EPT
To improve APM requires a synergy of mind and body...one that I am still developing so I cannot comment on it that much.
ANOTHER NOTE: APM isn't really that important. It's just nice to have once you're really, really good.
Point of this thread: Hey! Here's something you can do when you're not at the PC to keep your fingers nimble!
This isn't about Starcraft 2 specifically, this is a guide on how to separate your fingers, and how to utilize them more effectively. I believe that that is the key to hand speed, seeing as I can 4a5a6a7a8a9a0a in the blink of an eye.
Do note that if you want to get faster at pressing stuff with weights (I.E. pianos), this will not work very well unless you are doing it on something that is weight, like a piano. A keyboard has very little resistance, so doing this on air or against a table will suffice.
Do you frequently get bored at school with nothing to do? At work? On a very long car ride! These are the things that I want you to do in those times then. And only those times, because the rest of your time would better be spent...laddering. But if you have nothing to do...
Hi guys. While I'm only a Platinum Terran, I feel as though I have decent fingerspeed, seeing as I can spam up to 1100 APM with 3 fingers in Brood War, and up to 450 in Starcraft 2. Now, I know that doesn't mean much, but I want to share with the world how to improve handspeed, or how I, Juicebox, feel as though it should be done.
I'd just like to note again...
This thread has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with APM. It is only about having faster fingers. I am going to bold and underline this in hopes that you guys will read this.
Now, when I first started playing Starcraft, I already had a lot of handspeed, seeing as I:
-Grew up playing piano
-Type a lot, and my WPM is around 100 when I'm just doing stuff, and 140 when I'm actually trying
-I play with Rubix Cubes, and my average time is 22 seconds with my fastest being 15.3
-I play the Trumpet, so my index to ring fingers on my right hand are quite fast
-I like to twirl pens between my fingers (still working on getting good at that...I'm awful
)Anyways, the point of this is I spend a lot of time using my fingers for stuff, so my fingers are pretty developed.
Now, I want you to try something.
With your hand parked on the ASDF key, and your thumb on spacebar, how fast can you hit A F S [Spacebar] D?
How fast can you hit A [Spacebar] S F D?
How fast can you hit A D S F D [Spacebar]?
How fast can you spam ASASASASASASASAASAS?
How fast can you spam SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDS?
How fast can you repeatedly tap the A key? The S key? The D key? The F key?
How fast can you ssddssddssdd?
I can hit those quite fast. I can hit about 8 keys a second, which means about 480 keys per minute if I'm constantly doing it.
Now, the good part.
Introduction
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Finger separation is a very difficult thing to learn. It took me many years to develop, because I never directly tried to develop it. Your body will only know how to do the things that you tell it to do. That is why I can't spam ASASASASASASASAS as fast as I can spam the other keys, because I just never use my pinky that much. But the reason 4a5a6a7a8a9a0a comes up so fast is because I did it like 500 times a day when I played Brood War. (Yes, I hotkeyed scans to 1-3 because 1a2a3a into 4a5a6a was awkward for me)
So if you want to learn finger separation for both hands, just take the drills that I describe and apply it to your right hand. But I'm only going to be working with mouse clicking speed on the right hand, since mouse control is a topic very widely discussed, and I'm sure people have some great advice out there because my own mouse control is terrible ^_^ I do have decent click speed though.
So if you want to learn finger separation for both hands, just take the drills that I describe and apply it to your right hand. But I'm only going to be working with mouse clicking speed on the right hand, since mouse control is a topic very widely discussed, and I'm sure people have some great advice out there because my own mouse control is terrible ^_^ I do have decent click speed though.
So, drill time!
The Approach
So what we're going to do is we're going to train our fingers to have speed with every order of pressing. We're going to do this with some drills that I made up.
You can do this with a keyboard, a piano, or just tapping your finger against a table. Keyboards don't have that much resistance; pianos do. If you want to be loud as hell like Firebathero, go ahead and do it with a keyboard
Single Finger Tapping
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The very first thing we're going to learn is speed tapping, using one finger at a time to tap the same button as fast as we possibly can.
A common mistake is to just straight out tap repeatedly as much as you can. I don't believe that this develops speed as much as endurance. What I believe develops speed is tapping in a gallop rhythm, or a swing rhythm.
Instead of going tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap
I believe in tap tap [very brief pause] tap tap [pause] tap tap [pause]
I can effectively tap about 8-10 times a second, depending how much adrenaline is running through my system lol.
Do this with every single finger, on both hands. Treat your fingers equally, make sure all 10 fingers have the same speed. You never know when you're going to change your hotkey setup, so it's good to have speed on all fingers.
What I do is I go pinky to thumb twice, then thumb to pinky twice. If you're really bored, do this on both hands at the same time. So what it should look like if you were on ASDF[space], is:
aassddff aassddff ffddssaa ffddssaa
So um yeah...do that for a few weeks and you'll notice your tapping dramatically improve.
This applies especially to your mouse hand as well.
A common mistake is to just straight out tap repeatedly as much as you can. I don't believe that this develops speed as much as endurance. What I believe develops speed is tapping in a gallop rhythm, or a swing rhythm.
Instead of going tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap
I believe in tap tap [very brief pause] tap tap [pause] tap tap [pause]
I can effectively tap about 8-10 times a second, depending how much adrenaline is running through my system lol.
Do this with every single finger, on both hands. Treat your fingers equally, make sure all 10 fingers have the same speed. You never know when you're going to change your hotkey setup, so it's good to have speed on all fingers.
What I do is I go pinky to thumb twice, then thumb to pinky twice. If you're really bored, do this on both hands at the same time. So what it should look like if you were on ASDF[space], is:
aassddff aassddff ffddssaa ffddssaa
So um yeah...do that for a few weeks and you'll notice your tapping dramatically improve.
This applies especially to your mouse hand as well.
Alternating Between 2 Fingers [3434343434343434]
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Many wonder how to get speed in this regard. You honestly don't really use it that much, but what if you're doing something like 1a2a3a or 4a5a6a? You need speed between different fingers as well, or if you're doing something like 4ss5aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa if you're Terran ;]
The approach is very similar. Instead of continuously going, we will be training the motions in rapid bursts, as to use the most fast twitch in your forearms as we can.
So how this is going to work is that you are going to press 2 buttons, like DF, extremely quickly, briefly pause, and then do it again.
So instead of DFFDFDFDFDFDfDFDFDFDFDFDFDFDFDF
You're going to go DF [pause] DF [pause] DF [pause] DF [pause]
Btw, I'm having a lot of fun typing this, spamming is so much fun :D
So a routine that I have developed for myself is...
The routine.
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If you are using more than 3 fingers in a cycle (5sz6sz7sz), then you really don't need to practice those physically, you just need to practice doing them, because your mind needs to practice this, not your hands.
The approach is very similar. Instead of continuously going, we will be training the motions in rapid bursts, as to use the most fast twitch in your forearms as we can.
So how this is going to work is that you are going to press 2 buttons, like DF, extremely quickly, briefly pause, and then do it again.
So instead of DFFDFDFDFDFDfDFDFDFDFDFDFDFDFDF
You're going to go DF [pause] DF [pause] DF [pause] DF [pause]
Btw, I'm having a lot of fun typing this, spamming is so much fun :D
So a routine that I have developed for myself is...
The routine.
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[First button, second button][There is a pause between every single 2-button cycle]
Make sure you do this on both hands at the same time.
-Pinky
-Ring Finger>Pinky
-Middle Finger>Pinky
-Index Finger>Pinky
-Thumb>Pinky
-Ring Finger
-Middle Finger>Ring Finger
-Index Finger>Ring Finger
-Thumb>Ring Finger
-Middle Finger
-Index Finger>Middle Finger
-Thumb>Middle Finger
-Index Finger
-Thumb>Index Finger
Hopefully you understand the pattern ^_^
Now, it is important to have speed in both directions. So we'll do it reversed as well.
-Thumb
-Index Finger>Thumb
-Middle Finger>Thumb
-Ring Finger>Thumb
-Pinky>Thumb
-Index Finger
-Middle Finger>Index Finger
-Ring Finger>Index Finger
-Pinky>Index Finger
-Middle Finger
-Ring Finger>Middle Finger
-Pinky>Middle Finger
-Ring Finger
-Pinky>Ring Finger
You can see how every permutation is practiced. You have to do this a lot. I do this when I'm walking home, because it's 45 minutes of nothing to do, so I kinda just do this as I'm walking, and I get a lot of weird looks, but hey, I can awesome hand speed
Make sure you do this on both hands at the same time.
-Pinky
-Ring Finger>Pinky
-Middle Finger>Pinky
-Index Finger>Pinky
-Thumb>Pinky
-Ring Finger
-Middle Finger>Ring Finger
-Index Finger>Ring Finger
-Thumb>Ring Finger
-Middle Finger
-Index Finger>Middle Finger
-Thumb>Middle Finger
-Index Finger
-Thumb>Index Finger
Hopefully you understand the pattern ^_^
Now, it is important to have speed in both directions. So we'll do it reversed as well.
-Thumb
-Index Finger>Thumb
-Middle Finger>Thumb
-Ring Finger>Thumb
-Pinky>Thumb
-Index Finger
-Middle Finger>Index Finger
-Ring Finger>Index Finger
-Pinky>Index Finger
-Middle Finger
-Ring Finger>Middle Finger
-Pinky>Middle Finger
-Ring Finger
-Pinky>Ring Finger
You can see how every permutation is practiced. You have to do this a lot. I do this when I'm walking home, because it's 45 minutes of nothing to do, so I kinda just do this as I'm walking, and I get a lot of weird looks, but hey, I can awesome hand speed
If you are using more than 3 fingers in a cycle (5sz6sz7sz), then you really don't need to practice those physically, you just need to practice doing them, because your mind needs to practice this, not your hands.
Practicing Double Tapping [The name that I gave it
] [4455445544554455445544554455]+ Show Spoiler +
So let's say you want to look back at your base really fast, and then right back to your scouting worker. I'm assuming most people hotkey their main building to 4 (even though I hotkey it to 1 because I'm a freak of nature), and hotkey their scouting worker to 1 (I put it on 3...yet again, freak of nature :D)
So, you want to be able to hit 4411 extremely quickly. You'll only get a brief glimpse, but that's all you really need if your mind is fast enough. You don't want your worker to die to that slowlot, that's just embarrassing. You could set some shift-commands, but if you're like me and believe you're too cool for them...
So practicing double tapping between two specific fingers goes as follows.
What I personally find is the best is like the intense part of a metal song.
So let's say 4 is my index finger, and 1 is my ring finger because I don't like to use the pinky. So the way I practice it is:
4411 [pause] 4411 [pause] 44114411 [pause] 4411 [pause] 44114411 [pause]...
Hopefully you see the pattern. Do this for the most important finger combinations that you believe that you will be using. The very first drill works it, but this gives a little bit of an extra boost to it. Like with me, I can go 1122332211223322112233221122332211331133113311331133113311331133
extremely quickly.
So, you want to be able to hit 4411 extremely quickly. You'll only get a brief glimpse, but that's all you really need if your mind is fast enough. You don't want your worker to die to that slowlot, that's just embarrassing. You could set some shift-commands, but if you're like me and believe you're too cool for them...
So practicing double tapping between two specific fingers goes as follows.
What I personally find is the best is like the intense part of a metal song.
So let's say 4 is my index finger, and 1 is my ring finger because I don't like to use the pinky. So the way I practice it is:
4411 [pause] 4411 [pause] 44114411 [pause] 4411 [pause] 44114411 [pause]...
Hopefully you see the pattern. Do this for the most important finger combinations that you believe that you will be using. The very first drill works it, but this gives a little bit of an extra boost to it. Like with me, I can go 1122332211223322112233221122332211331133113311331133113311331133
extremely quickly.
Applying This to "Macro Algorithms"
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First of all, what is a macro algorithm? A macro algorithm is something like 4ss5aaaaaaaaaaaaa[tab]dd[tab]dd (again, this is the common setup. With me it would be 1ss2aaaaaaaaaaaaa[tab]dd[tab]dd) or something like 4s5a1, for when you're microing your scouting worker around, but want to make a Marine and SCV really fast.
I practice these things the same way that I practice double tapping. So for 4s5a1, I would go
4s5a1 [pause] 4s5a1 [pause] 4s5a4s5a1 [pause] 4s5a1 [pause] 4s5a4s5a1...
Yes, the 1's are left out on purpose. That is because there's a rhythm to it, and I'd rather you not break the rhythm. What if you wanted 2 SCVs and 2 marines? It's faster to go 1s2a1s2a3 than it is to go 1ss2aa3. Trust me, switching is faster than double tapping. At least from my experiences they are...
What about working things like 1a2a3a or 4a5a6a?
I like to break it up into pairs, and then do it all together.
So for 4a5a6a7a8a9a0a, I'd go
4a [pause] 5a [pause] 6a [pause] 7a [pause] 8a [pause] 9a [pause] 0a [pause] 4a5a6a7a8a9a0a
And um yeah.
I practice these things the same way that I practice double tapping. So for 4s5a1, I would go
4s5a1 [pause] 4s5a1 [pause] 4s5a4s5a1 [pause] 4s5a1 [pause] 4s5a4s5a1...
Yes, the 1's are left out on purpose. That is because there's a rhythm to it, and I'd rather you not break the rhythm. What if you wanted 2 SCVs and 2 marines? It's faster to go 1s2a1s2a3 than it is to go 1ss2aa3. Trust me, switching is faster than double tapping. At least from my experiences they are...
What about working things like 1a2a3a or 4a5a6a?
I like to break it up into pairs, and then do it all together.
So for 4a5a6a7a8a9a0a, I'd go
4a [pause] 5a [pause] 6a [pause] 7a [pause] 8a [pause] 9a [pause] 0a [pause] 4a5a6a7a8a9a0a
And um yeah.
Rolling
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How fast can you go 123123123123123123123123123123123123123? or 123412341234123412341234?
When I do this, I spiked at 450 APM (well I did today, because I was nervous as hell during my HSSTL match lol)
The technique I call rolling, and it doesn't really serve much purpose in game, unless you're checking your base to see what's done and what isn't. That's what I use it for at least.
So to roll, make sure you start on the edge of the hand, and just roll down to the other side. Make sure you do both ways, and make sure you start on every single finger both ways.
So roll from pinky to thumb, ring finger to thumb, etc... and for the other side go thumb to pinky, index finger to pinky, middle finger to pinky, etc....
The reason we don't need to stop it early is because I feel like you get the same practice even if you don't stop it early. So going from ring finger to thumb helps practice ring finger to index finger in my opinion.
When I do this, I spiked at 450 APM (well I did today, because I was nervous as hell during my HSSTL match lol)
The technique I call rolling, and it doesn't really serve much purpose in game, unless you're checking your base to see what's done and what isn't. That's what I use it for at least.
So to roll, make sure you start on the edge of the hand, and just roll down to the other side. Make sure you do both ways, and make sure you start on every single finger both ways.
So roll from pinky to thumb, ring finger to thumb, etc... and for the other side go thumb to pinky, index finger to pinky, middle finger to pinky, etc....
The reason we don't need to stop it early is because I feel like you get the same practice even if you don't stop it early. So going from ring finger to thumb helps practice ring finger to index finger in my opinion.
Keyboard Sense
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Much like air sense, or water sense, there's a sense for everything. In this case, I'm going to be referring to keyboard sense, or the knowledge of how far the keys from each other on your keyboard. If you've been using a computer for a long time, your left hand might not be acquainted with the distances of the keys on the right side of the keyboard. If you played Brood War, or any amount of Starcraft, they should be. You should be able to reach over there and hit p without looking, and hit it perfectly.
Keyboard sense is important in this case, because you should practice macro algorithms when you get bored, but you need to practice them with the correct spacing between your fingers. This isn't a problem with most people, because if you start on a keyboard, your brain kind of just remembers the spacing between all of the keys, and you'll be golden.
Just bringing this up, because keyboard sense is kind of important :D
Keyboard sense is important in this case, because you should practice macro algorithms when you get bored, but you need to practice them with the correct spacing between your fingers. This isn't a problem with most people, because if you start on a keyboard, your brain kind of just remembers the spacing between all of the keys, and you'll be golden.
Just bringing this up, because keyboard sense is kind of important :D
So I hope this helped you, and hope that you will one day have super gosu handspeed! :D
And also, let me know if there's anything I should add.
The <3 List
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Since you guys make me feel so much better, I'll respond by letting you know that you made me feel good in hopes that you will feel good about it too!
Then we can have rainbows and bunnies and the world will be happy again! <3
That was a botched attempt to quote "I wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school... I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy... "
TheKillers
ElemUnit
simbot
Gooey
Yoshi Kirishima (thanks! I won one game and lost one lol)
hassook (working on it!)
eu.exodus
`dunedain
chaopow
Alex_M
FenneK
KimJongChill
ThatGuy89
BlindGamer <3 <3 <3
ZeromuS
Reborn8u <3 <3
Diderick (lol! someone should!)
iiGreetings <3 <3 <3
Rybread <3
Jetsuo <3 <3 <3 Many hearts to you cubing buddy!!!
ZarMulix (I'm awful at guitar...) <3
MuffinCookie (Lol it just seems like everyone else hotkeys their stuff that way!!!) <3 <3 <3
GreEny K (I was unaware of that! :D) <3
gogatorsfoster <3 <3 <3
Snod
Stipulation (Keep your eyes on the road and don't crash!)
Grampz (Source? OMG I was awful as CS)
Ponyo (OMG THEY SHOULDN'T BE HURTING!!! D
Jaeger (Awesome program...I'm going to use it when I get bored and don't feel like laddering :D) <3 <3 <3
7sk <3 Make sure you google "How to play piano," and look for this one insane site that tells you EVERYTHING you need to know holy crap <3
ForeverSleep (I'll work on it after finals! I shouldn't even be on TL right now lol) <3
Glockateer (I hope they do, they helped me out with piano, I hope they work for you too!) <3
rust.oxide (Haters be haters. You're welcome! <3)
Dagobert (I'm awful at Guitar, and that song looks impossible...I have trouble playing basics lol)
yiodee (You're awesome too :D Yeah, finger accuracy is pretty important, I didn't really put much thought into it since I've been typing so long)
bLecK (Thanks!)
Binabik (Yeah, my hands hurt sometimes...good thing I know how to massage my wrists :D)
Azures (This is assuming you already have that lol)
Jaeger (Thanks! I'm playing on it right now and it's amazing lol)
thexmarine (Thanks!!! :D)
Then we can have rainbows and bunnies and the world will be happy again!
<3That was a botched attempt to quote "I wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school... I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy... "
TheKillers
ElemUnit
simbot
Gooey
Yoshi Kirishima (thanks! I won one game and lost one lol)
hassook (working on it!)
eu.exodus
`dunedain
chaopow
Alex_M
FenneK
KimJongChill
ThatGuy89
BlindGamer <3 <3 <3
ZeromuS
Reborn8u <3 <3
Diderick (lol! someone should!)
iiGreetings <3 <3 <3
Rybread <3
Jetsuo <3 <3 <3 Many hearts to you cubing buddy!!!
ZarMulix (I'm awful at guitar...) <3
MuffinCookie (Lol it just seems like everyone else hotkeys their stuff that way!!!) <3 <3 <3
GreEny K (I was unaware of that! :D) <3
gogatorsfoster <3 <3 <3
Snod
Stipulation (Keep your eyes on the road and don't crash!)
Grampz (Source? OMG I was awful as CS)
Ponyo (OMG THEY SHOULDN'T BE HURTING!!! D
Jaeger (Awesome program...I'm going to use it when I get bored and don't feel like laddering :D) <3 <3 <3
7sk <3 Make sure you google "How to play piano," and look for this one insane site that tells you EVERYTHING you need to know holy crap <3
ForeverSleep (I'll work on it after finals! I shouldn't even be on TL right now lol) <3
Glockateer (I hope they do, they helped me out with piano, I hope they work for you too!) <3
rust.oxide (Haters be haters. You're welcome! <3)
Dagobert (I'm awful at Guitar, and that song looks impossible...I have trouble playing basics lol)
yiodee (You're awesome too :D Yeah, finger accuracy is pretty important, I didn't really put much thought into it since I've been typing so long)
bLecK (Thanks!)
Binabik (Yeah, my hands hurt sometimes...good thing I know how to massage my wrists :D)
Azures (This is assuming you already have that lol)
Jaeger (Thanks! I'm playing on it right now and it's amazing lol)
thexmarine (Thanks!!! :D)
