My tech skill is good, but my fundamentals are very bad

[toadee]

I'm a Falco main, and when I set out to start using him, I prioritized some things that I need to learn straight away. I first learning how to L cancel and wavedash well and consistently. I then started to do pillar combos with Falco. I can shffle pretty well too. In terms of tech skill, I would say that, in terms of tech skill, my only down fall is teching. Sometimes I miss them, and I'm working on that.

But I have soon come to realize that tech skill is nothing, when you don't have fundamentals.

One of my friends has very little tech skill, and he uses Falco too, and he 2/3 stocks me quite a lot. Sometimes 1 stock, and sometimes I beat him. I asked him if I was doing anything wrong, and he said that my fundamentals aren't as good as his.

I know how to improve tech skill, but I have no idea how to improve my fundamentals. Any suggestions how to improve my general skill (fundamentals) ?

 

[Alexo30]

Just continue to play. As you are playing, take mental notes throughout the match of what works and what doesn't, and how to take advantage of your opponent's mistakes. Exploit your friend's mistakes. Realize what moves are unsafe. You need to take many mental notes on a lot of different things.

I was in a similar position. I never had anyone to play, so I had really good tech skill, with very little ability to actually "play" the game. I would beat my friends, but not as good as I should beat them. I have evolved as a Smash player, and I'm actually pretty solid now.

Those are my thoughts on your situation, I hope this helps.

 

[Varist]

Improve your common sense.

This is a fighting game. Characters have moves that beat other moves. If you have greater technical skill than your opponent in a mirror match you should win unless you are making incredibly stupid decisions.

 

[dRevan64]

relax your fingers and turn your brain on
I play a lot with my brother who has no tech skill and generally chooses not to bother to learn. This used to irritate me but at some point it became obvious that he was actually teaching me a lot, especially when I played low tiers against him. There was one situation where I lost 3 consecutive games against his fox with mewtwo–where all he did was usmash. Without a character I practiced lots of tech with I couldn't get around it because I am very stupid. In the fourth game though I managed to figure it out and beat it, but the fact that it took me so long was kind of eye opening to how poorly I was making use of my options with my real characters and how much I was just banking on moving fast and hitting loadsabuttons. The only reason I recount this incredibly embarrassing story of incompetence is as a cautionary tale, incidentally. I suck less now I swear.
oh and watch videos they really do help if you pay attention