How much practice does it take?

[cardangel]

hey dudes!

im not new to card magic and sleight of hand, but am relatively new to flourishing and cardistry. ive been into this kinda stuff for about a month or two now, and i really like it.

i was just wondering for you experienced card manipulators out there, how long did it take you guys to fluently execute each cut, fan, etc? and how much did you/should i practice a day to achieve what i see some of you guys posting in the media are doing?

thanks in advance!

 

[Scrubs_23]

Hm...judging by the way you speak, you're a teenager. But I may be wrong. I'd say, practice...every day. And also, focus on one thing at a time. Make sure you have the basics down before you go on to the next thing.

edit: I can't put a date on how long it took for me to get good. I simply just...got it. And like what cerebrus said (too lazy to type the 3s) you need to practice all the time or set aside a time period when you can practice. Also, sorry if I insulted you cardangel.

 

[c3rb3rus]

Hm...judging by the way you speak, you're a teenager. But I may be wrong. I'd say, practice...every day. And also, focus on one thing at a time. Make sure you have the basics down before you go on to the next thing.

im not sure what being a teenager has anything to do with it but what ever....

as for practice i would say when ever your not doing anything with your hands, like watching tv, reading, sitting on the toilet (yes im serious) have a deck of cards with you and practice ... remember take it slow develop a rythm ... its smoothness and flow that you want to go for and not speed ... speed will come with time but thats not your main goal, remember that...

if you have a webcam ... there are always ppl online on the Decknique cam room just jamming at all times of the day

http://www.mebeam.com/index.php/Room/Decknique

 

[Avancer]

Well. for me flourishing seems to be quite quick to pick up. I usually practice maybe an hour a day before I go to bed, sometimes not, sometimes more If I have nothing better to do.

For me, I learn most flourishes in an hour or two and get them "down" within a few days...perfecting, I don't think I've done that yet...except with the charlier

 

[UnholyGodn]

im not sure what being a teenager has anything to do with it but what ever....

Being a teenager gives you the advantage of spare time usually meaning you can practice far more often than someone working a full-time job and supporting a family. He basically meant "Use the time while you have it" I assume.

 

[Sharog]

if u just started first cut of either pandora/molecule/sybil etc will take u about 3 months to get up to the speed and that is practicing every oppertunity u got, but once u master one, the rest kinda just fall in to their places, and once u manage like 10 of them, it only take u a few days tops to learn a new one.

Also, why are the teenagers getting offended this days when ppl call them teenager? i could get away with so many things if ppl still considered me a teenager :/

 

[cardangel]

hey thanks guys your really helpful!
and yea im a teenager haha

but anyways, i was also wondering when you practice, do you just focus on whatever appeals to you at that time, or do you go through it like when you work out and have reps for each exercise/flourish?

 

[Monkeyofmanipulation]

I would say it takes about a good year of flourishing to get to the kind of level in the cardistyr media section. Hey! it takes time but god you know it is worth it. It makes simple tricks seem so complex when you cam twirl cards around your fingers like graceful fireflies. :

 

[Avancer]

Personally, I practice whatever I feel like, but usually it's the latest material I'm working on.

 

[Shadow260]

It takes dedication. I know, it's kinda overboard with that word, but you can't be fast, but also smooth. Remember the words of Daren (xD):

Smoothness gives the illusion of speed.

 

[Lalica]

I started to learn my first flourish move around two months ago... it was the MAYHEM cut from the LETHAL DVD by Daniel Madison ... before that I was kind of messing with the Madonna cut from the system, but I found Mayhem more interesting... actually that was the problem.. I never finished one move before I moved to the other...

I might not be good enough to give you the instructions or anything... just really don't rush... you didn't learn the charlier cut the first day... I mean you did learn it.. but now you can do it in the middle of night... anytime, fast and smooth... and so it will be with the other flourishes... I guess it just takes time... and time is something everybody has... =)

and there's also something else... the size of your hands... doesn't matter =) I can hardly palm a card... but still I can do all the moves from the system (even the kryptonite which was really the hardcore gymnastic for my fingers) and from the trilogy ... I can do them but of course... I can't do them well and it's not because of the size... it's because I haven't put enough time into learning them (yet)... it's true that you look like a complete addict... freak and everything that comes with it... but spending time with the cards in my hands is like the best way I could spend it... I'm not bothered if I'm alone in the corner... because I'm never bored =) once you're in it... boredom doesn't exist

it's a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

 

[Fergus O']

how long do i practise?

well in school, before, between, in some cases during and after classes.

once i've got my homework out of the way (usually about 7) i spend the rest of the night practising. not just practising. i'd go on the computer or read a book, but i would always have a deck nearby if i want a break or if im watching something. i go through decks in about 2 weeks becuase i practise a lot.

currrently i am working on speeding up chasey lain (thanks jonas) and pandora.

 

[elementalconjurer]

yeah what does being a teenager do with anything. i'm only 16 and i've made peoples eyes cross when i do my flourishes

 

[Blindside462]

I've pretty much started into flourishing..haven't had much time to practice over the months have been busy and now have been busy with school sucking up my time. I'm 16

My idea is to practice the moves singularly in the flourish- do the parts all at once very slow and they as I get more accurate in my movements I go faster.

I have

Xtreme Beginnerz

The Trilogy

The System

Generation Xtreme by Brian Tudor (horrible teaching and I hate mirroring things but watching it over and over you can get it)

Lethal by Daniel Madison (hate mirroring things as well, but awesome awesome flourishing)
and

Casino Capcuts

I practice about half and hour in the morning and a hour or two in the day. I'm getting pretty good I need to do more hand excercises and get more precise and quicker.

 

[David Engel]

I have been flourishing since February, almost everyday since I have been practicing for about an hour a day. About half of the time I just mess with cards to see if I can create something new and different.

Do not let people's critizisms about your own created flourishes get to you if you do create your own. I had a guy yelling at me on another forum that I was humiliating DnD's Mary Jane because one of my own cuts looked similar to it. He just didn't see that I said it was "inspired by" Mary Jane. The person who I assumed who was a grown man was acting like a 5 year old.

Another tip is that I wouldn't immediately start off with The System or The Trilogy because they are DnD products. That is really what I hate about people who start out on flourishing is that they go directly towards that because DnD are on these forums/T11. If you are a beginner you shouldn't start off with learning Madonna in slow motion, but instead learning something slowly taught to you like on XB or even YouTube. Start out slow and build up from what you learn.

 

[UnholyGodn]

6 months with reasonable dedication would get you to a rather comfortable level. I've almost been flourishing for 6 Months, leading a rather busy life so I don't really practice that often but I'm starting to get rather competent at flourishing as picking up new moves is far easier than before. At the moment I've started to specialise on mastering certain moves rather than learning everything I had available, while this may have seemed stupid, learning the basics of a lot of moves teaches your hands to hold cards in weird positions and strengthens them. If you master one cut from the start you'll be great at that one cut but training your hand to remember another one can be difficult.

 

[trashmanf]

i think it also establishes muscle and memory patterns and limits CONCEPTUAL creativity. i.e. someone decides to get "creative" by making a WERM with an extra packet. whoop de do.

if you get the encyclopedia or similar source, you can learn all the different concepts, there IS a lot more out there besides two-hand cuts! but you just don't see that represented if you are only learning from DnD material.

yes, I realize that DnD also teach a carny fan but uhh.... you guys know what I'm saying

 

[Eddie]

If you practice enough in 6 months, you'll get decent. Any beyond a year will do you great.

 

[Vinnie C.]

or even YouTube.

Nooooooooo! YouTube is the WORST place to learn card moves, 90% of the time the moves are taught REALLY incorrectly. Horrible place to learn stuff.

i think it also establishes muscle and memory patterns and limits CONCEPTUAL creativity.

I wrote an essay on conceptual thought as it applies to card handling a while back. I should post that.

-Vince

 

[Blindside462]

For the response up there...charlier I learned it the first minute I saw it lol. Just clicked to me because it was so simple.



It does take dedication, you have to do all this stuff and learn it through repitition to get the muscle memory going.

Anyway I'm going on to master Mayhem in a few days since I just finished up mastering Madonna, eko, akira, tectonic verb, genesis, 360 spider , mary jane


I practice an hour before school, and about 2-3 hours after I get my homework done and on the weekend I can practice up to 4 hours straight if needed.

I'm just now mastering WERM, and the other phases of Jackson 5. I need to stretch and excercise my fingers.

I'm getting really excited to get on going to Daniel Madison's Lethal stuff. His stuff is crazy cool.


----

What is getting really exciting is that months before I could barely spring cards. Now I can do an upside down spring (Brian Tudor Generation Extreme) very cleanly straight up and down. And all this crazy stuff, I'm going to love to see how my flourishes go a year from now. I'm just a hobbyiest magician/mentalist/flourisher as well