hi

so for the longest time 95% of my fingerlocks have been from trying to tap out singles and i couldn't really figure out why
it's been going on since probably february of last year? for what reason i don't know

i think it's from trying to tap too fast, like i'm trying to press down as lightly as possible so that i can press it again right faster, but it just leads to me straight up not pressing the key most of the time

this is really annoying to me, as i can't really get past like a 250 combo at most without fingerlocking, unless i'm really lucky

i've tried things like playing slower maps to actually l2presskeys i guess, wrist stretches because for a while i thought it might be from my tendons being suffocated between my arm and the desk (????), and i'm really just at a loss at what i should do because it feels like this is the one thing that's preventing me from fc'ing so many things that i know i should be able to

a lot of the maps i play are between 190-210 and i've been doing that for a while, so i'd've thought that i'd get used to pressing keys fast, but my fingers still fuck up. they also like to fuck up on slower maps, too, where my hand will just freeze and not be able to push down a key on the note because maybe in the back of my head i don't want to press the key too much?

i'm really at a loss. i love this game and i want to keep playing it, but this one thing is making me want to kms. if anyone has ever dealt with this before, i'd love some insight and advice.

please respond

Are you an alternator?

kind of? i've heard that alternators switch fingers with basically every note, but i'm not too sure

i don't have a primary finger i use and i'd say my fingers get an even amount of work, but a most of the time for fast singles and similar i'll stick with a single finger then switch to the other finger for the next set of notes or slider or whatever

You could try alternating to make it much easier on fingers. Or try singletapping long or fast stuff more, the kind that makes hand tired. Table pressing on nerves and tendons can be a problem. Try to be careful and not rek your hand.

If you switch singletapping finger in maps it's less intense training than only using 1.

Not sure how you can fingerlock from singles if you're not alternating them. You should be mostly using your arms/wrist and not your fingers to singletap.

pandaBee wrote:

Not sure how you can fingerlock from singles if you're not alternating them. You should be mostly using your arms/wrist and not your fingers to singletap.

Sometimes there's a feeling of uncertainty behind it, like my hand is being really anxious about hitting the next note at exactly the right time and being tense over it, and the more jumps/singles there are in a row the worse it gets and then I fingerlock within the next 3 seconds or so

How would I deal with fingerlocking as an alternator? My hand will often freeze when switching fingers.

I'm not sure if it's possible for me to singletap without moving my entire hand for the motion, but my fingers do move when switching I guess (obviously? I can't imagine you not moving fingers when changing them).

jaaakb wrote:

You could try alternating to make it much easier on fingers. Or try singletapping long or fast stuff more, the kind that makes hand tired. Table pressing on nerves and tendons can be a problem. Try to be careful and not rek your hand.

If you switch singletapping finger in maps it's less intense training than only using 1.

Sometimes when I try to dedicate myself to a single finger, it goes away for a bit and then comes back soon after. Most of the time when I try to change something or do something different, it'll work for a bit and then I'll get right back to my hand locking up every once in a while again.
Last time I tried to use just one finger, I forgot how to do triples and notes coming off my primary finger and feeling like it should naturally go into my second finger felt awkward as heck and I end up just messing up, but I will try it again.

Sounds sorta similar to t/702185
If you're having this same issue on easy maps as well then you might have messed something up.

pandaBee wrote:

Sounds sorta similar to https://osu.ppy.sh/forum/t/702185
If you're having this same issue on easy maps as well then you might have messed something up.

Icy
Somehow, this thread had never shown up for me when I tried searching on the forums for this kind of problem

Thanks!

Are you tapping with your wrist or are you tapping with your finger completely isolated?

NixXSkate wrote:

Are you tapping with your wrist or are you tapping with your finger completely isolated?

I'm not completely sure, I'll try to figure out for certain tonight
Will update later

I have the same issue where sometimes my finger just won't even move for an easy note that I have no reason to fail. I have no idea what could cause that, and I don't expect to ever find a solution. I keep myself relatively sane by not caring too much about combos or FCing anything, but that probably won't last forever.

Just a useless +1 I guess.

NixXSkate wrote:

Are you tapping with your wrist or are you tapping with your finger completely isolated?

Update:
I recorded myself playing and it seems that I tap with my hand even though it feels like I move my finger a bit when tapping singles, but I guess not.

I do alternate fingers semi-frequently though, and my fingers move a lot then, but I guess that's natural given that you're switching fingers.

citremi wrote:

i think it's from trying to tap too fast, like i'm trying to press down as lightly as possible so that i can press it again right faster, but it just leads to me straight up not pressing the key most of the time

Found your issue.

Just stop worrying about that and start bottoming out the keys like most people do. That way you both put less stress on yourself (as you said you always have it in mind when you play) and also prevents you from not tapping at all.
I can assure you that you can easily singletap atleast 280bpm with bottoming out, doesn't matter which switch you use for your keyboard either. If you press hard and fast enough the key will already have sprung back.

hey atleast its better than NOTELOCKING

Rayne wrote:

Found your issue.

Just stop worrying about that and start bottoming out the keys like most people do. That way you both put less stress on yourself (as you said you always have it in mind when you play) and also prevents you from not tapping at all.
I can assure you that you can easily singletap atleast 280bpm with bottoming out, doesn't matter which switch you use for your keyboard either. If you press hard and fast enough the key will already have sprung back.

Is there a specific way I should do this? Forcing my fingers down with all the force I could felt really awkward, and when I play normally, I bottom out a lot anyways, just not as hard. And then some reflex at some point will keep me from tapping out singles with a single finger because it feels awkward, or I'll miss a note because I am trying to tap the key too lightly/quickly. Should I actually press down as hard as I can (or at least, harder than I usually do), or is there some other way I can practice actually pressing the keys (besides just play more)?

Kondou-Shinichi wrote:

hey atleast its better than NOTELOCKING

i've never actually learned what causes notelocking but fingerlocking is actually the most frustrating thing in the world. i think notelock is a timing issue (again i'm not sure because i never dealt with it too much) but it seems like it can be avoided a lot more easily
my fingerlocking happens unfortunately extremely consistently and I can't get past like 200 combo without locking up and messing up
i can't even fc a ~5* ~180bpm tv size beatmap because of fingerlocking in the middle of it even though it's something i know i can do if i just didn't fingerlock
gaining pp becomes a rarity and climbing ranks becomes a faraway dream

i'm not even 100% why i'm fingerlocking, which is the most frustrating thing. if i knew why it was happening, i could try to do something about it and fix it, but every time i think i know what the issue is and i think i've finally figured it out, i start fingerlocking again. i've choked so many maps that i should've fc'd but i didn't because of this issue and it's actually the worst thing because i really like this game and for the most part the only one i play and i want to get better at it but it feels impossible when there's some inexplicable obstacle in my arm

fingerlocking was common to me about 3 years ago when I had keep my fingers straight and not curled due to left hand injury of incredibly stupid proportions. Anyway, just curl your fingers

citremi wrote:

Is there a specific way I should do this? Forcing my fingers down with all the force I could felt really awkward, and when I play normally, I bottom out a lot anyways, just not as hard. And then some reflex at some point will keep me from tapping out singles with a single finger because it feels awkward, or I'll miss a note because I am trying to tap the key too lightly/quickly. Should I actually press down as hard as I can (or at least, harder than I usually do), or is there some other way I can practice actually pressing the keys (besides just play more)?

Just natural tapping tbh. I tap the same way I write with my keyboard. If you have to think about the way you tap it will take away from your focus. I naturally press down harder and obviously faster when I play high BPM, but that just comes without thinking about. I'd just play normally and forget about trying to just barely hitting the actuation point.

abraker wrote:

fingerlocking was common to me about 3 years ago when I had keep my fingers straight and not curled due to left hand injury of incredibly stupid proportions. Anyway, just curl your fingers

Actually, this works really well. I think this is it, though since my middle finger is slightly longer than my index finger, my index finger sometimes has a bit of trouble pressing the key because it assumes same distance. It also feels just a bit uncomfortable since I'm not sure where to place my hand for doing this, since it either feels too close or it's far enough that my fingers want to straighten out again. I guess that's something I'll get used to? I still fingerlock a bit, but maybe that'll eventually go away?

Rayne wrote:

Just natural tapping tbh. I tap the same way I write with my keyboard. If you have to think about the way you tap it will take away from your focus. I naturally press down harder and obviously faster when I play high BPM, but that just comes without thinking about. I'd just play normally and forget about trying to just barely hitting the actuation point.

Yeah, I've been trying to forget about actually tapping. It's just been on my mind for so long that doing such a thing will probably take a while. I'm just glad things are moving in a positive direction again.

Thanks everyone!

citremi wrote:

It also feels just a bit uncomfortable since I'm not sure where to place my hand for doing this, since it either feels too close or it's far enough that my fingers want to straighten out again. I guess that's something I'll get used to? I still fingerlock a bit, but maybe that'll eventually go away?

You will get used to it eventually. Some fingerlocking persisted up to half year after I started trying to curl

abraker wrote:

You will get used to it eventually. Some fingerlocking persisted up to half year after I started trying to curl

How curled should my fingers be? I tried taking a video to see what my hand would look like during different parts of playing and took some pictures. If you can spare the time, they can be found here. Sorry for the poor quality.

Are they curled too much or too little? Is there something else I'm doing wrong?