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Higher BPM Alternation Technique [Mouse only]

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Topic Starter
PinkMunn
Although I'm sure mouse + keyboard tips are helpful, I've been grappling with a technique issue regarding my alternation technique as a mouse only player (the fact that I haven't switch to keyboard + tablet despite the fact that I have one should tell you something about how little I like to unlearn and repractice).

First off, I'm a mediocre (ok I'll be honest, I'm trash xD) player at best, I can manage a B on Touhou (Dark phoenix) - Taketori Hishou [Extra].

1. I currently don't alternate singles, however, I'm starting to reach a difficulty/BPM where I can't keep up with eighth notes (two notes/beat). Furthermore, single-finger fatigue was becoming an issue mid-song. I've reached a point where practicing more will not necessary yield big results. From my 15+ years experience as a musician, I'm comfortable to say that if I want to see a jump in improvement, I need to change my technique.

To be clear, the issue I'm dealing with is clicking the mouse button fast enough.

2. The simple solution (from my perspective) is to alternate. I tried this, and it became quite confusing (lots of 100s/50s) when I was alternating and when I was not (hesitation), so I began to alternate EVERYTHING.

3. This change in technique put me behind by weeks/months of practice, since I had no clear system about whether to start left or right mouse button, if/when I would restart at which button after a break, whether I was doing all triplets LRL or RLR, or fully alternating. On the bright side, this made my streaming downright comfortable.

I'm a competitive person, I play to win, but Osu! is a relaxing game for me, and although I do want to improve, I have no need for perfection. Just good enough to play, and slowly improve my weakest and limiting attribute (which is this right now).

What system do others use for alternation? What are the pros and cons of the other systems? I really don't want to have to relearn another system, a small change to my technique would be most preferable (for eg. I have a tablet and don't use it because I don't want to relearn EVERYTHING).

tl;dr what technique do good players use for alternation for high bpm singles?

Should I:
a) Practice harder and wait using the same "one finger for single" system (stay the course)
b) Alternate any combination of doubles, super-high bpm singles, and/or when my finger gets tired (small change)
c) Alternate everything/most things and love the fact that I can hit solid 300 streams 80% of the time (entire rework tonnes of practice)
d) Switch to a system not listed above

Edit: First post please be gentle :)
nyrox
lol
aBunny
what bpm and above specifically are you having trouble with? personally, I can single tap 1/2 until 222 bpm (need more speed!). im also a mouse only player.
with practice and dedication, im sure mouse only can single tap as fast as keyboard players.
KogureKun
I never had success with single tapping above a certain bpm (something really low like 160 lol) so I usually just alternate constantly since its a little bit easier on a mouse. I use a deathadder and when I need to stream I have to move my palm grip off the body of the mouse and kinda center my ring finger where my palm usually is and hold the mouse sideways a bit so I can stream and aim at the same time. I don't play those ridiculous stream maps but it's gotten me through most of the reasonable insane+'s and the stream compilation so there's that. Also ensuring you leave your fingers in the same position while you stream is key since adjustments while streaming are super hard to pull off without failing pretty quickly.

Also since you asked about alternation I always alternate on successive sliders, stacks, and streams. I find it hard to alternate when doing a lot of singlet jumping but with grouped notes it's pretty easy and puts a lot less strain on your dominant finger for when you suddenly need to single tap a ridiculous 20 note jump fest or something.

If you aren't alternating with accuracy then the problem is you aren't using your other finger enough, try only using that finger to single tap songs rather than your preferred finger and see how that helps you.
Bauxe
Take your pick.

1) Practice what you find best / most comfortable
2) Switch to Keyboard + Mouse
3) Keep looking for magical ways to improve
Koreh
I single tapped with mouse only using a claw grip on the mouse my problem was during a stream there would be one left over note after clicking as fast as possible but I just right clicked to hit the last one. I also used weights to increase my forearm strength so I can click faster and longer.
aBunny
alternating with mouse only is hard
Rokusho

sarasseo wrote:

alternating with mouse only is hard
I'm also a big fan of alternating with mouse only and I can agree with this. It takes lots of practice but yeah with alternating I was able to get my top performance and also want to get better with it :D . I actually alternate because I even have problems with singletapping 200bpm and find it hard to improve.
RaneFire
Funny that this thread should pop up as I've been playing this style for about a week now. I decided to play mouse-only again about 2 weeks ago for fun, but single-tapping was bringing back my joint issues I had over a year ago, even with a change in grip.

As a solution I decided to alternate since it's more comfortable to play, even though I'm practically useless with it compared to single-tapping, and that's not even comparable to what I can do with a keyboard. That said, I'm getting better at it, but I feel like I've taken 10 steps backwards.

Alternating singles (and jumps) are my biggest problem right now, since my whole snapping technique I had before for single-tap has to change, so I still get more M1 clicks out of habit. I can't use my fingers for fine control so much anymore, since the tendon in the middle-finger is shared with the ring, meaning I have to use almost 100% wrist/arm movement now and snap like that, which is a bit awkward... I didn't realise how much my ring finger played a role. - fail replay example

Bolwind wrote:

If you aren't alternating with accuracy then the problem is you aren't using your other finger enough, try only using that finger to single tap songs rather than your preferred finger and see how that helps you.
I also recommend this. Learn to single-tap with your other finger first.
Topic Starter
PinkMunn

sarasseo wrote:

what bpm and above specifically are you having trouble with? personally, I can single tap 1/2 until 222 bpm (need more speed!). im also a mouse only player.
with practice and dedication, im sure mouse only can single tap as fast as keyboard players.
Mid session, I can do, say, 190BPM comfortably, but there's that grey area about eighth notes. They're like super slow streams, here I'll find a video.
First song that came to mind, Caravan Palace - Dragons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfGVJThxEBk

At the beginning, the notes between sliders, and further on round 0:25 the eighth note almost-streams. Although my alternation on triplets and streams is passable, my brain isn't wired yet to alternate anything but specific rhythmic figures. When I try to alternate other stuff I end up improvising and doing stupid stuff like switching fingers in a slider, and I feel like facepalming.

Basically, if I'm going to switch to a system of alternating, I want to know how people keep it straight in their heads, do they just LRLRLRLRL and practice? After breaks do they start at one or the other? If I'm going to relearn the way I'd play, I'm going to relearn the most logical way, because I never want to have to relearn this again.

Bolwind wrote:

hold the mouse sideways a bit
Because I'm using a Razer Spectre (not a claw grip mouse) and I'm using a claw grip (and I have a small thumb), my mouse is usually pointed slightly inward, huge difference when I changed that.

Bolwind wrote:

If you aren't alternating with accuracy
I'm just goofing because I have no idea what system I'm using, I try to LRLRL but then I make one tiny mistake and cascade to failure. Normally I'd just tough it out and learn the new technique, but I literally went from passing most 5star songs I come across first time to being unable to pass any 5star songs alternating.

Bauxe wrote:

1) Practice what you find best / most comfortable
Tryna look at my options (ask what others do) to see what's best. :D

Koreh wrote:

one left over note
That one note has ended so many of my would-be-FC runs

RaneFire wrote:

I also recommend this. Learn to single-tap with your other finger first.
You and Bolwind might be on to something. Perhaps a method to not put me lightyears behind where I am is to get my secondary finger technique up to a passable level, and then start climbing the mountain of sorting out alternation.

One of the big practice techniques employed in my music education is "If you can't do it fast, try it slow." Playing the songs I currently play on half time with the aforementioned technique progression seems like a logical plan. Any suggestions? Alternating seems mandatory for progression at this point.
RaneFire

PinkMunn wrote:

Bolwind wrote:

hold the mouse sideways a bit
Because I'm using a Razer Spectre (not a claw grip mouse) and I'm using a claw grip (and I have a small thumb), my mouse is usually pointed slightly inward, huge difference when I changed that.
I use a G400 (right-hand, palm grip) and find that resting only the right-most portion of my palm against the mouse has helped me regain some control by using my thumb, allowing it to move a little more by leaving the left-most part of my palm slightly off the mouse.

Claw grip also rests the palm against the mouse, even more tightly, but with all fingers arched so that your fingertips descend vertically onto the buttons. I used to play like this, but found it to be self-destructive for my single-tapping finger.

Fingertip grip is where the palm is not, and I don't recommend this at all for mouse-only.
aBunny
switching fingers for sliders is common in mouse only. it is alternating but you really just add it to your current playstyle. youll learn to judge when to switch fingers when to make it easier.
conclusion: you dont really have to relearn everything, just add it to your current skill set

http://osu.ppy.sh/b/181253
good example where you alternate on some parts but single tap in other parts. you can technically single tap the whole song (except the 1/4s) but its easier to alternate on some parts.

also improvising is good! you learn new stuff by improvising
Rokusho
I don't know how you alternate so accurate at such low bpm RaneFire, I can only alternate on maps with at least 220bpm, like this map. That's why I use doubletime alot, because there aren't lots of maps with 220bpm that don't have much jumps in it (jumping while alternating is kinda impossible for me, especially on high bpm) and just choose some hard diffs that get at least 220bpm with doubletime on.
-Chronopolis-
You won't build speed without practicing fast songs.

It's definitely possible to reach higher speeds, but you will not improve single tap speed if you switch to an alternating style.
On a good day and super-warmed up, I can do 230bpm for finger single tap and well, I can hit notes at 270 using my wrist. Find your limit using your fingers and practice. Try high bpm songs on their hard difficulties, or look for that list of single-tap songs. Ideally you want songs where the only thing stopping you from getting an A or high B is the high bpm single tap. You shouldn't be playing fast songs that cause you to spam, tense overly, or jerk the mouse around (see snapping t/187364). Be very persistent and play tons of songs around and a bit above your limit. (You're going to have to play way more than your current play count, though)

Streaming stamina is rough, iuuno. I practiced a the deathstream map for a while, but the progress shown was confusing. I feel like I'm trying to use the button-hitting fingers to control, which ends up stressing them and leading to incredibly fast tiring out. (This is really vexing, because in the past I'm pretty sure I had a grip that felt like it didn't have this problem.) That being said, constant 160 bpm streaming for 20 seconds takes insanely more stamina than say, hitting a bunch of 160bpm short streams in the course of a song. If you single tap using your fingers (and not your wrist), that will definitely build finger speed which works towards streaming speed.

I almost always single tap, but when I alternate:

I always start pattern with the main finger. When there isn't a gap, I'll continuing alternating. I usually alternate sliders but I don't force myself to.
e.g. stream into a slider
12121212121----

Triples are started and ended with the main finger:
121 121 121 121, etc.
Triples in quick sequence are rather difficult. The strain on your hands is about as much as streaming. Additionally, you can't really push down with your wrist (probably not a good habit anyways) to try to keep up 180-200 bpm. Meaning, it's all in the fingers.

Doubles are started with the main finger. Doubles where the second note is a slider, the slider is held down by the secondary finger. Doubles in quick sequence, like in "Dragons" are very difficult, because the secondary finger is not strong nor fast, which means often you slam the second key of doubles, making your recovery super slow. Best way is to use minimal comfortable force. There really aren't a lot of maps with lots of doubles though...

https://osu.ppy.sh/s/39985 (Tricky fingering, you often end on the secondary finger and then have to move to another stream)
https://osu.ppy.sh/b/248490&m=0 (spaced alternating)
Feel free to use half time on either if nomod is too fast for you to focus on technique.

The alternating method I use I think most people use, it's simple and intuitive, at the cost of perhaps not preserving stamina as well for triplets. I also practiced some alternating using the middle finger as the starting/main finger (also do singles with it). It's not great, but at least I can do triples and 5's and start streams with the middle finger without my hand getting instantly confused.
iderekmc
why do u play mouse only? ure cooler?
RaneFire

iderekmc wrote:

why do u play mouse only? ure cooler?
Because it's fun.

I know that some people have serious retardation issues understanding why it's fun. It just is.

Seems to be this mindset much strong among osu! players that if you aren't playing a playstyle that lets you play at your best, you can't possibly be having fun, because, to them, "playing your best = the only way to have fun," but it's not true. In fact you are even more likely to not have fun by doing that, because you realise just how crap you are after trying everything possible to play at your best and still suck compared to other people. If you stop thinking about such things and just do something that gives you a sense of achievement for yourself, and only you, you will have fun. That's all there is to it and it's got nothing to do with how effective a playstyle is, just what you want to do (with it).

trololol123 wrote:

I don't know how you alternate so accurate at such low bpm RaneFire, I can only alternate on maps with at least 220bpm, like this map. That's why I use doubletime alot, because there aren't lots of maps with 220bpm that don't have much jumps in it (jumping while alternating is kinda impossible for me, especially on high bpm) and just choose some hard diffs that get at least 220bpm with doubletime on.
My accuracy is horrible alternating, I can't even play the map in your screenie with DT. Maybe I'm just better at lower BPM.
Breiz
To start off, yes we all play mouse only because it's actually fun! Who would've thought man.

Try not to lift off your fingers when singletapping, or not too much. It's about technique, I used to press really hard and i only managed to singletap 210 bpm this way. It should look similar to this:


Alternating seems mandatory for progression at this point.
No, playing more seems mandatory. Also keep on singletapping. Your fingers can't be that weak, seriously.

~edit: razer hardware usually is shit, unlucky you!
Topic Starter
PinkMunn

-Chronopolis- wrote:

You won't build speed without practicing fast songs.
100% right. But if you can't do it slow, you'll never do it fast.

-Chronopolis- wrote:

you will not improve single tap speed if you switch to an alternating style.
If you can single tap either finger at 200 bpm, and you learn to alternate, kudos, now you can alternate 400 bpm.

-Chronopolis- wrote:

I can hit notes at 270 using my wrist
I've heard a lot of people talking about how they use their wrists in singletapping technique. Can you be more specific please? Does the beginning of the motion come from your wrist?

-Chronopolis- wrote:

Try high bpm songs on their hard difficulties, or look for that list of single-tap songs.
I probably should've been more specific when I made the thread. Although my single tapping needs work, I'm running into songs whose single tapping is so fast it's basically a stream from a slower song (they just replace quarters with eighths). I didn't know how to deal with this, my instinct was to alternate it, but I didn't have the practice with alternating anything but streams and triplets to do this.

-Chronopolis- wrote:

Streaming stamina is rough, iuuno.
You might find this amusing, but I actually think streams are easy, but REALLY punishing. You make a single mistake, insta-fail. Streams with other hard stuff around them are deathtraps, but short (~4-5 note) streams out in the open are free points and hp imo.

-Chronopolis- wrote:

Triples are started and ended with the main finger:
It's more efficient to go 121 - 212 - 121 - 212
Have you considered it? What stopped you from going that route. if you did consider it?

-Chronopolis- wrote:

which means often you slam the second key of doubles, making your recovery super slow.
I've been practicing single-tapping with my secondary finger, it's actually really helping a lot. I started on half-time, and worked my way up. Part of my issue is that my "snap" technique includes an index finger click at the end. I have to manually not do that, and I lose accuracy and speed.

-Chronopolis- wrote:

https://osu.ppy.sh/b/248490&m=0 (spaced alternating)
THIS KILLS ME, THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT I FIND MYSELF UNABLE TO DO. The first one, with alternating sixteenths (streaming, in my mind,) I'm very comfortable with. When I found the kinds of rhythmic figures in this song in easier/slower songs, I would single tap them because I could. The speed is getting such that I can't single tap eighth notes like those anymore. Can someone who good send me a replay of this done with perfect technique so I can pick it apart? IDC so much if it's SS more that you're using the correct alternation. This is absolute gold, thanks so much. Send more if you have please. Also, thanks for actually answering my questions, shoutout for being extra awesome. :D

-Chronopolis- wrote:

without my hand getting instantly confused.
This happens to me with eighth notes even at slow speeds. I think the solution is to devise a "system" which I do the same thing every time, but I have no experience so it's hard. The streams I can manage because it's just "chuga-chuga-chuga" or "tika-tika-tika" in my head and it works. In the phoenetic rhythmic system I was taught in music eighth notes are all "ti-ti-ti-ti-ti," which means that there's nothing separating left and right, it's entirely ambiguous compared to "ti-ka" (L-R). I've logged hundreds/thousands of hours reading music with these going in my head so I don't know what to do x.x

RaneFire wrote:

Claw grip also rests the palm against the mouse, even more tightly, but with all fingers arched so that your fingertips descend vertically onto the buttons. I used to play like this, but found it to be self-destructive for my single-tapping finger.

Fingertip grip is where the palm is not, and I don't recommend this at all for mouse-only.
All I care about in my grip is that it's
a) relaxed
b) accurate
c) my index and middle finger are not responsible for moving the mouse so they're free to tap away (fingers 1, 4, and 5 + palm grip lightly and move the mouse)

Because my mouse is not intended for claw grip, my palm actually basically hangs of the end of the mouse. When I start to increase pressure (I know it's bad, but good technique is ultimately whatever works) during really hard parts to increase control (and thereby increase accuracy) I go into more of a claw, but the only parts of my hand that are touching the mouse are my fingertips basically.

sarasseo wrote:

you can technically single tap the whole song
If any human can single tap a stream at a reasonable bpm (16th notes, 1/4 notes are 1 per beat), they are superman imo. Take your BPM, multiply it by 4, it's like single tapping at that speed. Say someone's a god, and can single tap at 325 bpm. 325/4 is about 80. They can do streams at 80bpm singletapping. Sorry, but no. :P xD

sarasseo wrote:

improvising is good!
I learn new stuff by watching replays and thinking about it, when I'm actually playing, I'm just executing what I've though out and practiced.

trololol123 wrote:

I don't know how you alternate so accurate at such low bpm RaneFire, I can only alternate on maps with at least 220bpm, like this map. That's why I use doubletime alot, because there aren't lots of maps with 220bpm that don't have much jumps in it (jumping while alternating is kinda impossible for me, especially on high bpm) and just choose some hard diffs that get at least 220bpm with doubletime on.
How did you learn to alternate? Did you just do it from the moment you needed to? What was your progression like?

iderekmc wrote:

why do u play mouse only? ure cooler?
Because I first learned mouse only, and I'm as lazy as I can get away with being. I don't need to learn mouse + keyboard, so I'm not gonna. The only reason I'm even considering changing my technique is because I think it's literally impossible to move on to songs that I want to play like Scarlet Rose, Remind, etc. without improving my technique. With my current technique I'm single tapping the eight note almost-streams. They list double the acutal bpm on the song because the mappers use eighths as a default instead of quarters.

RaneFire wrote:

"playing your best = the only way to have fun,"
I'm actually just playing my best. I'm not playing mouse + keyboard because I don't know how. Unfortunately for me, part of my "snapping" technique involves the act of clicking the mouse. The second I stop clicking I have to relearn how I move the mouse. The "move to and click" is one idea in my head, I feel like I'm playing autopilot + relax when I do mouse+keyboard and it's really weird/uncomfortable/bad.

RaneFire wrote:

because you realise just how crap you are after trying everything possible to play at your best and still suck compared to other people.
I have local highscores turned on only for a reason. I literally don't care what other people are getting, I just want to be my own score. There is NOTHING like doing a 2 hour practice session on a song, and coming back the next day and CRUSHING your pb by 2mil.

Breiz wrote:

Quote:
Alternating seems mandatory for progression at this point.

No, playing more seems mandatory. Also keep on singletapping. Your fingers can't be that weak, seriously.
Although you're right in principle, if one single element of your technique it literally the stupidest, least efficient thing ever, and it's holding you back big time, it's worth it to spend time improving your technique, even if it sets you back a bit. AKA investment. :D
Weed
the walls of text are real
Keeby
I find that alternating is a lot easier for songs you can't pass.

Eventually, (if you keep building speed), you should be able to single-click the songs you could not before. Single clicking -usually- is more accurate if practiced enough. Alternating is definitely easier at first though.

So basically you just practice. XD
RaneFire

PinkMunn wrote:

-Chronopolis- wrote:

I can hit notes at 270 using my wrist
I've heard a lot of people talking about how they use their wrists in singletapping technique. Can you be more specific please? Does the beginning of the motion come from your wrist?
He's referring to keyboard play, I have not found a way to single-tap with my wrist on the mouse.

I actually ignored his whole post, because a lot of things he said were not considering the difference between keyboard and mouse-only.

bewaredrev wrote:

the walls of text are real
Rokusho

PinkMunn wrote:

How did you learn to alternate? Did you just do it from the moment you needed to? What was your progression like?
I started alternating when I played maps which required the singletap speed I didn't have. Every map I couldn't singletap I just began alternating, that means only at high speeds/bpm. It's hard to get good at, but I really do notice some progression. It's just overall very helpful at high speeds and it's always good to know different playstyles. That way you can probably play lots of different maps.
-Chronopolis-
100% right. But if you can't do it slow, you'll never do it fast.
Yup that's also true. Single tap is the simplest of techniques in terms of execution difficulty, so once you get it pat down speed quickly becomes the only limiting factor. That can't be said for streaming, aim/jumps, or anything else really.

I've heard a lot of people talking about how they use their wrists in singletapping technique. Can you be more specific please? Does the beginning of the motion come from your wrist?
The finger is held rigid, your wrist no longer bends during aiming, virtually all aiming seems to come from your arm. Imagine putting your index finger on a spot of ink on your table and smudging it. Now do that with your index finger on the mouse. It might feel like dragging the mouse button down with your wrist.

To do bursts of notes at high bpm, you tense up your wrist. The big problem is
-getting your wrist to tap the correct number of notes. Unlike finger tapping, with wrist tapping it feels like you read x notes, input that into your wrist, and then you're commited to that many notes. For singles chains, the command is "just keep tapping".
-Aiming is hard if you aren't used to using your arm, but the main source of bad aim is the button pressing. If you're pressing buttons at the wrong timing, there's no way you can aim correctly since your mouse presses bookend your movements.

I do not think this is a viable method for major serious method of play (to do as best as you can) without a lot of work.
The neccesary preconditions would be that you would have to relearn pressing all single-chains evenly (4-notes, 5-notes, arbitrary number of notes) like you do with your finger, and secondly, you must do all up and down motion with your arm. That includes everything up until shallow horizontal diagonals, where wrist is ok.
You would definitely need to do a lot of work at lower bpm (you typically use wrist when the singles are too fast).

For me, I have poor aim and poor accuracy (barely got B once on https://osu.ppy.sh/s/37292, 74% on https://osu.ppy.sh/s/111756. For the first one, I was trying to rein in the aiming and do sliders properly, and the second is basically a huge brick wall in terms of click speed and especially cursor velocity. While it's lower bpm, the chains are longer, and there are lots of doubles: note-note ---move--> note-note --move--> note-note).

Disclaimer:
-I currently use a grip where my hand is very far forward on the mouse. As such, I can switch to using my wrist without shifting my grip. When switching (more like I couldn't locate the old grip), it was a pain regaining basic stream rhythm.
-I also use a wristrest, and can't play without it. (http://www.staples-3p.com/s7/is/image/S ... ?$splssku$)

I probably should've been more specific when I made the thread. Although my single tapping needs work, I'm running into songs whose single tapping is so fast it's basically a stream from a slower song (they just replace quarters with eighths). I didn't know how to deal with this, my instinct was to alternate it, but I didn't have the practice with alternating anything but streams and triplets to do this.
You gotta learn how to alternate eventually even as a single tapper. Practice slow streams first, half time and the works. You can do half time autopilot to make you are able to alternate and start in rhythm, and that it's the combined aiming that you need to work on. Actually, just the rhythm part can be incredibly difficult. It might be comforting to know that the rhythm part (the song on autopilot) is no more difficult than with mouse only then with mouse/keyboard.

Your eyes should be able to follow the "active note/ note that is to be played" as it ticks. It took me a shit ton of work to just be able to do slow streams. Anyways, practice this map half time, focus on sliding the mouse and alternating smoothly. Don't expect any degree of success. Also that is just how I practiced it, might be different for other people.

Regarding rhythm,
One exercise you can try is to alternate slowly, like in the 80 bpm range. Like literally tap your fingers on the table. Now go to here, and try speeds of 80, 160, and 320.
http://a.bestmetronome.com/
You should try to be able to tap 1/4's the 80bpm beat. It's best to start with 3 1/2 notes at 160 bpm, 1 2 1. Then you can do 1 2 1 2 1. And longer and longer. Then you can try 1/4 80bpm 1 2 1 2 1.

Then you can try doing the same thing back on your mouse. By the way, doing this same excesise with 1/2 notes and 180bpm working up to 200+ is a good way to build a base for single tapping faster.

Lastly, I also made a set of practice maps for stacks (pure rhythm, but don't help you learn how to do moving streams). I started out at 120 bpm half time (80) and slowly moved up to 150ish, and then took occasional trips above that. The stacks were of varying number. I can dig them up if you'd like.

You might find this amusing, but I actually think streams are easy, but REALLY punishing. You make a single mistake, insta-fail. Streams with other hard stuff around them are deathtraps, but short (~4-5 note) streams out in the open are free points and hp imo.
I play nofail most of the time, but yes, missing a stack of 3 or 5 will often just kill you. I think you should snap (move) to each note the same whether it's a single, or a stack, but it seems like I'm bracing my fingers a bit to start the stack, which makes the motion slightly different (for one, I take the pressure off my index finger). This should really be solved with some kind of finger independence and secondary finger training. Interesting to note that a chain of singles followed by a stream is obnoxiously difficult and I cannot do it at all. http://osu.ppy.sh/s/33911

(Left finger - right finger)
At half time, or in the editor you should be able to count whether short-streams have an even number of notes or odd, and thus which finger you'll start and end with. However, you need to develop rhythm, such that you don't need to know whether the stream is odd or even numbered to play it. Ideally your finger should not press any differently except for the perhaps the last few finals notes where you line your tapping up to the final notes.

Anytime you start or end streams with your secondary finger it will be confusing for your hand. This is likely because your middle finger has like virtually no experience/muscle memory at starting streams. Doing the same slow stream practice starting streams with your middle finger, AFTER you've gotten a bit comfortable with your main finger will help greatly to alleviate the confusion.

superman singletap:
Change can single tap at least 260bpm with his fingers. That's not 260/4, but 260/2 =130 bpm stream. Anyways, you still have to learn how to alternate eventually, but that does not mean that you shouldn't push your finger single tap. Another thing that makes single tapping streams hard is that slow streams turn into long chains of 1/2's. Same reason why 175 short-stream is no problem, but 175 stream of medium-long length is wtf. As long as the stamina and rhythm is there, it's just learning how to keep pressing and keep pressing evenly. Practice with long chains at lower speed and increase speed. After learning to alternate and stream so-so, I got lazy, didn't practice them, and so I'm pretty bad at single chains.
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