So, the entire time I've played taiko I've only ever used one hand. I'm right handed, so I'm significantly faster with that hand than with my left, that's still the case despite playing so much regular osu and having to use my left. I've been able to play most futsu difficulties, but I realized that I can't move up to the muzukashii difficulties unless I learn to use both hands, because it's just too fast for me to hit with just the one hand. So for the past few months, I've been working on that. I've tried playing those difficulties with half time, just to try and get used to it. I've tried ddkk and kddk keybinds, to see if one is easier than the other for me, but I've struggled the same amount with both. The most I can do semi successfully is hit the big notes with both keys, but only on kantan difficulties. When I try to on futsu difficulties, I don't know, my brain gets mixed up and I end up missing the notes after the big notes or hitting them late.

I haven't gotten any better with this so I decided to come here and ask for tips if anyone has them. Not having any luck learning this has discouraged me from playing the gamemode as much as I used to, which sucks because I really enjoy it. Thanks in advance.

i also played only with one hand when i was just messing around with taiko, but when i started playing seriously i made a big effort to use both hands. its pretty hard at first, and you really have to force yourself to do it. eventually enough youll go from seeing single notes to seeing groups of notes/patterns, of which youll learn more and more as you keep playing. what i personally did myself was, i went into kantan diffs ~1*, and forced myself to full alt every map no matter what, id press the wrong color all the time and would have to retry the map. by doing this i got the basic concept of switching hands. when i moved to futsuu diffs i unconsciously went from full alt to always starting the 1/2 sequences with my dominant hand, and alternating everything else. i played those for a good few days until i felt comfortable with maps around 2.7-2.9*. the jump to muzukashii however was pretty hard for me, at first i was getting 80% acc 20-30 misses in a lot of maps, not even very hard ones, but surely enough id start learning things, and went from 80% to 90% to 95% to 98% acc and less and less misses.

so, my point is, you really have to force yourself to do it. even if it takes a while you will eventually learn it and improve. if you have more questions feel free to dm me

I dont think its that you are struggling with speed, you just need to get used to the notes.I used to play a lot of the 2-3 star training maps they made in the guide for taiko. I started off single tapping, and then they threw in single tapping with some triplets in there and I practiced those. I think that should be your next step is finding a map with single tapping and occasional triplets to ease you in. There is also a pattern training map that goes over most of the basic patterns that is also in the guide. When you do triplets focus on getting it smooth. You want them to sound evenly spaced rather than rushed. da da da, not dada da, or da dada.

Overall though I would use kddk because when you get experienced at it its the most efficient way to use your hands since everything is split evenly, at least for most people. Just keep playing and getting used to pressing the right notes and practice triplets. start with your dominant hand then to your weaker and back to dominant. Its the easiest way to do it because you wont really need full alternation until you get to like 5.7 stars or higher.

Thank you guys for the advice. I spent the last few days forcing myself to use both hands, even though I missed constantly. Hasn't gotten easier yet but I'm sure it will eventually.
Hitting the triples that are all one color is far easier than when it's one of the alternating color ones. I use my right hand for the single tapping, it's just hard because as soon as there's a triple my brain shuts down and I miss, hit the wrong keys (trying to teach my right hand that index finger means red now and middle is blue, since I've spent the past 4 months exclusively playing blue-red with that hand lol), or what happens a lot is I accidently press both keys simultaneously instead of alternating. I've never realized it until now but apparently there's like no coordination between my hands lol.
I keep taking breaks from forcing myself to use both and go back to just my right, just because I get so frustrated not being able to actually play the game. I'm not sure if that's okay or if it's just gonna make learning it harder overall, but yeah that's where I'm at right now.

Do you mean the tbt training thing? If so yeah I downloaded those awhile ago and practice with them. I'm not sure what a 1/2 sequence is to be honest. I spend a lot of time doing muzu difficulties on half-time trying to get used to the patterns and stuff.
I just played happy song the other day and experienced ghost notes and rapidly changing slider velocity for the first time (was hoping I didn't have to deal with it until deep into muzu diff territory lol). Any tips on how the hell to begin to learn reading that? The ghost notes aren't too bad, but with the speed on the slider changing so fast so often I just can't read it at all.

Thanks again to you both for the advice. I'll just keep practicing with easier maps and such, and I'll try starting off back at kantan diffs to full alt, it makes sense to relearn the basics and work back up with it when you're trying to learn a whole different method of playing, thanks for that tip especially. Also, sorry for the poorly worded explanation, I don't know any of the proper terms for taiko as I've never looked into it or gotten involved in the community.

Note speed changes is mostly just gimmicks to make the song harder than it needs to be. Just know that the underlying bpm hasnt changed, so you will still play triplets, quick quadruples which people call 1/6ths and whatever other patterns are in the game the same. You either gotta have good eyesight and read the notes coming up, or know what the rhythm being played is and play by ear as you see colors. Being able to count in your head or using your body also helps especially if the song goes to the speed of dirt with a long pause and you have that one note coming that you dont want to miss. If the notes are going by so fast that you can barely get a glimpse of it you probably have to play it by memory rather than sight or hearing