Tips for Beginners

[Smoothini]

Warning: There might be alot of writing in this thread and it might require you to use your brain. Those of you that are strictly "visual learners that don't want to read any magic books because they are boring" might get offended.



j/k

Originally Posted by kevin kimberly aka Bill Gates

My type of magic I like is card magic....I am not very good...And I tend to be clumsy....I can't really maneuver the cards around....Does anyone know any tips? I know practice practice practice....Any other ones?...

Welcome to the wild crazy world of magic Kevin. If you stick to this, you will realize how you can grow to love this new hobby of yours more and more each year. I'm going on 19 years doing this and I get more passionate about it every year. Whether you plan on being a full proffessional, an instructor, a dealer, a magic shop owner, a hobbyist or just plane a collector.... it doesn't matter. You will love the Art of Misdirection.

I can not talk about somebody elses experience since I'm only me so I will relate your question with my dumb-ass. When I started I started with Cards too. I think alot of us have. Card tricks are so accessable, and easy to transport. On top of that, there are millions of sources for card tricks. It will probably be impossible to master every single card slieght that has been documented. (can somebody verify this?)


You say you aren't very good that you are clumsy with the cards. Well, aren't we all? When I started with cards I was terrible. When I took the cards seriously, it took me close to 8 months to master 1 routine. There isn't any other tip in the world that can be given other than practice.

The sheer repitition and conditioning will make you improve. There might be tips that can make you easily learn a certain slieght faster, but nothing makes you get better than by you yourself figuring out exactly how to execute a move.

Do you want to be good at something? Then practice. Simple as that. There is no way around it, and no way to cheat it out. And once you have gotten the effect down, then you need to perform it a billion times to people. So you can learn how to present it.

Don't just practice the moves, practice the performance.

May the Force be with you.

[JordanJohnson]

Well not to mention the biggest thing is to PRACTICE! Depending on your committment and drive practice while watching tv or just laying around. I honestly practice one hand revolutions and charlier cuts while watching tv. About being clumsy with cards, we all were at are starting point and still are sometimes. When you practice your hands and muscles get conditioned to the cards, and the more you practice the better the card will feel in your hand. Practice your routines and tricks a lot and get them down to where there is no thought process in your mind of what you are supposed to do next. You want your hands and muscles to take over your brain and just let them do there job which you have fine tuned them at. Suprisingly your muscles have memory it just takes a little more time to store than it does with your brain. When I first started seriously persuing magic, I stocked up on some of my first DVDs which were Oz Pearlman's Born to Perform Card Magic, Paul Harris' Art of Astonishment Trilogy, and another big one was Crash Course 2: Ambitious Card. I practiced the tricks for more than a year before my first performance of them. They were so locked into with my mind and hands that it all flowed together without a thought of what was next. So just practice, practice, practice.

[Orbitbrown]

Practice. Learn moves, not tricks. The mirror is your best friend. The more hours you spend in front of it, the sharper you get. Learn the CORRECT way to do something. For example, the pass...Watch Kaufman's "the Pass" video. Literally study the move and practice the hell out of it before you perform it. I'm just now performing things i learned 6 months ago. Also, try to keep as much to yourself as possible. Don't be quick to share your personal technique and ideas with people. Safeguard it like its your treasure. Also, be selective about what you perform. Perform what applies... Don't do Morgan Strebler's fork bends on the street...why would you have a fork on the street? Do it in a resteraunt. Learn things with everyday objects. The more you read/watch/learn...the deadlier magician you'll be. If you can have a mentor, that would be the best way to learn. No doubt about it.

Last thing...realize that nothing is impossible. Cyril understands this concept very well. Live with no boundaries and you'll reach places you only dreamed of. And remember, have fun and spread your talent. It can really change a life if applied the right way. Peace.


Infinitely,
Chris Brown

[Michael Meister]

OOhh cards, they can be a magicians best friend, 52 best friends to be exact. As Chris said, the mirror is the best tool, and in my opinion if you have acces to one...a video camera. If you can come to the point at which you can't see your own self performing the move they you are getting there. You could even designate a person to test all your effects and sleights on. I use my brother he is always the first one to see one of my tricks, and he has seen so many it is hard to surprise and trick him, so if i know i have then i have performed it very well. One more thing...when your hands start to hurt, don't even think about stopping, continue on until you have it down even with sore hands.

[Smoothini]

I thought this was so important that it needed to be said twice:

Originally Posted by Chris Brown

Don't be quick to share your personal technique and ideas with people. Safeguard it like its your treasure.

[Bob Klase]

Originally Posted by Orbitbrown

Learn moves, not tricks.

I disagree (somewhat) with that. Find tricks that you want to do, then learn the moves necessary for those tricks.

[Orbitbrown]

Well, I'd rather learn how to build a house than have one provided already. Moves are tools, ask Ricky Smith...not Ricky smith jr. the card thrower, Ricky Smith THE card man. There isn't a move he can't execute and because of that vast knowledge of the TOOLS, he can BUILD anything his imagination creates. Moves prove more valuable than a pre-made trick. Tricks are like sentences you learn in spanish 1. Moves is like understanding what you're saying and knowing the actual language rather than a few canned responses. This allows you move more fluidly throughout any routine or any freestyle effect. A lot of the off the cuff stuff i do is usually a freestyle of sorts. For the most part. All I'm saying is, if you keep worrying about the tricks/gaffs/self working parts, you won't have any technique. Now its up to you ultimately if you don't care about technique and only care about making somebody scratch their heads. The invisible deck is a perfect example of this. No skill required whatsoever, but it generates great reactions. So you can say you don't really NEED technique but if you want to respect yourself and the art you create, brush up on your technique like its a car that you're keeping in mint condition to show your grandchildren and the world someday.

Infinitely,
Chris Brown

[ChrisArnold]

It is extremely important to learn the basic moves of tricks and illusions. Over time, when you start creating/learning new illusions, you'll realize that most of them are just the same simple, base moves done in a different way to produce a different effect. That's why it's so important to know the basic moves and manipulations. This is especially true when creating new illusions. It's like solving an equation. Your numbers are your beginning, what you know at the beginning of the trick. What's on the other side of the equals sign is your end product; what you want to happen at the end of the illusion. Your [x or y] variables are these basic moves: what needs to be done to get to your effect, or final answer.

[Thomas Salvador]

Yep:
The Video Camera, Digital or not, What a great invention--- after you have Learned the MOVES (In which I believe that the Moves and How they are used to create NATURAL Misdirection IS technique) This is a very personl thing-Trying to make everything look as natural as possable. Most sucessfull magicians have "there own way of doing the same effect or should I say " Once you Have an effect that you like and enjoy doing) And yes Here it comes - PRACTICE,PRACTICE,PRACTICE And the Best way for me- is to use a Video Camera to actually SEE that what other people will see, Mirrors are good -but there's something to be said for the live performance feedback of the Video Camera. Iv'e practiced effects untill my whole body was numb because the "Camera TELLS NO LIES", I use the Camera to see if it came across on film In the correct way--IT SHOULD Look like Magic ,AND Not just someone that knows or Thinks he knows the moves or slights for the Trick-- Almost anyone can accomplish that-- Just look at all the really bad TRICKS on all the video upload sites that simply Ruin the effect because they simply did'nt practice enough, or are to young to understand the process. Once you have accomplished that with even just one Trick- to me it becomes an Effect
As stated eariler By Chris Brown

Don't be quick to share your personal technique and ideas with people. Safeguard it like its your treasure.

Why --Because It's your own Personal technique you are creating=Your Treasure! (Thanks Chris)
There is already a lot of good info by the other posters here. and I'm sure there will be alot more with much better help. Might not be a bad idea to take a little bit from all the replys and go from there! It's a start in the right direction Hope this made sence.
Tom Salvador
Sal
PS: Notice I said nothing about the Patter for a effect --Again this is a Very Personal part of the process -And also a Different subject(Thread)

[James L. Clark]

This, my friends, is why I wanted a forum. Sharing, teaching, growing. The concept is a good one that many forums started with, but after time, some of them went crazy. I want this forum to stay small enough to know each other and big enough to impact things in a possitive way. Thanks for being here.