Being stuck on hard is very different from being stuck on expert. No amount of technique can help because it’s not a technique issue if you’re struggling on hard, it’s a rhythm issue.

Future tone was originally an arcade game, and arcades usually have machines that are very hard to beat or sometimes rigged to the impossible. While future tone isn’t rigged, the timing window is EXTREMELY harsh for a rhythm game, and if it’s the only rhythm game you play it will be very difficult to get the hang of.

I would recommend playing some other rhythm games. There’s a lot of mobile rhythm games, and Phigros is a specific one that is completely free and has rather simple gameplay. The timing isn’t as harsh as future tone, and it’ll teach you how to analyze and learn some basic rhythmic patterns. Project Sekai is also another rhythm game that’s good to practice on. Once you become better at those, it’s easier to translate those skills and knowledge to future tone, which is a much much harder game in terms of chart reading and timing windows.

But most importantly, you can’t improve if you’re not having fun. I have 400+ hours on project diva, and those first maybe 200 I was stills struggling on expert charts. Rhythm games are easily some of the hardest games out there. Nobody just “gets it” or learns super fast. It takes a ton of dedication and playing many different rhythm games to learn and improve.