Tbh I think that’s the key, just finding whats best for you.
I’ve seen a few tournament vids were u can actually see how the players r holding and positioning themselves and they’re not always the same.
As UnkownE said, try out a few things to find whats more comfortabel/easy and then stick with it.
TK cannon strikes on te right side is now very easy to do. I can do it like 10 times in a row… but other things are still veryyyyy difficult to do… I was like “damn why did I buy this thing?!” but I know I will regret if I sell it haha… I guess I have to keep playing with that thingie… even tho I still want to pick up the 360 pad and use that LOL xD
Don’t worry. Just takes practice and repetition. You’ll develop your own techniques for holding the joystick, but definitely try different things and go with what is more comfortable. I’ve seen so many different grips in my lifetime that there is no one right way to hold a joystick. Hell, just like was discussed in the second episode of the Dogface Show (plug… ^_^), there is even a guy known as the One-Handed Terror who is missing his left hand, and he’s amazing on the joystick. So don’t lose hope, keep it up, and you’ll do fine.
One good advice, though, is really learning how to use the joystick very lightly. The temptation is there to jerk it around when doing motions and such, but most sticks only require a feathery touch. When you watch some of the best people play on sticks, sometimes it looks like they are barely moving the thing.
It’s just a learning curve. I got my first stick to play Virtua Fighter IV back in the day, and the adjustment period was … heh. I don’t remember how long it took me to be able to get even basic, basic stuff like QCFs out reliably on the square gate. But it’ll come with time, and soon you’ll find yourself wondering how the hell you ever played on a pad in the first place. Arcade sticks are the manual transmission of fighting games.
I would say do this (assuming that the “TE Stick” is a lolipop/jap stick):
I am also debating getting a stick. My problem is that I learned this game when i had Street Fighter 2 Turbo on my Super Nintendo when I was a kid. I grew up in the country so I never played at an arcade. Ever.
My point is that I never played a Street Fighter game with a stick, not even once. However there are moves that are just to difficult to pull off consistently with a pad. For instance I main with Cammy and I can rarely get the Hooligan to come out with the pad so I never even attempt to use that move in online matches. So for someone like me, is it worth it to get a stick and learn to use it?
I did a quick search and I found the following guide the closest to how I hold the stick.
http://cemboards.18.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=357
@Tater: Hooligan Combo is 100% easier to pull off on a stick IMO. When I first switched over from pad to stick I think the hardest thing for me was the quarter circle fireball motion, which surprised me at the time. It took about a day of playing to get that sorted out though.
I would definitely recommend getting a stick if you are gonna play a lot of 2D fighters and have the money to spare.
anyone know where to pick up a TE stick or even the HRAP3 w/o paying a huge premium? any info would be much appreciated…can’t find the damn things anywhere
The biggest problem for me is that all my friends congregate to another friend’s office where they have a huge screen and xbox.
Most of them have gotten used to the pad and see no need for the stick. I play with them a lot so I need to get it with the pad.
Else, I would have gotten a stick long ago.
You and everyone else man. I check fry’s and best buy daily. 
Sigh… after some days of playing the game with this stick I still find it very annoying. Doing Chun’s B&B and Cammy’s TK cannon strike is very easy now… but thats about it. I still have problems doing some super easy stuff like 2 in 1 qcf moves omg -- ;p Also jump in HK, HP, cannon spike is so hard to do LOL -- omg I cant imagine myself saying this but I have to admit I can not do it consistently on the stick. I guess I suck ;p
Whenever I play online I use the 360 controller again.I really think it is not that bad (except the 3k and 3p shoulder buttons) and sometimes I wonder why I bought the TE stick because I kinda HATE it. I completed most characters hard trials by using the 360 controller but with the TE stick I already encounter problems in normal trials… -_-
The reason why I bought the TE stick is because of one 2 hit combo… Yeah it started way back in 97 or so when I was playing SFex+a. I couldnt perform Blair’s 2 hit combo… it was somehting like cr.HP, lightning knee (??? that dp kick move)… I always got cr hp, kick super instead… so i blamed the ps controller and I thought it would be easy to do using an arcade stick ;p
Now 12 years later I finally bought a stick (wanted the best one) but i still CAN NOT do cr.HP xx DP with ryu and ken blabla… I did it in training mode while watching my own inputs but I still dont get it… I can only do it without super meter LOL ;p Any tips will be appreciated. Thanks =)
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Give yourself some time to get used to the stick. And you need to wean yourself off the 360 controller. Even when you lose online, it will only help you get better with the stick. Think marathon, not sprint.
If you still hate the TE stick, I’m sure that there are plenty of people willing to take it off your hands if you decide to sell.
Just out of curiosity, how are you trying to do it? THere are two different ways to do it, and on SFIV, it’s actually even easier now because of the input shortcuts.
The two most common ways is doing the C.HP in the middle of the DP code. However, this can cause people some problem. I prefer to do the DP code like this when using this method:
:r::db::d::df:
By adding the one down/back part of the DP code, it gives you two joystick positions to hit Fierce. Just try to hit Fierce at :db: and then quickly go to :df: + :k:.
The other way to do it is to hold :df: and hit Fierce, and then immediately do a very small counter-clockwise circle back to :df: and hit :k:. The circle you do on the stick should not actually go around the whole stick. The top-left part of the circle should barely go outside of the neutral position. Small circle.
If you are coming out with a Super instead, it’s because you are trying the second method, but starting the stick at :d: instead of :df:. Also, another thing that might help is to make sure you end at :df:. Whenever you end the code, make sure you are pulling hard at :df:. If you go all the way back to :r:, that can trigger the super.
Hope that helps a bit.
Thank you so much James!!! I cant wait to try it tonight… Whenever I did cr.hp xx dp it was just luck (for your information… I did down, forward, down, down forward)… I never asked people for help because I always only played with Chun-Li. Ok, I also used Cammy a lot but I never did a cannon spike after crouching normals so it didn’t bother me at all.
I really appreciate your help James, thanks a lot!!!
Even if I still cant do it after tonight I wont sell the TE stick lol… I love SF too much so I will keep it. The beautiful box alone already made it a worthy purchase 
I think cr.fp to DP might actually be a link instead of a cancel. Try slowing it down a bit. I could be completely wrong though, if so, ignore this post.
Oh yeah, I guess I should put in the caveat that the tips I were giving were to help Blair cancel Crouching HP into DP + Kick. 
For Cammy, you can only buffer Crouching Strong and Forward into DP. If you are trying to do Crouching Fierce into DP, yes, it’s a link and only works on certain characters if they are crouching and such.
But this is a tip in general. For guys like Ken, if you wanna buffer Crouching Fierce into DP, you would use the method above.
I am having the same problem Chunner. Its demoralizing.
I am new to stick too despite playing many incarnations of street fighter over the years and I have always had pride when it came to my execution. With the transition from pad to stick though it has all gone out the window.
What I am saying is that it is not just you, hang in there man. We will become better players cause of it.
Omg thank you SOOOOOOOO MUCH James!!! i tried it yesterday and it worked 100%!! It was soooooooo easy to do and I don’t know why I never figured out how to do it. I was playing with a smile using the stick and guess what… after doing 10 cr.hp xx dp I changed to Chun and I tried to do her ultra after her dash. I don’t know what happened but I could perform it for 90%! Also doing her ultra after a forward dash focus attack was not difficult to do! I think it was just luck tho, but I will keep trying until I can do it everytime. Thanks James, you made my day.
I have another question… when you do jump in hk, hp, cannon spike… are you holding forward during the standing hp? Cause I am sure I never did it while playing on pad but with the stick I think its so much easier doing this jump in combo by holding forward.
@ cocobread… I still have a long way to go… But I will keep trying! I really wanted to give up on the TE stick (it’s like Cammy players wanted to give up on Cammy haha) but I will stick with it. The funny thing is I think it’s easier to play when I am on the player 2 side… while on pads I was ok on both sides.
Glad to hear it helped, Chunner. Were you using method 1 or 2 that I listed above? Just curious to see which was easier.
As for Standing Fierce into DP motion, honestly, I do 100% of those with Fierce (or whatever move I’m canceling) at Neutral. I’m just soooo used to it. It’s how I’ve done it my whole life. It came from old games like ST, where trying to do Fierce canceled into DP with Fierce at Towards would result in a Throw. So I always got used to doing it at Neutral.
i was exactly the same… u’ll get used to it give it a few days & u ll never look back!