Beatmania Help

[Okami]

Can anyone give me any tips for finger placement? I'm new to BM

[Dr. J]

i dont know if anyone can help you with that, it depends on how comfortable it feels for your hands and stuff, i dont even know if that made sense haha

[Echoes of PAIN]

the most important thing is to have atleast your pinky on the scratchpad. Then you can distribute your fingers to whatever placement you'd like them to be.

Me, for example, i would have (on the 1st player side) my left pinky on the scratch pad, my middle finger on the first white key and the 1st black key, my index on the second white key, and my right hand would take care of the rest; thats just my way of doing it. Might help out for you.

[Okami]

Yeah, I'm just trying to find a finger assignment that works for me

[Andy]

What I've found works best for me is my pinky on the turntable (pinky scratching is not an option anymore, Konami officially tells you, you have to learn it now.. lol) and my thumb on the 1 key and my index finger on 2 key. My right hand picks up everything else. If there is a scale I switch my left index and middle to the 1, 2, and 3 keys.

The best explanation I heard was from Clay 3 years ago, when I was still playing 1 handed, "Still play 1 handed, just use your left hand for support for the turntable and the 1 key.

I am by no means a IIDX Expert, some people to talk to are Allen, Steve, Kevin, Clay, the CT crew, Harry or other TGA IIDX bosses.

Hope that helps

Andy

[Garrett]

Personally, I like to just bash my hands on the keys as fast as possible and see what happen. Of course... I still haven't passed 5.1.1 yet...

[Echoes of PAIN]

and if anyone BASHES on our keys or pads or machines, your precious fingers will BELONG TO ME!!!

[DeMarcus]

gav tis right... unless your playing teh dirty of loudness of course...

my advice is to see what position matters most for you when scratching, that's vital... as soon as you get that down... then its just comprehension for the harder songs...

[Catastrophe]

No matter what you do, once you hit 8s and 10s you're going to have to learn something new. It's not like DDR where alternating your feet and doing a crossover guaruntees that you'll be able to hit every pattern from 3s to 10s.

The best thing to do is to not glue your fingers to any particular keys except for the white key closet to the turntable. I play on the left side so my left ring finger always hits that. When I was at the 2* level I used to hit that key with my middle finger, which pushed my pinky and ring fingers out of the way...

Which is my last piece of advice: don't move your hands away from the keys. Or, keep your palms above the keys. Look at the following pattern (keys numbered from left to right): 1 *long pause* 4 *pause* 1 *pause* 2+5 *pause* 7 *pause* 2 4 6

Most likely your left hand will reach down and hit one with either your middle or pointer finger. Then your right pointer will hit the middle black key, then your left hand taps again, then your left hand reaches up while your right hand reaches down so you can hit both keys with your index fingers, then your right hand slides right, then both of your hands rush up for the black keys.

The bad parts are in italics. Some of it is unavoidable, but that's too much hand movement. When you're hitting the keys you shouldn't be moving two body parts at the same time. Think about it. To go from the 4 to the 5 key you can either move your hand and keep your fingers still, curl your finger and keep your hand still (or use a different finger), or move both your hand and fingers simultaneously. That last one is very bad because you will often subconsciously force yourself to miss the keys entirely. Look at the keyboard you used to make your post. You can no doubt type 'the' without moving your left hand. Likewise, I'm sure you could do it with just one finger. These are practically reflexive to you. However, in the heat of a video game, you might use both instincts simultaneously. Thus, your pointer finger will move right to hit "t" and "h" while your entire hand simultaneously moves left to hit "e". As a result, you've pulled your hand left so that your pointer finger misses the "th" entirely and you end up typing "fv" instead. In beatmania, you'll probably just miss the keys entirely. Sadly, there is nothing you can about the fact that all five of your fingers are tied together. But, you can train yourself not to use the lateral motion of hand for anything besides the turntable.

The other advantage of keeping your palms still over the keys is that you'll miss the keys themselves less. Look at the end of my example. Right before you rush up to hit the black keys both of your hands are over the white keys. Chances are that your palms are dangling in mid-air behind the white keys. That's no good! Now you gotta do some Frogger action to get the same fingers up to the black row. This isn't a very accurate motion. I'd miss that. (See, V 7A, Make a Difference 7H, both very painful.) However, if you were to use any fingers besides your pointer or middle fingers to hit the white keys then your middle or pointer fingers would already be on the black keys. Now you need much less motion to hit the black keys. If you do this you'll find yourself hitting that annoying gap between the keys less often! ^_^ Don't not move your hands though. They should bounce up and down while you play. Just don't move them side to side as often as you can help it.

[Echoes of PAIN]

Wow, allen just pwned my advice, FOR FWEE!

[framerate]

i think im a IIDX sub-boss ^____^

[dudabo]

- The best thing to do is to not glue your fingers to any particular keys
- don't move your hands away from the keys.

- The best thing to do is to not glue your fingers to any particular keys
- don't move your hands away from the keys.

- The best thing to do is to not glue your fingers to any particular keys
- don't move your hands away from the keys.

- The best thing to do is to not glue your fingers to any particular keys
- don't move your hands away from the keys.


There are fundamentals that will give you an easier time with the game...Allen hit 2 of them and Andy said the another one when he said you need to learn to pinky scratch. The last one is to pick a side and stay with it. You will -not- get better by switching sides. I am right-handed, but I think Harry and I are the only regulars at TGA that plays right side. When your first starting out, play both sides and decide where you want to play. The side you choose has no effect on how quickly you'll get better.

There is really no predefined way of pressing keys. The way you play and the way you press will evolve over time. I've been playing iidx fairly seriously for almost 3 years and I see myself still changing the way that I play...not due to the suggestions of other but becuase of how my playstyle is changing.

Don't worry about not using your thumbs or any other fingers when your first starting out. Play however is most comfortable. Whenever you get past a 'wall' in the game you will have developed your own new techniques on how to get through it.

I have always told people who asked for advice from me to never listen to what anyone else thinks about how you should play. There are no set in stone techniques or ways to play that you have to follow.