For a long time I've been aware of certain techniques that allow you to maximize your potential in keyboard-based rhythm games. It's the secret to at least 99% of all the pros and gods. From Kanopu, to Dossar, Stein, TKS, and others. And it's actually a lot simpler than you are probably imagining. By practicing with techniques I'll explain here, you can see improvements in speed, readability, accuracy, and overall skill in just a few days. You could see actual improvements within a day! Within in a month, depending on your time/dedication and current skill, you may be able to even cut your rank in half. I'm going to explain how to do all this as if you were a brand new player as well, so that anyone can read this and have a good foundation.





~POSITION & POSTURE~

I'm going to explain the 100% ideal posture and position you should be trying to emulate. This technique comes from piano playing and is as old as piano itself essentially. It has been successful for Chopin, why not you and I? I know some people may not be able to take this image/posture 100% or as easily as others. Your keyboard might feel funny. Your desk is too tall/short. Your chair is too tall/short. Laptops. Bad back. Awkward position. All this and more is possible. I want you to do the best you are able, and the closer you can get to the image I'll try to write for you, the closer to 100% maximum efficiency you will get. This technique is the foundation for everything. No matter how much you practice or play, you will always reach a cap. Even with this technique there is only so much you can achieve physically because everyone is different. But it is all about maximizing the potential. If you maximize your potential you will maximize the possibility for better/different outcomes. So closer to perfect is better. Remember: practice makes practice, and perfect practices, makes perfect.

• First thing's first. You need to setup a good hitting spread on your keyboard. Most people recommend changing from the default keysetup at zxcv, with blues being blue notes or kats (k) and red notes being dons (d). Now ideally, you would also want your arms to be as parallel as possible, with elbows as close to 90° as possible for maximum efficiency. So pick a spread that best fits that image, and is comfortable for you. I've used {left hand}qw|op{right hand}, with my middle finger and index fingers and as|kl is also common. Some people also might prefer askl or even askl. There are many other variations and combinations though, so play around until you find one you like. Your posture can also make a difference.
  
  The biggest thing to take care of, and also the very foundation for my entire technique, lays in how to sit and your posture.
  ~Sitting with your back straight is best, although the tendency to slouch slightly does happen. Just be as conscientious of your posture as possible.
  ~Arms should be close to your body, but still separate from your sides.
  ~Forearms parallel with the floor and parallel to each other so that you form a square-like shape with your arms.
  ~Elbows at a 90° angle. You don't want your arms to wing out like a chicken, and you don't necessarily want them snug to your rib cage. Relaxed, but firm is the emotion you should feel.
  ~Shoulders squared, and not slouched.
  ~Keep feet flat if possible. And knees squared. Similar to how your arms are squared.
  
  And the key to this foundation, and also what I've noticed many players do incorrectly, is in the wrists.
  ~Do not rest your wrists on the keyboard/table/desk/etc! Your wrists should be solid with your forearms almost 100%.
  ~Fingers curled, almost completely relaxed in a natural position.
  ~Palms flat and as parallel to the desk/floor as possible.
  ~Keep your wrists and forearm/arm as one solid unit.
  
  The trick here is to use your arms to strike the keys, not your fingers. Your fingers' job from now on is to only change the key you're striking. Otherwise they should almost be completely relaxed. A good practice might be to try holding the position I explained above, then tense up and flex all your muscles in your upper body. Do you feel that? THOSE are all the muscles you are NOT using to play Taiko/etc! This whole time you've only been using your finger muscles. Not much muscle there compared to your entire upper body, right? Your forearms, biceps and triceps, shoulders, and upper back are the main muscles you should be using.
  
  This is THE #1 technique I recommend. Hovering your wrists is vital to the entire idea here. To use more muscles than just your hands and fingers. When you do this. You'll see improvements almost immediately. I may take a while to get used to the awkward feeling/position, but overall you'll find it MUCH more effective after some practice. It is awkward feeling at first, but that is because you must retrain your muscle memory on how to hit notes.
  
  With combination above:
  -Back straight.
  -Feet flat.
  -Arms parallel to floor AND to each other.
  -Arms spaced from body to be square.
  -Wrists hover over kb and solid with forearms.
  -Relaxed, curled fingers.
  -Wide keyboard spread.
  
  Within a week you'll immediately notice improvements in speed. Accuracy will come second and you will sort of rollercoast and alternate between the two for a while. The ENTIRE key and main section of this thread is to explain that technique. It is the foundation for everything. Expert piano players have used this technique for hundreds of years. The same principal applied to games like Taiko or Stepmania show the same results. I can attest to that because I was once in the top #40. All within two years of regular play.

This is it. This is the nectar. This is the secret to Pro-dom and "God"hood and Pro-Status 1337 5K1LLZ. It only takes time and dedication to get the results you want. Sky is the limit here. You're only inhibited by your own physical abilities from now on. It may be awkward, it seem odd, but it works! And the closer you can get to the 100% ideal position, the better and faster you can get there. Just remember: practice makes practice, and perfect practices, makes perfect.




~TIPS & TRICKS~





~OTHER RESOURCES~

• Here are some links to good beginner maps to learn reading techniques in Taiko specifically:
  TBT Project [Training Manual for Taiko Beginner v2]
  Easy Taiko Map Project (discontinued)
  MMzz's Easy MapPool
  
  Here are some links to MapPools to test your skills/train and practice with:
  Aquabluu's MapPool for Taiko (VERY EXTENSIVE MAPLIST, HIGHLY RECOMMEND)
  The SST (Specific Skill Training Thread)
  Kioshinxs' "Test Your Skills!!" thread
  
  Thread on pros/cons of styles of play for your fingers.
  KDDK style Vs. DDKK style
  
  Here are some other MapPools from mappers themselves that are both ranked and unranked:
  Aquabluu's MapPool for Taiko
  Onosaki's MapPool
  Firce777's MapPool
  Gezo's MapPool
  
  Here are some player's profile's who DO have maps available, but not direct link to their material.
  You can find their maps either on their userpage, or in the "Beatmaps" section of their profile.
  These are all mappers I consider to be high-quality with a decent selection of quality maps.
  Backfire
  Tasha
  -[ ix Ishida xi ]-
  _Gezo_
  Alace
  qoot
  TKS
  OzzyOzrock
  -Anhedonia-

This website has many publicly available maps for taiko that are both submitted and unsubmitted from many mappers and artists.
It's a database similar to the beatmap listing OSU! holds on this website. You can search by title, artist, and mapper.
OSU!mp Taiko List






Feel free to discuss any ideas, tips, suggestions, comments, and others here in this thread. If feel you want to add or change something, or just want to voice and opinion or have a question, please post! I'd love to hear from the community, new and old, who want to contribute or talk. I'll continue to update this as I see fit with more tips, ideas, and more. Bringing ideas to the table helps us grow strong together too, and I want every player to have the same equal opportunity to become the best they can in everything they do. So I hope this helps you! And thank you for reading.

I need to kudosu this but I cant

idk if it's just me, but chicken arming tends to help me, especially with singletapping speed. I actually changed my keybinds to azxd or azmk (depending on which one I feel like that day) because of this. All the posture related things are awesome though.

mfw I do all of these things without realizing it

mfw FLANKs does none of this and is mexican jesus

What a detailed post :O

As a long-time piano player myself, I would disagree with some of the things said about likening taiko to piano playing. Piano playing is not only based on hand movement, but a lot of finger movement when it comes to fast and technical playing. In this sense, piano is much more like osu!mania than taiko, since in taiko you will often use your wrists to press the keys quickly, which is a muscle movement much more akin to drumming (percussionist here as well).

For instance, the part where you say you should never rest your wrists on your keyboard is certainly true in piano, it doesn't have the same parallel in taiko. In piano, you keep your wrists up primarily to allow smoother movement horizontally along the keyboard. In taiko, you aren't pressing more than 4 keys ever, so resting your hands on your keyboard wouldn't be as detrimental to your playing as you might expect.

I'm not going to try to nitpick every little thing, but I would say as a long time percussionist and pianist, don't think that techniques from those 2 will carry over perfectly. I would say claiming it is the "100% ideal posture and position" is just a little bit presumptuous... Each player creates their own favorite posture eventually, even professional pianists constantly break posture "rules" pretty much just for the fun of it

Great post, applies to mania too.