First Things First
 
Dance Dance RevolutionChoose your song wisely. Look at the number of "feet"

displayed on a scale of 1 to 10 at the bottom of the screen. The higher number of

"feet" the harder the song will be.

Recognize that different songs have various BPM (beats per minute). The higher the

BPM, the faster (and thus potentially harder) the song will be. Determine what

speed you are the best at. Some songs change BPM during the course of play. All of

these factors are displayed on the screen where you select songs.

Vary your selection. If you pick the same song every time, it usually annoys other

players. Only do this if you're brand-new to the game. To really improve once you

start playing Light (yellow) and Standard (Pink) difficulty, you should play a

larger variety of songs to learn new patterns.

Use your knees to bounce with the character on the screen, or as the lights flash

on the machine. Once you've gotten that down and you've moved to Light, you can

begin to actually dance along with the beat before you finalize your song

selection.

Don't return to the middle! This is very important. The tutorial shows the

character standing on the middle (metal) platform, but to play any song harder than

about 3 feet, your "ready" stance should stand mainly on the Left and Right arrows.

The game does NOT penalize you for stepping on an arrow if there isn't one on the

screen; with this posture you'll be much more prepared for the arrow patterns.
Learn to shift your weight as you step. For instance, suppose you are given the

steps "Right Right Right." The best way to do this is to keep your weight on your

left foot, while tapping the right button three times with your right foot. This

avoids the common beginner mistake of shifting one's weight onto the right foot

after the first step, causing one to have to hop to hit the right button again, and

often throwing one off balance. Similarly, suppose one is given the steps "Right

Left Right." This is best done by "walking" on the arrows, shifting your weight to

each step as you hit it. This avoids the mistake of keeping your weight on the

right arrow the whole time, which would make it easy to tap the left button but

would force you to hop to hit the last right button. So if you were given "Right

Right Left Left Right" and you started with your weight on your left foot, you

should do the following: tap the right arrow, step on the right arrow (shift

weight), tap the left arrow, step on the left arrow (shift weight), and step on the

right arrow. Most of the beginner songs consist of steps that can be done by some

combination of "walking" from arrow to arrow, and tapping an arrow if that step is

repeated, and these are the techniques you need to learn before you can do harder

songs.

While other people are using the machine, if there's space for you, try to copy the

steps they're doing. This will let you get practice without spending any money (or

worrying about failing a song)!

Getting Warmed Up

Use speed multipliers. Hold down the main button when you select your song, and an

options screen will be displayed. If you like your songs fast, do 2X. If you like

your songs average/fast, do 1.5X. Some players frown on speed mods just as some

players frown on using the bar for support. It is important to remember that speed

mods and the bar are there for your assistance; try not to use them but don't make

yourself suffer.

Learn the difference between the steps. 1/8 Steps are twice as fast as the "normal"

beat of the song. (Say to yourself, "one and two and three and four and...") A

common step pattern on Standard are three notes at double speed. (Think, "one and

two," "three and four.") You'll definitely need to be off the middle of the pad to

get these steps (see #5 above). Try to listen to and use the rhythm of the song,

and gradually you'll master it.

Work on mastering 1/16th notes. These are even faster than 1/8th notes and are

usually packed tightly together on the screen. Using Speed Multipliers to spread

them out will greatly help your ability to "read" their rhythm. (A straight run of

1/16th notes is counted "ONE-ie and ah TWO-ie and ah THREE-ie and ah FOUR-ie and

ah," although you'll rarely see this pattern on Standard. Usually, what appears are

groups of three 1/16th notes in a row. Count this pattern as, "ONE-ie and, TWO-ie

and," etc.

Crossovers are steps where you either have to turn your body sideways or cross one

leg over the other to successfully "walk" along the steps. For instance, if you

must hit "Left Down Right Down Left Down Right Down Left ..." then you should

switch feet, using your left foot to hit the left and right arrows and your right

foot to hit the down arrow (or vice versa). This will require either crossing your

legs or turning your whole body 90 degrees to the right (making the steps analogous

to "Down Right Up Right Down Right Up Right Down..."). Crossovers are the first of

the more sophisticated stances.

Galloping is where you well...gallop. It's rather like skipping forward. These are

technically 1/16th notes, grouped 2 at a time. (Think, "ONE, ah TWO, ah THREE, ah

FOUR." You only have to step on the beat and the "ah", like "RIGHT - - Right LEFT -

- Left RIGHT ...") *** You jump in the air and once you land one foot, you land the

other on the opposite arrow immediately afterward. TSUGARU APPLE MIX is a great

song to master this. (DDR Extreme version only.)

Sometimes it's hard to see gallops in the middle of a stream of arrows. Using speed

mods will make them easier to read, as will changing the noteskin to solo. The home

version also has an option to use different colored noteskins, called Type2. These

different colors making picking out gallops trivial.

EXPERTS Only
Progress to even harder songs. Once you're comfortable with a lot of

Standard-difficulty songs, start doing some 6-foot Heavy songs. As you master the

new moves that are required, you'll be able to move your way up to 8 footers, to 9,

and then 10 eventually.

On really hard songs, using the bar behind you to balance can help a lot. However,

most DDR players frown on this as a crutch. For Beginner, Light, and Standard, this

really isn't required.

For your final song, try a hard song that you might not normally be able to finish.

If you keep doing that, you will eventually be able to finish a new song, and

increase your repertoire!

Try to learn some of the most complicated step patterns that you can do while

"walking", or always switching feet. The song Rhythm and Police (4th mix) is an

excellent one to learn slowly and work up - it contains most of the complicated

step patterns that require no more than crossovers. The song Afronova (3rd Mix) is

good for teaching more complicated stances, such as having to turn 90 degrees to

the left to be able to hit "Left Up Right Left Down Right Left Up Right Left Down

Right..."

Learn to use your heel as well as the ball of your foot. This technique is

sometimes called playing flat footed. For instance, have the ball of your right

foot on up, and the heel of your right foot on right. Now, assume you have the step

pattern Up-Left-Right. Hit up with the ball of your right foot, left with whatever

part of your left foot is easiest, and right with the heel of your foot. Since you

move your feet a shorter distance, you expend less energy and move more quickly.

Challenge yourself. The only way you can get better is if you consistently attempt

more challenging songs and levels. Always play songs that are hard (like 1 foot

above your normal level) so you can get better at it and eventually jump up to the

next foot.

For extra practice, buy the home version game for Xbox or PS2. This will also save

your hard-earned money- if you fail a song, you didnt just waste a buck! It'll pay

for itself over time.

Don't be afraid to ask other players for advice. Most DDR players are nerdy and

love helping out others to show off their amazing prowess at the game!

When Playing Dance Dance Revolution, use the arrows as a guide, and sometimes let

your own intuition tell you when to step on the arrows according to the beat of the

music. If you try to just time when the arrows reach the top, you'll never develop

an enjoyable beat or be able to master the tricky rhythms that are in difficult

Standard and Heavy songs. Instead, lead the arrows as they move up the screen.
Where the judgement ("Great", "Perfect", "Miss", etc) appears is typically a good

place to look.

On faster songs, try to lead the arrows, looking about half-way between the bottom

of the screen where the arrows originate and the top where the step arrows are.

This will teach you to predict based on the BPM of the song rather than on visual

cues. This is a key concept.

If you are uncomfortable playing by yourself, bring a friend.

90 degree turns vs double steps: When there are LUR, LDR, RUL, or RDL combos, there

are two ways to do them: (1) use the relative foot (i.e. left foot for left pad and

right foot for right pad) for the first step and your other for the other two while

your weight is on your first foot. This is used when you can move your legs fast

enough to get the last two with one leg, but usually isn't used by experts. This

turns out as L(L)-U(R)-R(R) (2) Use the opposite foot for the first step (ie left

foot to right pad or right foot to left pad) and alternate feet for the other two.

This ends up as L(R)-U(L)-R(R).

Do not fall! As stupid as it sounds, I have seen people fall before because they

couldn't balance on a machine. It is highly embarassing.

Make sure the socks you wear for the basic home-version pads won't cause you to

slip. Sweat can also complicate the pad's surface.
Always use common sense, and be careful not to disturb others around you!

Just like swimming, don't play DDR for about an hour after you eat or drink, unless

it's a light snack or hydrating liquid (see below).