-based patterns (kick sliders, 1/4 slider repeats, anything with 1/4 gaps and such, or maybe just lots of sliders in any snap). Point being, someone earlier said not to learn them at the same time, but really it's ok to learn them at the same time if you're planning on or are used to using them at the same time.


On a sidenote, I have a habit of holding down my index finger whenever I had to use it, even if I can let go (I singletap with middle finger). For example:
If there is a 1/4 triple with the last note leading into a slider, a normal person would do zxz, and the z would be the only button held. However, if you look at my replays, you would see that I'd have both z and x held down, I'd be holding the z down consciously for the slider, but my index finger subconsciously keeps the x held down. This happens for all kinds of 1/4 into sliders for me, like if there's any size stream into any type of slider of any length, you'll always see my K2 held down.
You'd normally say that it wasn't a problem, but let me tell you this: I'm pretty sure it is.
I can't do tons of triples without awful accuracy, or a miss. Granted, that mapping technique is horrid, but calling out a bad mapping pattern won't get you the score. Let me explain why exactly I can't (according to how I think it is):
My index finger can't immediately let go of the button after pressing, let's say it holds it for an extra 1/4 length. For a single triple or into a slider, that is fine. When there are many triples, they are typically spaced by a 1/2 gap between each other. Because of the extra 1/4 my finger holds x down though, my fingers always end up playing triples as a continuous 1/4 stream. There are 2 points as to how this would fuck up my gameplay:
1) Since I do triples zxz zxz, but my index finger can't handle 1/4 presses, I'd end up getting out of sync and completely messing up my rhythm (typically, when this happens, I still end up streaming as if it were 1/4 even after the stream ends and it's 1/2)
2) My mouse movement is seperate from my pressing, so it moves as if my fingers could probably do triples. But because I'd be playing it like a continuous stream, when my mouse moves to the next triple during the 1/2 gap, my fingers are still pressing, so I end up playing the first note of the next triple a 1/4 gap early, which of course messes up the entire triple for me.


Well I wasn't anticipating writing an essay on my flaws, but ok.
RaneFire

Zexous wrote:

Point being, someone earlier said not to learn them at the same time, but really it's ok to learn them at the same time if you're planning on or are used to using them at the same time.
I was just saying don't learn them, as a new player, at the same time. You can make your own style and play that from day 1. The emphasis is on learning 2 different styles of playing simultaneously.

Your flaws mentioned are problems I had as well: Not releasing keys on time, losing my rhythm on triplets... I'm glad that I fixed them, but my speed on non-streamy patterns has stayed low because I've never been able to achieve a natural finger order without thinking about it really hard.

The only people I can imagine learning both single-tapping and alternating at the same time, without problems of style-interweaving, either play a musical instrument or have previous experience with other rhythm games. This immediately cuts the learning curve shorter since they have rhythm sense.

It is perfectly fine to swap between them on the same day once you know both - you can switch as often as you want.
Jordan
2keying isn't a bad habit.
thelewa
If you want to get faster at singletapping, yes it is
Aqo
Having some experience with alternating and having an alternating mindset can help with reading streams with variable spacing but otherwise singletapping is just better sadly ;w;
-Soba-
alternating>singletapping
Zexous

-Soba- wrote:

alternating>singletapping
hey nice explanation you got there soba
Naikaze
I don't think these habits are "bad" ? :?
-Soba-

Zexous wrote:

-Soba- wrote:

alternating>singletapping
hey nice explanation you got there soba
thnx
Winshley
My bad habit of tapping is that I tend to single-tap jumpy notes, even if it's above 130BPM (above my limit). Of course, I failed hard with this. :(

Also, I tense a lot while streaming, which may cause my cursor movement to go awkward. orz
mayainverse
why is everyone leaving out the 3rd play style? reprogram your keyboard so all keys are Z or X then do this



once i used this strategy i can stream at 420bpm.
nrl
Is that... legal?
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