I've asked a few people and the general answer seems to be yes, but WHY? I plan to stick to mainly 4k for a while, and I feel more confident playing with just one hand, but I've also only been playing for a few days on insanely low star maps. What are the genuine benefits of playing with two hands compared to one? One day, I'll probably move to more keys, but for right now I plan to learn/play mainly/only 4k.

Because it's easier.

Any type of trills with one hand seems like an asspain

Nah, people probably use two hand because they started with it and getting used to it.

Use one hand if you want.

Playing 4k with 2 hands is better on the long term if u decide to keep playing mania but if u play with 1 hand you are mostly limited with 1-2 stars but if u want to play with one hand go for it!

People like Jakads have done things like getting an S on Lachryma with one hand, but that just goes hand-in-hand (no pun intended) with his 7k skill. So I guess it depends on what setup you use. Also, just know that you'll probably never get to the same level of play as most others with the same playtime. Finally, do be careful with it because using just one hand while playing a game like this can put huge amounts of strains on your hand/wrist, so do your best to avoid injury!

Link to video referenced: https://youtu.be/2f0HkRiB500

Ignitone wrote:

I've asked a few people and the general answer seems to be yes, but WHY? I plan to stick to mainly 4k for a while, and I feel more confident playing with just one hand, but I've also only been playing for a few days on insanely low star maps. What are the genuine benefits of playing with two hands compared to one? One day, I'll probably move to more keys, but for right now I plan to learn/play mainly/only 4k.

Everyone has different goals in mind when playing this game and all methods and playstyles are fine as long as you are fine with them. Though, improving with one hand is a 99% chance that you will skill cap much faster than a lot of other people as most people's pinky dexterity is very weak. Good luck in your mania journey!

you will be significantly limiting yourself if you choose to continue playing with one hand. your ring finger and pinky do not have the same dexterity as your index and middle fingers (and its not a matter of trained dexterity, its a physical limitation in the anatomy of the human hand). Play how you want to play, but make no mistake- its a handicap you'll be imposing on yourself.

(tldr at the end) i've done a little bit of research on the muscles used in your hand. the benefit of using your index and middle finger on 2 hands is that there is a muscle on your hand which allows your index finger to move freely. there is no such muscle for your middle, ring and pinky fingers, as the muscles which allow movement for these 3 fingers are just one muscle. this is why it's very difficult to move your ring finger on its own, because it's in the middle of this muscle. that said, your middle and pinky fingers are a bit easier to move independently because they're on opposite sides of this muscle.

when you play with one hand, no matter what you do, you're always going to be over-utlizing the muscle responsible for movement of your ring, pinky and middle fingers. this just puts a guranteed handicap on your play no matter how you go about playing.

that said, playing with 2 fingers decreases the utilization of this muscle. the middle finger has a lot of mobility if you do not add in the ring or pinky fingers, since the muscle can move all of those fingers with the middle finger as opposed to having to stretch and stress this muscle by using 4 fingers in one hand.

using your index and middle fingers is the most common playstyle. since there's a dedicated muscle to allow you to move your index finger independently, it is the most mobile finger in your hand. the second most mobile finger in the middle finger, because its on the edge of the muscle responsible for moving the pinky, ring and middle fingers. the pinky is on the other edge but is not as viable for vsrg play because it's a small and weak finger compared to the middle finger.

tl;dr: due to the way the muscles in your hand work, using one hand severely kimits your mobility for 4k. use your middle and index fingers on each hand to maximize mobility

It's not just jakads who was decent at 4k 1 handed. Entozer has practiced that way as well. And that's the thing, it was practice for 7k finger independence.

Positionx is 100% right on the anatomical reason that middle+index 2 handed dominates as both the default, and the most advantageous choice.

I will say that if you are absolutely 100% dead set on playing that style, them there's nothing stopping you. However that does mean that you are committing to using a non-standard play style. It will be hard for other players to give you advice about technique, and the relative difficulty of certain kinds of patterns will be very different.