[Whist]

Too much text to bother reading it all so forgive me if this has already been said...but the walls are used to see you're doing it correct since you can see where it strikes.
Once you can do DBF correctly on a wall, then you add in movement away from a wall. You should know you're doing it correctly because you hear the swing of your sword.

You don't NEED to use a wall, it's just helpful to make sure you're doing it right. The lower the first slash is the better you're doing it.