Need for Speed

[Lancet]

Okay, I've been playing Tetris (mostly on Chinese clone handhelds and lately TFriends) for years now, but I still suck, and I think I just nailed the cause why. On lower levels I do perfect, I can get up to 10 tetrises in a row and things like that (though I'm oldschool, done only 2 T-spins in my life, both last week ), but around the speed of level 9-10 of TF Marathon, I fall behind. I know where to put the damn thing but it stops 1 or 2 columns before it gets where I'm putting it. My hand works a lot slower than my brain. And after such a misdrop (or maybe two or three, on good days) occurs, I tend to panic and "forget" all my stacking skills.
How to overcome this? (Besides practice, practice and more practice of course. That doesn't need to be said, I gave myself RSI when first logging on to TFriends.)

[iphys]

If you're looking ahead at your piece previews then you should be able to get your pieces where you want them.  Worst case, use the hold to swap pieces if you haven't got the autoshift activated in time.  It might also be a question of finesse in using the fewest moves possible to get your pieces where you want them, especially if you don't know SRS by heart and are struggling to rotate the pieces where you want them once they have touched the stack.

[Anonymous]

If you can't move the pieces over to the side fast enough, then try building your stack in a pyramid-like shape where the top is higher than the sides. This way, once your pieces reach your stack, you can still slide your pieces left and right.

Also, consider playing a different tetris clone, such as blockbox  . In blockbox, there is a faster DAS (the time it takes for you to hold down left/right before pieces automatically slide) than Tetris Friends, which means you don't have to tap everywhere (you can place almost every piece with just 2 taps).

[Lancet]

If you're looking ahead at your piece previews then you should be able to get your pieces where you want them.  Worst case, use the hold to swap pieces if you haven't got the autoshift activated in time.  It might also be a question of finesse in using the fewest moves possible to get your pieces where you want them, especially if you don't know SRS by heart and are struggling to rotate the pieces where you want them once they have touched the stack.

Well, I'm used to using one rotation key, but that actually may be a problem, yeah. And... auto-what?

If you can't move the pieces over to the side fast enough, then try building your stack in a pyramid-like shape where the top is higher than the sides. This way, once your pieces reach your stack, you can still slide your pieces left and right.

Also, consider playing a different tetris clone, such as blockbox  . In blockbox, there is a faster DAS (the time it takes for you to hold down left/right before pieces automatically slide) than Tetris Friends, which means you don't have to tap everywhere (you can place almost every piece with just 2 taps).

Thankies, I'll try that
I would try blockbox but Java doesn't seem to work on my computer. Getting it fixed as soon as I have enough time.

[clincher]

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]Well, I'm used to using one rotation key, but that actually may be a problem, yeah. And... auto-what?[/quote]
Ok, first step learn to spin both ways, then you have to learn to use the previews.
Building in pyramid shape is a good tip but at really high speeds, like 20G, I don't think its that necessary in only level 10 of TF marathon.

And I think iphys means DAS check the wiki for more info on that and other terms you can't understand

[Magnanimous]

Definitely work on rotating both ways... That alone cut ten seconds off my 40L time.

And I know you already mentioned it, but practice. XD Try to play for an hour a day, and the muscle reflexes will start building up.