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Improving in alternating speed

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Topic Starter
Swe_Wrestler
So, I've been playing this game for a while now (for about one year) and noticed a few months back that my maximum alternating speed (~135-140bpm) is suprisingly low in comparison to my single tapping that's around 120bpm, thus my alternating speed is about 115% of my single tapping speed, and the reason i feel like that's low is because most players (based on people i know and pro players i watch regularly) generally lie around 140-145% or even higher. So to the point, what i want to discuss is if you have made any changes in technique that have helped you improve your raw speed faster, it doesn't necessarily have to be something that made you faster on the spot, but maybe something that made you more stable and less clumsy and therefore you had an easier time training it. Obviously everyone finds their own technique and there's nothing that fits everyone but me and others with the same problem are probably willing to try out different/new stuff so that we don't keep refining our not so effective way of doing it and actually makes progress.

It's probably a broad topic with alot of complicated stuff that people don't even bother to explain or not even think about, but i just want to know if there's something, just anything besides pressuring yourself with fast maps (wich is mandatory) that can improve your speed or boost your training the tiniest bit.

I'm kind of annoyed because i am at the stage where i can read high AR and do difficult jumps but can't burst mediocre insanes/anothers wich i have no problem reading etc. and getting impatient when i don't improve in the pace i want too.

TL;DR: how do i gets cookiezi fingers ))
brendanuhs
short: just practise
on a side note, i hope you mean 1/4 if 120bpm is your max alternating.
iSpR1Te
I also have a slow alternating compared to single tapping.

The thing that seems to help improve streaming the most is playing long streams. Ever since I started playing lower bpm songs that have really long streams it seems I have increase my speed the most this way. I've tried many different mind sets, hand positions, streaming maps (short streams, long streams), keys, keyboards, and just straight up hard practice but nothing really seems to improve my streaming much other than that.

My theory is once you build up stamina, endurance, and accurate alternating, speed just comes naturally.
Xcrypt
Playing deathstreams seems to have increased my alternating speed by 10-20% so far. I don't know if this is of any help to you but this might be a good tool to keep track of your progress (purely in top speed then): http://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm
RaneFire

Tjolahop wrote:

It's probably a broad topic with alot of complicated stuff that people don't even bother to explain or not even think about, but i just want to know if there's something, just anything besides pressuring yourself with fast maps (wich is mandatory) that can improve your speed or boost your training the tiniest bit.
There isn't any secret method. Keep playing the stuff that gives you trouble. Eventually you'll get it. Getting impatient doesn't help either, because the learning curve always gets flatter as you get better and progression slows even more.

Theory only lets you figure out stuff, it doesn't make you better. Example:
The only thing that I can tell you is that most of your skill is mental and has less to do with your actual technique. The crucial part is how fast you can send those nerve-signal decisions to your muscles, and how frequently you can send multiple different signals. This is known as transitioning, a key factor in alternating, as well as determining the max BPM you can properly do jumps. This only comes with training and conditioning, i.e. playing more hard stuff and playing it a lot. Just because you can read the map, does not mean you can play it. There is an in-between process. You need to train your mental affinity to your fingers to get them to respond the way they should. This is also confused with having faster reflexes, but it's only better-trained reflexes, or better trained "fingers" (mentally).

So play those fast maps and get used to reading fast stuff, because that's the only way you're gonna develop it. Saying that there is another way of getting faster, other than actually trying to get faster, sounds like bad reasoning. Never confuse reading with execution. Reading is a very broad topic in itself already, and does have common ground with execution, but for the sake of explaining it... they are different things and your reading will always be faster than what you can play.
darkmiz
play scarlet rose every day
Soarezi

darkmiz wrote:

play scarlet rose every day
BUT SCARLET ROSE TOO HARD MENG
Topic Starter
Swe_Wrestler

brendanuhs wrote:

short: just practise
on a side note, i hope you mean 1/4 if 120bpm is your max alternating.
I wrote 135-140, but yes...
shortpotato
Soulg

Soarezi wrote:

darkmiz wrote:

play scarlet rose every day
BUT SCARLET ROSE TOO HARD MENG
shoulda been owc map every round
usa
if you mean your streaming speed, then:
you're mainly using your fingers instead of your wrists when you stream.
if you're a wrist/arm single tapper, that would explain why your fingers are not used to the motion at higher bpm.
only way to improve it is to play stream maps on a wide range of bpm, while giving your fingers sufficient rest.

if you mean playing high bpm maps with full alternate, then:
this is much more difficult than being able to stream high bpm because you not only need adequate speed, but also full control over your alternate.
in this case, you need to be able to read the maps accordingly.

it seems to me you're playing by reaction on these harder maps.
pls don't expect to full combo with good acc by reaction alone until you've drilled this game into your body for a few years.
Topic Starter
Swe_Wrestler

usa wrote:

if you mean your streaming speed, then:
you're mainly using your fingers instead of your wrists when you stream.
if you're a wrist/arm single tapper, that would explain why your fingers are not used to the motion at higher bpm.
only way to improve it is to play stream maps on a wide range of bpm, while giving your fingers sufficient rest.
^precisely, i guess i should just give it more time.
chox_old
focus on practicing small bursts at faster speed than your actual streaming speed, begining with doubles/triples and then move up to streams with few circles
when it comes to long streams then u need to improve your stamina and be able to do much faster bursts so you can do those streams with relaxed hand and fingers
Soarezi
It took me almost a year to get even this score Just keep playing, don't expect to become cookiezi instantly. Btw, play fast songs alot. And streamy ones too
Lapis-
Fawking hell Soarezi I didnt know you could stream that fast
GoldenWolf
It's more stamina than fast streams actually

Anything over 240bpm is too damn fast ;_;
Topic Starter
Swe_Wrestler

chox wrote:

focus on practicing small bursts at faster speed than your actual streaming speed, begining with doubles/triples and then move up to streams with few circles
when it comes to long streams then u need to improve your stamina and be able to do much faster bursts so you can do those streams with relaxed hand and fingers
Great tip, my triples etc. are so clumsy at high bpm and i manage to screw up my technique constantly.

Abit OT but do you guys think playing streamy ar9 maps with halftime and hardrock (around 115bpm maybe) is a good way to start with learning streaming, the od gets quite high and you have to be more accurate with how you follow them and such, or should i stick with lunatics and anothers?
brendanuhs
just get some map around your speed and edit it to od 10 instead.
EcksDee

Tjolahop wrote:

chox wrote:

focus on practicing small bursts at faster speed than your actual streaming speed, begining with doubles/triples and then move up to streams with few circles
when it comes to long streams then u need to improve your stamina and be able to do much faster bursts so you can do those streams with relaxed hand and fingers
Great tip, my triples etc. are so clumsy at high bpm and i manage to screw up my technique constantly.

I'm not a pro player so take everything i say with a mountain of salt but
Try this map if you already haven't and wanna do triples

Pretty fast and lots of triples.
RaneFire
I had such problems with repetitive triplets, I ended up making my own practice maps and test-playing triplet-only parts on maps like kanbu.

I can attest to the issue that a great limiting factor in finger speed in general is your ability to transition between triplets, doubles, 4,5/6 note stacks/streams and singles without your fingers going WTF at these patterns and missing everything. A few days after practicing triplets, I was playing higher than normally comfortable BPM's a bit more comfortably.

I don't quite know how it works, but I think my "finger affinity" analogy is reasonably accurate. I started out with an alternating playstyle where I alternated each triplet, so this is probably where my issue came from.
EcksDee
I wonder if I could theoretically improve my speed by switching from 100% alternating to singletapping, then singletapping with the other finger then back to alternating?
Soarezi
If you want to be fast, never alternate. Keep singletapping, it helps alot if you singletap with both fingers too, from time to time.
EcksDee
Are there literally no fast alternating players? Alternating feels so comfortable to me and I've been doing it since I started.
I'd definitely like to get good with alternating as an end, but I'm wondering more about the means to getting there.
Almost

EcksDee wrote:

Are there literally no fast alternating players? Alternating feels so comfortable to me and I've been doing it since I started.
I'd definitely like to get good with alternating as an end, but I'm wondering more about the means to getting there.
Alternating players tend to have lower stamina and I think they might also have lower maximum stream speeds.
RaneFire

EcksDee wrote:

I wonder if I could theoretically improve my speed by switching from 100% alternating to singletapping, then singletapping with the other finger then back to alternating?
I tried this and failed. Don't do it, please! It messed up my natural finger order for ages because I had not mastered any of the particular styles and just confused myself.

EcksDee wrote:

Are there literally no fast alternating players? Alternating feels so comfortable to me and I've been doing it since I started.
I'd definitely like to get good with alternating as an end, but I'm wondering more about the means to getting there.
There are a few good ones, but only a few. Most players claim better consistency and accuracy with single-tapping.

The means to get good at alternating is still a mystery to me. I would presume that if you are currently alternating, and are doing so comfortably, don't change... because going back just becomes harder, it was for me and I just stuck to single-tapping. Primary single-tappers can still alternate where it is necessary, but doing it all the time isn't ideal. I cannot say if it is visa versa for a primary alternating style.

Although I can still full-alternate, I can't do mid-range BPM stuff that well, only really fast stuff where the hit window isn't a problem, or really slow stuff where I can think about each keypress.
EcksDee
Again I'm not a pro player but I've had quite a bit of success playing alternating so far.
Speed however is pretty much the biggest issue. Fast maps are no problems but once I get a proper stream past like 180 to 190 bpm I can't follow it at all.

That's why I was wondering about the singletap thing up there.
But eh, I'll be getting a new keyboard soon at which point I'll continue playing osu!. Until then, break woo

Also stamina aint really an issue either lol. Doing that Because Maybe map I can play through most of it (except the streams) without getting tired at all.
Almost

EcksDee wrote:

Again I'm not a pro player but I've had quite a bit of success playing alternating so far.
Speed however is pretty much the biggest issue. Fast maps are no problems but once I get a proper stream past like 180 to 190 bpm I can't follow it at all.

That's why I was wondering about the singletap thing up there.
But eh, I'll be getting a new keyboard soon at which point I'll continue playing osu!. Until then, break woo
If you full alternate, then regularly practicing stream maps to build stamina and speed is a must if you want to get pro. (It is for single tap as well, but it's not as important).
RaneFire

EcksDee wrote:

Also stamina aint really an issue either lol. Doing that Because Maybe map I can play through most of it (except the streams) without getting tired at all.
Well that's the point. It takes longer to get tired when alternating because you split the strain between fingers. You should always be working on your stamina, and that's why alternating requires you to work on it separately. Deathstreams specifically.

Even if you are blessed with good stamina, think of how much better it can be from there.
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