Skill-level roadblock

[Garquillex]

It's been 5 months since I started playing VD's and for some reason I haven't been able to move up to Challengings. I went from Tricky to VD very fast, but now I've been stuck here and it's become quite annoying.

Is this a common difficulty transition problem? 9's seem significantly more difficult than any of the previous difficulty gaps were. I can play a handful of 9's, but I still have 100+ goods and a terribly high amount of boo's (often 40+) on them.

I play on 2x speedmod. I almost jumped to 2.25x, but decided I couldn't handle it yet. But now I think I should decrease it to 1.5x or 1.75x. I figured that it was possible that part of the reason I can't progress is perhaps due to lack of time for all of the arrows to register in my head before I hit them, so it's not really "staying" in my head since I'm relying too much on reflex rather than comprehension, but this is only hypothetical.

Just in case it can be helpful at all, here's two recent replays of Troglodytic Epica and Rondo Alla Turca V2. I'm fine with a step between jumps, but anything more is overwhelming.
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...play/47259802/
http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...play/47244336/


Also, one more thing. About jacks/trills; I'm curious how some have overcome the inability to do them, or if they were never much of a problem. I have a hard enough time doing them with my right hand, but my left hand... It seems virtually impossible. Can you really make significant progression at increasing speed and precision for jacks/trills?

I can typically do both with my right hand, trills are fine, but I have to put so much effort into right handed jacks that it detracts elsewhere. I'm sure it's possible for that to progress, but it seems my left hand is hopeless. I'd show the difference between my hands if I could.

[customstuff]

Just keep playing! It's like losing weight, you'll it a plateau for a while, but after you'll dive right down. Or at least jump up in skill. I almost forgot to mention to try playing songs just above your skill level.

[dragonmegaXX]

i play 1.75x and i FC'd an fmo today with 2 boos.
move speed down buddy

[dean_machine]

Play enough that you build some muscle for your left hand (play till it hurts) My left hand was way worse at jacks and trills also, but after playing a lot to build muscle, I have a much easier time with them now.

[qqwref]

I've definitely improved at left-handed trills from practice. A couple of months ago I couldn't handle 180bpm left-handed 16th trills at ALL (I used to just hit them as jumps lol) but now I can easily PA them. The best advice I can give is to just spend more time practicing what you're bad at. If it's left-handed trills, play songs with one-handed trills in them, or just trill your fingers on your desk in class. One thing I used to do was to sort of drum along with a song using only my right index and middle fingers, but also try to do the exact same thing (just mirrored) at the exact same speed with my left index and middle fingers. This is also pretty good practice for the jump-trills that you'll start to see in level 9-11 songs (stuff like left-right up-down alternating jumps, or left-up right-down alternating jumps).

[Adamaja456]

your best bet is to just keep playing. everyone goes through phases were they see barely any skill jump and then magically they get a big skill jump. but on the other hand, it also helps if you take a few days or a week off then go back and play. you will lose the mental blocks you might of had on certain songs. but dont give up, just keep with it and eventually, you will see improvement!

[DarkManticoreX2]

If you're having trouble with rondo, you're too high up in the challenging range.

Use the ffr difficulties thread to see what songs are good to graduate to. since you're about done the VD's try CIA rave. It's the easiest challenging song and move up from there

Here's the thread, you'll need to scroll down a bit.

http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...ad.php?t=34509

[Garquillex]

Originally Posted by customstuff

Just keep playing! It's like losing weight, you'll it a plateau for a while, but after you'll dive right down. Or at least jump up in skill. I almost forgot to mention to try playing songs just above your skill level.

I've been doing that, but I have to stop because I can't coordinate my fingers to what I'm seeing at all and I end up with 70 boo's. Sometimes I can't even tell if I'm mashing because I can't tell if I'm not in the in-between areas where it's unreadable to me, but I'm still hitting most of them somehow. And there's no way to tell where and how many boo's I'm getting that's a little frustrating.

Originally Posted by qqwref

or just trill your fingers on your desk in class. One thing I used to do was to sort of drum along with a song using only my right index and middle fingers, but also try to do the exact same thing (just mirrored) at the exact same speed with my left index and middle fingers.

I've been doing this out of habit for years, but only with my right hand. It's probably the reason why the speed between hands is so grossly disproportionate for me and is probably why I fumble so much over stupid things in the middle of otherwise precise combos.

Originally Posted by DarkManticoreX2

If you're having trouble with rondo, you're too high up in the challenging range.[/url]

Rondo is one of the few 9's I can play. I went down a bit of the list for easiest 9's, but I find that I can only play random songs that somehow fall in-line with my strengths; that being anything that focuses on streams or whatever you call the "bursts" or strings of fast notes with non-successive jumps such as in the song Thinking Different. (http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...play/47315378/)

I guess I'm not rounded enough and that's why I'm failing when more variety appears in single stepfiles. I still wonder about that speed mod thing though.

[MinaciousGrace]

legend has it an ancient cult of players discovered secret techniques to force stepmania skill jumps

though they transcribed the details of these techniques in an ancient tome, it was unfortunately lost during the stepmania dark ages

and so secret stepmania secrets will remain secret

for now....

[stavie33]

Originally Posted by MinaciousGrace

legend has it an ancient cult of players discovered secret techniques to force stepmania skill jumps

though they transcribed the details of these techniques in an ancient tome, it was unfortunately lost during the stepmania dark ages

and so secret stepmania secrets will remain secret

for now....

those were the good days, before those awful dark ages, luckily, I still have some of the techniques from that very tome, but I shall only teach them to my disciples, so they can one day surpass me, as I was taught by my master, who I am yet to surpass, and who's name shall not be mentioned in this thread

[MinaciousGrace]

one must wonder if this unsaid master is indeed one of my own disciples O_O

[stavie33]

Originally Posted by MinaciousGrace

one must wonder if this unsaid master is indeed one of my own disciples O_O

Yes, one must, but that is a tale for another day...for now we know that you, MinaciousGrace, are the embodiment of all godliness found in SM

[ViViK]

You get better at jacks/trills overtime with practice.
Having problems with jumps was my main problem when I started for a while also, eventually I learned, just took forever. As for going down to 1.75, I think that would be a good idea, I had to lower my speedmod to learn how to do jumpstream, and it helped me out greatly, now I can do it fine on my normal speedmod thankfully. Try it out I guess, can't hurt right?

Lastly, play files with lots of jumps, like hellbeat v2, things that do give you problems, that's what you need to practice with. Try your best to not mash, overtime you'll get where you want to be, it takes time+practice, that's all.

If any of whatever I just said was already said, oops, I only read the first post.

[Patashu]

It only seems like you're plateauing because of the way in which the human mind records and categorizes progress. Play the kinds of things you're bad at and you can't help but improve.