Any Tips on Getting Better?

[DonChrisangelo]

I'm a fan of music but I've never really played rhythm games all that much before. Muse Dash is the most I've played out of a rhythm game. At my current skills I can pretty much 95%-100% level 7 songs but from level 8 onwards the difficulty spikes for me and I can barely finish any songs.

Any rhythm game aficionados out there got any tips on getting better? Are there some tricks or is it as simple as "just keep doing it until you get it" kind of thing?

[KaiserTom]

Basically where I sort of am. It's a bit difficult due to the overall low choice of songs to practice on without the DLC (it would be nice if it was more piecemeal than $30). You end up overfitting your skill to the specific songs rather than becoming generally better.

Just start trying out the level 8-9 songs and just try to get through them alive. Find a couple harder songs you really like and just try them at their higher difficulty, ignore what it says the level is because it's a very subjective number. There's level 5s harder than some level 7s and same is true for some 8s and 9s. There's also the adrenaline rush, "the zone", from playing an extremely difficult version of a song you really like regardless of how well you actually do. Don't go for high percentages/grades on them and restart every time you minorly screw up (I was guilty of this once). Just accept the fact you finished it alive because that's a feat in an of itself and do better next time. These things take practice. Do attempt the hard/fast patterns though, don't completely avoid them.

You want to anticipate the beats rather than hearing and reacting to them. You want to PLAY the song as if you are an instrument of it, not simply reacting to the beats. You could try some other characters like The Girl In Black which makes saws easier to dodge and enemies easier to perfect.

You are also getting into territory where maybe audio sync isn't doing you justice and you should adjust the offset. Adjusting offset too early makes bad habits but at this level you've likely haven't gotten here through those bad habits, especially considering you've said you 95-100% songs. If you've already adjusted it earlier then I actually advise you to lower it. Despite what the instructions say, you want to anticipate the beat and set the offset to near that point, not hear it and then react to it.

Getting here isn't easy and getting past isn't either. Buying the DLC would help by giving you more varied songs and beats to practice on. And considering the time spent and enjoyed to get here, it probably is worth the $30. It's definitely more than worth the $3. Good luck

[DonChrisangelo]

Wow, I never thought I'd get such a detailed answer right from the get go. THANKS A LOT, DUDE. This really helps!

I've already bought the Just as Planned DLC, and even though I've yet to beat a lot of songs in their higher difficulties I don't feel like I've wasted my money on this at all, its just too fun of a game. Anyway thanks again for your very well thought out answer. :D

[DJDiceZ]

Honestly there's no secret, keep playing, don't button mash. Make sure you use 4 keys/buttons. Find what is the most comfortable way for you to start "note rolls".

Get some understandings of the basics of actual music/rhythm. Like how triplets work.

And if you struggle too much with some part, you can count how many time you need to press a key/button for certain parts, carefully analyze it, etc... If you get too confused.

So for example you might see 3 fast notes up, followed by 2 fast notes down. If you view them separately, and you're confused by them, it might be better to view them as a combo of 5 notes, for example, where you'd do F D F J K. (FD is my keys for blue notes, and JK my keys for red notes). I'm not sure how to explain it well, if it's still unclear i'll try to reiterate.

[Mowgly]

Originally posted by DJDiceZ:

Honestly there's no secret, keep playing, don't button mash. Make sure you use 4 keys/buttons. Find what is the most comfortable way for you to start "note rolls".

Get some understandings of the basics of actual music/rhythm. Like how triplets work.

And if you struggle too much with some part, you can count how many time you need to press a key/button for certain parts, carefully analyze it, etc... If you get too confused.

So for example you might see 3 fast notes up, followed by 2 fast notes down. If you view them separately, and you're confused by them, it might be better to view them as a combo of 5 notes, for example, where you'd do F D F J K. (FD is my keys for blue notes, and JK my keys for red notes). I'm not sure how to explain it well, if it's still unclear i'll try to reiterate.

I think the best way is to play with two keys on top of other two keys

5 6
2 3

of the numpad

that way it's much easier to touch fast parts by alternating fingers of each hand.

[thetrueyawn]

play the game, like me...

[Virtual Ocean Horizon]

rule 0 of improving at rhythm games:

have fun

and that actually is a lot more deep and a lot less obvious than it sounds.

[Darklord]

Also, listen to the music. You only have to look if you have to click up or down but the timing is the beat.

[miewve]

Originally posted by Virtual Ocean Horizon:

rule 0 of improving at rhythm games:

have fun

and that actually is a lot more deep and a lot less obvious than it sounds.

I agree with this. Find songs you enjoy and have fun getting doing better and better in them.

The more you play, the more your eyes wills start to read ahead of what is currently happening in the song, kind of like when you read text - your eyes tend to go ahead of your brain. In the case of rhythm games, your hands will track behind your eyes and follow the beat on their own while your eyes pre-load instructions from the graphics on-screen.

That all comes with time and practice, but if you're not having fun, you won't enjoy getting to that point! So find the songs you really like, and play them as much as you want! You'll naturally get better and start enjoying more songs just for their unique beatmaps where you may not have originally liked the music. Hope you continue to have fun!

My one How To Play recommendation would be to not give up on a song even if you're struggling through a certain part. Gaining familiarity with the song will let you have an easier go through it the next time, and you'll start to get a feeling with how the button presses match up with the song (sometimes it's not as obvious as you would hope).

Also, for what it's worth, some of my favorite songs so far are in the base pack. DISCO NIGHT, Confession, Bass Telekinesis, Medicine of Sing, Funkotsu Saishin Casino, and, of course, Milk.

[real human being]

i cant play with 4 keys, give me help

[Angel of Deaf]

play a lot of stuff you're not comfortable playing like harder stuff or patterns you're not used to and always play different maps cause you learn a lot more from doing that with the new patterns and know how to time more with songs. Play hard stuff but also don't just play the song try to learn from it when you do play it but honestly the big thing is just have fun playing it and the more time you put in the better you will get. Also get the DLC cause there is a lot more you can do with it and the updates have been always been super good if you do like games like this there is a lot of other stuff you can explore that can help you out too. You can PM me for any help or tips as well I would love to help people out with what i can

[BaxOne]

you dont~

[Komm, süßer Tod]

Try stepmania with some DDR songs, you just need to ENJOY the rythm and tap according to what's coming, the rest naturally flows