I don't get what buttons I use my thumbs for. o_o

jankanpo · 12-12-2006, 05:42 AM

I see all sorts of nice timing videos with all these people using their thumbs on the right side.

I'm a left-sided player, and can basically pass a bunch of 10s and can nearly pass some 11s like Scorpion Fire, but I have horrible timing. I was thinking maybe the thumbs can help me get better scores on stupid charts. o-o

Is there any good techniques/videos on this matter? Everytime I tried using my thumbs, I got a WORST score than I usually get.

IE: Getting a constant A on Resonate turned into a D/Fail :x

Help? ._.

Napakane · 12-12-2006, 08:23 AM

play whatever is the most comfortable for you its not essential to use your thumbs. Timing i something you are kinda born with i guess........practice will improve timing and playing easier songs but really focussing on hitting the notes properly. Also, if your playin on a plasma/lcd depending on your set up u may find the tv is screwing the timing.
Practice eurobeat songs alot, they really help you nail your timing with repetitive beats that are harder to miss time than time eg yesterday another burning up for you another heartbeat another......list goes on and on.

bmah · 12-12-2006, 12:54 PM

I often use thumbs for the 1 key. I get more accurate timing for some reason.

PolarisIIDX · 12-12-2006, 02:08 PM

Your timing is something you'll have to work on regardless if you use your thumbs. It will also take some getting used to before you'll have good timing with your thumbs.

For some songs your thumbs might not even be necessary. Just use them if you feel it would help to hit a certain key, but don't try to force them in there or it might just cause you to do worse.

In my case, I usually use my thumbs for the 1 or 5 key, sometimes the 3 key as well but it really depends more on the other notes I'm hitting, not so much assigning my thumb a key to hit.

word · 12-12-2006, 06:53 PM

[quote=Napakane;172519]play whatever is the most comfortable for you its not essential to use your thumbs. QUOTE]

Doubled.
You can't force yourself into a new playstyle just because other people use it. I myself use my thumbs alot, but my friend who is more or less equal to me hardly ever uses his thumbs.

shogunviper · 12-12-2006, 08:06 PM

Strangely, my right thumb is my primary digit for hitting the 5 key. Sometimes, I'd add my left thumb for the 3 key, but that decision is determined by what other notes I'm hitting at the time (or the note sequence I'm getting)... In short, use it or lose it, so I use all fingers & thumbs :P

Solefald · 12-12-2006, 09:22 PM

When you have an adjacent black and white key, use your thumb to hit the bottom one and your index or middle finger to hit the top one. Getting down this technique will possibly make the difference between whether or not you can pass songs with complex rolls in them, i.e. Get on Beat Wild Style.

Alex · 12-12-2006, 10:13 PM

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't it help with accuracy, playstyle, and comfort if you simply tried using your thumb to hit whatever notes are comfortable rather than forcing it for certain keys or chords specifically? I mean you'll get used to that and be accurate with it certainly, but it's a lot less stressful on your hands if you just learn to be a bit more fluid and just learn to hit keys as you can rather than in a specific fashion.

nilmind · 12-12-2006, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dewgy

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't it help with accuracy, playstyle, and comfort if you simply tried using your thumb to hit whatever notes are comfortable rather than forcing it for certain keys or chords specifically? I mean you'll get used to that and be accurate with it certainly, but it's a lot less stressful on your hands if you just learn to be a bit more fluid and just learn to hit keys as you can rather than in a specific fashion.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Before coming to this site, I never knew that people generally had this thing for rigidly assigning fingerings to certain keys. To me, different patterns require adaptive changes to the finger/key assignments. This is especially true for me as I have been brought up playing mostly one handed.

But as for you, first, being that you're able to pass songs like scorpion fire without any thumbs deserves my praise as it's completely inconceivable to me. However, being that you're already at this difficulty, it probably means that you have a lot of un/re-learning to do if you'd like to incorporate thumbs. As for me, the thumbs only touch keys 1, 3, and 5. I believe that they are best used whenever you have a pattern that involves something like 2, 3, 4. Here, I would go pointer, thumb, middle instead of something clunky like pointer, middle, middle or even pointer, middle, ring.

MagnetiX · 12-12-2006, 11:19 PM

As people have said, use whatever you feel is very comfortable.
I use my thumbs very, very rarely. I mean, it'd have to be a pretty damn hard chord for me to use my thumb, or it's scratch+chord.
When I first started to play IIDX, my friend kept telling me to use thumbs as much as possible since he used it, but it was way too uncomfortable for me and I knew I wasn't gonna keep that playstyle, so I just adjusted it to how I like it; which is using

Left Hand : Pinky, middle, index and thumb.
Right Hand : Thumb, index, middle and sometimes but very rarely pinky+ring

Just pick a playstyle you like and go with it. Look at FINE*, he has one of the weirdest finger placements i've seen since he combines his fingers, but it works for him; then you look at other players and they have their own finger placements.

shogunviper · 12-13-2006, 11:01 AM

I thought it was the norm to use the right thumb for the 5 key and index finger for the 4 key. It might sound counterintuitive at first, but when you involve all that fast fingerwork it's energetically favourable to tuck in the thumb than to stick it out.

bandit22 · 12-13-2006, 04:52 PM

i don't really have my thumbs mapped to any buttons, except when i hit the turntable i always hit the 1 key with my thumb. otherwise i just do it if it feels right.

John.XXIV · 12-13-2006, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bandit22

i don't really have my thumbs mapped to any buttons, except when i hit the turntable i always hit the 1 key with my thumb. otherwise i just do it if it feels right.

I do the same. Since, I can't pinky scratch---well I can.. but it makes my pinky feel all cramped and uncomfortable.