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Issues minimizing tapping hand movement

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Topic Starter
Xayne
I've recently hit a point where I feel like I need to make adjustments in my mechanics to be able to improve certain aspects of my play. The first of which is how I tap. I can't stream anything beyond 210 BPM and have always had issues with stamina. I feel like a large part of the problem lies in how I tap. There is a LOT of motion in my hand when I tap, but trying to optimize the movement has proven difficult. I just can't find a solution. It would make sense that if I cut down all or some of the wasted movement I have when tapping, my stamina would improve and could possibly eek out the ability to stream a bit faster. Are there any tapping styles or tips a more experienced player could share to help me figure this out? Or am I approaching this the wrong way and trying to fix something that doesn't need to be fixed? Thanks in advance.

Here is a video for reference on just how much wasted movement I have.

INB4: "Play more, practice, etc."
Endaris
Looks like you're bottoming out relatively hard.
Light tapping with minimum movement is something that your fingers will gradually do by themselves once you play more deathstreams.
https://osu.ppy.sh/s/72474

What you should notice is that your comfortable deathstreamspeed will probably be a significant amount below what you can burst for 16 notes or something.
I'm a slow fish for example and while I can do 24 notes on 170 nicely when warmed up I can only finish the 120bpm diff.
Important is that you choose a speed that you're comfortable with. If your hand gets tired and your movement becomes staccato you should go for a lower speed as holding up a fluent motion is the main objective when you want to increase your efficiency. You want to learn how to exert perfect control at any speed, not how to tap as fast as possible if I'm not wrong.
Citing AmaiHachimitsu here:
As thelewa said, streaming is not rocket science. You just need to understand the rhythm, get rid off mental blocks and gain some stamina. What's important is that you shouldn't mash the buttons when you feel you're losing the stream because of lack of stamina unless you really need to fc it. You must keep using proper technique and your stamina will gradually improve. If you're losing the stream and you're tired, just try again or do more warm-up maps.
Regarding the Squaredeathstreams you shouldnt be too upset about your acc the first time you're playing them. Your hand will get more and more used to holding a speed and your acc will climb to a decent degree within a relatively short amount of time (let's say a week if you play daily).

Personally I also made the experience that when I've warmed up a bit on some random streamy maps and played some harder stuff, playing one squaredeathstream will put my fingers on fire in a way and I have a significantly easier time tapping lightly on regular maps after that.
StephOsu

Endaris wrote:

Citing AmaiHachimitsu here:
As thelewa said, streaming is not rocket science. You just need to understand the rhythm, get rid off mental blocks and gain some stamina. What's important is that you shouldn't mash the buttons when you feel you're losing the stream because of lack of stamina unless you really need to fc it. You must keep using proper technique and your stamina will gradually improve. If you're losing the stream and you're tired, just try again or do more warm-up maps.
Quoting AmaiHachimitsu while he's quoting thelewa
quoteception
anyways I can vouch what Endaris said
Sayorie
Hand position quite matters, which mostly depends on preference. E.g. I single tap faster using my forearm, but I stream better when I put my wrist down and use my fingers to do the work. I think this style could prove detrimental as I progress through harder difficulties, but for now this is doing fine for me.
I suggest experimenting on that in your case.

Regarding what Endaris said about tapping, I think it also depends on the switch. Light tapping is difficult on ordinary rubber domes and black switches, whereas it's effective on linear, red switches. I think pushing harder on black switches helps you gain speed faster because the heavy switches push back harder, thereby providing momentum, unlike on red switches which is really light, and not bottoming out is easier and therefore potentially faster.
Endaris
There's a difference though between bottoming out hard and bottoming out light. Khelly always mashes his Reds like Hulk.
The fingers will naturally adjust to the characteristics switch theyre trained on, therefore I wouldnt worry too much about which switch he uses.
Sayorie

Endaris wrote:

There's a difference though between bottoming out hard and bottoming out light. Khelly always mashes his Reds like Hulk.
The fingers will naturally adjust to the characteristics switch theyre trained on, therefore I wouldnt worry too much about which switch he uses.
I agree, I forgot to point that out. You don't necessarily have to bottom out too hard, because it drains your stamina even more. :D
Topic Starter
Xayne
Would part of this problem be the fact that I learned how to play osu on blues and switched to reds after about a year?
Endaris
I dont think so, fingers are very quick with adjusting to new keys. Pretty sure that you had a few problematic hours after you switched and then it settled down somehow.
Topic Starter
Xayne
Thanks for all the help, especially Endaris. Your insight and tips have been very helpful.
Fluxi
Sorry but I'm gonna hijack this thread to ask some things about bottoming out.

So I'm reaching the point where to do fast single taps I exert a lot force using my wrist as a pivot which is not sustainable as my primary tapping finger feels a bit of pain after some time. This is probably caused by how hard I hit my keys.

Although this thread was directed at streams, what tips do you have to help with single taps (or is it just the same?).

Thanks for any help.
Endaris
It is fairly normal to bottom out using either your arm or your wrist as a support for your finger. If you would only move your finger you would have to move 3 joints in a relatively exaggerated motion that is neither sustainable nor very fast.
The most important reason to use wrist/arm support is to have a different tapping motion between singletapping and streaming. Using arm/wrist for singletaps basically leaves your finger in a flexible state in which it can start moving very quickly and go into a fluent motion for streaming opposed to a relatively static state when singletapping as singletapping is noncontinous(=you have to hold down and the rhythm changes).

Now regarding your problem I believe the only thing you can try is using less force. Bottoming out harder on singletaps compared to streams is very common as the haptic difference underlines the difference between the two motions.
Using much force may feel like going faster (and also accelerate you to some degree) but tapping speed in osu! is in many regards dependent on how quickly you can reset the key and start the next tap. And the more force you use the harder it gets to get a fast reset.
I can't really give a whole lot insight on it as I'm an alternating player and therefore none of my fingers will ever get tired or feel pain from playing "singletap"-maps (even though I have the same difference in motion versus streaming).
I still think it's mainly habitual. I think it's fine to tap "hard" but you shouldnt use a lot more force than needed to bottom out with a sufficient feeling of safety. Different thing you may want to try are O-Rings to reduce the traveldistance of your key to its actuation point. The shorter the travel distance of the key is the less tempting/useful it is to put a lot of force into your taps.
Last but not least it might be interesting where your finger hurts cause changing handposture may possibly adress the issue as well.
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