Finger Weights: Yea? Nay?

[MC Yiffalot]

Okay, Heres the thing... I've been playing IIDX for about 9-10 months... and for about 6 of those months, I've been stuck at the 8-9 wall. I have like a dozen AA's, and no AAA's.

I realized today that I have horrendous finger dexterity/speed. I mean, really bad. Like, I might be able to play as good as with my wang. And I'm pretty sure that my finger stamina is pretty bad, too. (Not wang stamina though, hopefully. )

So now I ask: Should I use finger weights to train? I've seen guitar players and pianists using them when practicing. So I figured I might be able to train with 'em on IIDX.

And if not finger weights, what can I do? My dexterity is pretty much still the same as it was when I started, I thought it would get better with time, buuuuut...

[Akkaraju]

Personally, I think that's a really bad idea. Just keep playing a lot. Like a lot. Your dexterity will probably increase proportionally with your AA/AAA count. Typing and Piano, or anything using precise movements and whatnot, can help, though. But trying to play IIDX with weights, which make your fingers even harder to move precisely than before, I think would be really frustrating to play with. I haven't really tried it myself, though.

[rmz]

I think that the biggest obstacle you will face is reading the notes and making sense of it all, and actual finger dexterity has almost nothing to do with it.

Finger weights are unnecessary in my opinion.

[VgameT]

have you tried training in 10x earth's gravity? that's my secret method to increase finger strength and/or power levels.

[DamnRandall]

Dare I say it? OVER 9000!!!


Anyway, I think finger weights would just get in the way of trying to play the game.

[MC Yiffalot]

Originally Posted by DamnRandall

Dare I say it? OVER 9000!!!

Damnit, I resisted saying it, then you come along and say it anyway.

But I wouldn't use them all the time, though. I play about 2 hours a day, so I would play with them, say... 45 minutes?

[もも]

Finger weights, I've never used them. I don't think they'd do much. You could use them to warm up, that's about it though.

Everyone needs to warm up though.

[DKW]

After many Styles worth of experience I can say with total confidence that raw muscle isn't going to help you a whit. You need blazing speed and razor-sharp precision, AND you have to be able to maintain precision while going at said speed.

My advice? Given that your stated level is largely the same as mine (a few AAA's, never cleared anything 10 or higher, although I did come close a couple times), I'm not sure. IMO, the best thing would be to buy an electronic keyboard and some challenging sheet music and get cracking. If you can handle 200 BPM with a full keyboard, doing it with 7 keys should be no sweat.

And if it doesn't help...well, at least you have a spiffy electronic keyboard.

[oni-]

More like tsuru weights... mirite

[Hsanrb]

DONT USE FINGER WEIGHTS! Two reasons that I came up with just by reading the topic...

1) Finger weights will hinder your ability to read the screen because additional mass will make you hit the keys harder (more weight on a finger x gravitational force = greater force) but will also require more energy to lift said weight off the keys making it more difficult to play jacks

2)Timing will vary because #1's affect will change how your brain transmit messages to your fingers because they will hit the keys sooner by milliseconds, that taking them off will make you hit every note early upon removing them.

Pretty much the only time you should use finger weights is if you start with them. You'd get better dexterity by doing rolling your fingers among 5 keys on your keyboard or even do both hands at the same time like this....


qwer rewqwer rewqwer rewqwer rewqwer rewqwer rewqwer
poiu uiopoiu uiopoiu uiopoiu uiopoiu uiopoiu uiopoiu uiopoiu
qpwoeiru rueiowqpoweiru ruieopwqopwoeiur rueiowqpoweiur

Thats what I do when I'm not near a iidx controller or playing other music games and my fingers are tired if I do it without worrying about accuracy. 95% of the time I just have my hands on tables doing said tactic.


PS: Or you could try doubles if you have a 2nd controller, dexterity will improve because each hand is forced to reach all 7 keys (I turned on AS for both sides just so I can practice the keys using battle mode.) My scores shot up about 3% just trying that. Yes my level of skill is 10-12 and my HS has a 100% hard clear for hyper.

[Revolver Koala]

I like to think that I am a decently high-level player and I have never once even considered using finger weights; they are unnecessary at best and will probably screw with your timing, given that things like how far the TV is from me or where the controller is relative to me and the TV will screw with my timing a lot

What I always do when I seem to not be making any progress is to take a break for a couple days (or months; recently, I've been distracted by Drummania and old RPGs I'd never beaten) and then come back. For whatever reason, doing this almost always helps me improve, whereas if I throw myself against a song repeatedly it almost never ever works.

[Brazoliange]

I suggest a hyperbolic time chamber as well.

Honestly, the best way to improve is just to keep playing a lot. Spend an hour or 2 a day playing stuff on hyper/another. It'll just come naturally after awhile.

[Hsanrb]

One last thing I forgot to mention in my earlier post (but it was listed in the FAQ and is true) is to use expert mode and even do custom courses to throw multiple difficult songs for your current ability into the mix. I have done AA [h] and Mei [h] in the past (5x each of course.) I think on Distorted might give me a challenging course to play custom to help my dexterity with Mei, Nageki, AA, Waxing, with a random slower song with more flexability required like a Schlagwerk or a quasar [a]. I think it comes down to whether you need practice at speed playing (200 bpm eighths or staircases) or chords (120-160 ish with tons of rotating 3 and 4 note chords)

[RemK313]

Finger Weights : Nah.
You know what'll probably happen when you take them off?
You'll most likely raise your fingers too high and end up hitting the notes early.

It's the same thing with using higher speeds and then trying to go back to low speeds. I've substituted high speeds with the use sudden+.

I'm saying, if you get used to them and get good with them, you'll have to get good again without them. But then again, I don't really know, I've never used em.

I say, if a part of a song really bugs you (jackhammers, rolls, close-notes) I say just take it apart in practice mode, and try using different fingerings until you find the one that works best for you.

Anyways, keep us updated on your results, I really wanna see how this turns out.

[misterCQNZR]

finger weights = weeaboo