QUOTE(StevieSmiley @ Jun 2 2012, 05:49 PM)

Didn't realize just how bad i sucked til I tried this. Wasn't even sure how to turn off ghost pieces til this thread. With just turning off the ghost i do O.K. But forcing the piece to spawn higher forces me to do 2 things, remember the preview, and knowing exactly how to get the piece where it belongs.
( i haven't even cleared 40 lines yet with this method

)
Yup, I feel the exact same way. I have managed to finish 40 lines twice now with this though, but times were 4:44 and 3:58 lol
I think this is the right approach though, to take it very slow and think about each piece placement and try to get as many to go to the place you want as possible and slowly work on improving times. In the times I managed to complete 40 lines I had .45 and .54 pieces per second respectively with about 90% (estimate) accuracy in placing pieces. I have also tried simply going quickly and while I can play fairly well (about 2 pieces per second), I only have about 75% accuracy with placing pieces at this pace and usually don't get past more than like 25 lines before i top out.
So anyway, like I said I think it is probably better to learn by going slow at first and aim for as high accuracy as possible and gradually get faster. I believe this will then work out to first improve finesse and then gradually make that finesse become muscle memory so you don't have to think about it. Also, as you mentioned it helps by forcing you to remember the preview (I have already found this helping me in general tetris gameplay).