Alright, let's be clear about this. I'm going to obnoxiously bold every single statement I find are important.
It's gonna be a long and messy post (too lazy to tidy it up once I start writing this), but try to read it from my view.
The word
practice as taken from a dictionary:
If we were to put it into osu!'s context, to perform or exercise your skills in osu! would mean to commit and dedicate yourself to this game for a long period of time every day to improve or maintain one's proficiency (meaning SKILL). Most of this game is muscle memory so you probably won't lose a lot of skill if you don't play for a long period of time.
Let's break it up for the
serious players (because I don't cater to casuals):
Commit and Dedicate:To Commit and Dedicate yourself to this game is definitely the first step to improvement.
You have to be in the right mindset to be able to improve.
Don't or try not to involve your emotions while playing this game, play this game like a robot.
What this means is to play every damn map you see regardless of how bad the song may sound, but make sure it's something you can somewhat manage, difficulty-wise. (And that I'll leave it up to you to check it out for yourself, so it's pretty much trial & error).
This way, you have the habit of playing whatever you see and not what you
jam to.
(honestly, it's a very good habit to have.. at least for LR2/IIDX since you're able to spam all 8s/9s/10s)Not only that, you are also presented a plethora of patterns, rhythms, and different mapping styles.
Yeah, you're gonna have to get used to it, sadly.
Long period of time everyday:Let's face it, everyone has a busy schedule.
To me, 1-2 hours isn't going to cut it if you're looking for a serious improvement!
I know that I can't say I'm right about scheduling to play osu!, but when I played this game, I spent 10-16 hours a day (during summer only) to improve in all aspects of this game.
So I would say perhaps spend a hell load of time every day (4+ hours) and keep it that way.
Though don't prioritize osu! over social life and your work ethics. But do prioritize it over free-time if you really really wish to get better.
Now the 'I can't practice because I suck at it' part.Alright, so the first rule to approaching this is to 'repeat with variation.'
Variation meaning repeat songs that have a
similar situation in patterning, perhaps lower in difficulty.
'How do I find those types of songs that are similar in difficulty?'
Good question, I don't know. So... that comes from experience and playing many songs as I remember many different patterning in most songs I play.
I usually pull it up from memory when it comes to patterns anyways.
I won't tell you strictly 'what you should practice' and 'what not to practice' because that is all up to you to find out for yourself. Try not to ask others on what map to play. There is no 'right way to play' or the 'right maps' to play. Play them all, play all the maps you can even no matter how bad it is. I will emphasize again over and over.
SO MAKE THIS A HABIT. A habit forms once you repeat a routine for 21 days+, so dedicate to a mental plan of practising!!