The Classic Pass?

Dec 5, 2007
376
0
Hello everyone!

I have been working on the classic pass from time to time for a couple of years and since august i have been working on it really hard everyday to get it down after seeing that so many people likes the sleight so much.

I personaly dont like the pass at all as i feel that there is to much work to move just one card and it can be hard to cover in allot of situations and that there is better alternatives out there.

So whats your motivation to use the classic pass? Isn´t it better controls today then the pass? Controls like the cherry control that can be done out in the open with good angles or a side steal which has much better angles and can be done more natural.
 
Aug 10, 2008
2,023
2
33
In a rock concert
Hello everyone!

I have been working on the classic pass from time to time for a couple of years and since august i have been working on it really hard everyday to get it down after seeing that so many people likes the sleight so much.

I personaly dont like the pass at all as i feel that there is to much work to move just one card and it can be hard to cover in allot of situations and that there is better alternatives out there.

So whats your motivation to use the classic pass? Isn´t it better controls today then the pass? Controls like the cherry control that can be done out in the open with good angles or a side steal which has much better angles and can be done more natural.

well it depends, if you can do the pass really really good, well it is a awesome sleight in your routine, also it depends on how are you using it, if people from the front are burning your hands, well a good-old invisible pass is the way to go ( if you perform it well) and if you have a lot of people to the sides , well misdirection is your best bet, you could also give a few cuts,(holding a break above the card) and apparently losing the card, finishing with the pass, and boop! there you got it, the card in the top...

I use patter and I like to interact a lot with spectators, so misidrection is not a problem, I have to say that the pass is one of my most used sleights...

have fun practicing!
 
Nov 1, 2008
24
0
I see your point about the classic pass. It's a difficult move to do well, difficult to hide and takes more practice than most sleights to really feel out.

I always felt that it's a dead perfect sleight for when you don't want to have appeared to have "done a move"... a card is returned to the center of the table and the deck placed on the table. It can appear as if not a single extra move was done in those seconds. No riffle, no fan, no squaring up, nothing. The Cherry Control is great, I'm a dedicated fan of the DPS and I love the Ego Slip for a false center placement - but the Classic Pass has it's time and place. To undo a cut, to bring a stack to the top, endless...

Keeping in mind here that my personal opinion is that all moves should be done under misdirection, even the lowly double lift - which is possibly why you might be finding it hard to cover. A Classic Pass is quite hard to do invisibly with your hands burning - but under misdirection - it's a vapor, never happened, invisible.

I also don't like to use covers that call attention to y hands for the pass - riffles, shakes, etc. My personal preference is for no cover beyond misdirection and some minimal body movement.

Good luck - it's one of those moves that when you finally hit the stride you will want to find uses for it because of its sheer efficiency.

"Magic is misdirection..." - Jean Hugard

t
 
Apr 28, 2008
596
0
I use the pass because of it's versatility, it can be used as a control, vanish, transposition, to reverse a cut, setup a sandwich effect etc.

Purely as a control there's probably better moves out there (although it is probably my most frequently used control) but it's exceptionally useful due to the massive range of effects that can be accomplished with it.

If you think the classic pass can't be done naturally then watch this http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GusduqfKcs8
 
Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum, I hear the sound of a Medifro...um... >_>

- Sean
Yo! :p

( To original poster ) Things to keep in mind:
- The quality of the control is determined by how much it flows in a the trick you're doing. There are alot of tricks that use the pass exclusively taking advantage of the fact that its a cut. You can use side steals and other techniques as the trick you're working on dedicates.

- I only recommend getting the pass down after having experience doing magic. Some card concepts are so interesting when we research them, that we tend to ignore the side of magic that matters, performance. Only go into such concepts after having solid basis of magic theory, sleights and effects that you use ( unless your interested purely in card technique rather than performing, known in the trade as "move monkey" )

- After doing the above, I recommend practicing the pass or even study the basic movements even if you know that you won't be using the move. The reason for this is that there are sleights in magic that have important lessons inherent in their learning process. Learning Top changes will help you encounter the mental block of executing sleights are the right moment. Learning Palms will get you over the feel of being guilty. Learn a Diagonal Palm Shift and you're hands will do complex movements without your brain thinking about it ( among other things ). Learning Passes will teach you an extremely valuable lesson in sleight of hand,which is getting the move down to your own hand. The thing is that to do a good pass, you have to force yourself to analyze the move rather than doing it blindly off the text unlike other sleights. In advanced sleights in general, you pretty much self-teach the sleight to yourself, you gather info here and there, apply it to your hands and gestures, and go from there. The Pass in particular demands this, hence making it a valuable lesson in card handling ( thats not mentioning other things, doing the move in the right context, general body language .. etc >__< ). After studying it, you're mind will get used to analyze sleights, and you'll see the most simple sleights become very complex ( e.g. double lifts )

---------------------

Cheers,
 
Sep 1, 2007
1,572
2
34
Leicester, UK
www.youtube.com
Yo! :p

( To original poster ) Things to keep in mind:
- The quality of the control is determined by how much it flows in a the trick you're doing. There are alot of tricks that use the pass exclusively taking advantage of the fact that its a cut. You can use side steals and other techniques as the trick you're working on dedicates.

- I only recommend getting the pass down after having experience doing magic. Some card concepts are so interesting when we research them, that we tend to ignore the side of magic that matters, performance. Only go into such concepts after having solid basis of magic theory, sleights and effects that you use ( unless your interested purely in card technique rather than performing, known in the trade as "move monkey" )

- After doing the above, I recommend practicing the pass or even study the basic movements even if you know that you won't be using the move. The reason for this is that there are sleights in magic that have important lessons inherent in their learning process. Learning Top changes will help you encounter the mental block of executing sleights are the right moment. Learning Palms will get you over the feel of being guilty. Learn a Diagonal Palm Shift and you're hands will do complex movements without your brain thinking about it ( among other things ). Learning Passes will teach you an extremely valuable lesson in sleight of hand,which is getting the move down to your own hand. The thing is that to do a good pass, you have to force yourself to analyze the move rather than doing it blindly off the text unlike other sleights. In advanced sleights in general, you pretty much self-teach the sleight to yourself, you gather info here and there, apply it to your hands and gestures, and go from there. The Pass in particular demands this, hence making it a valuable lesson in card handling ( thats not mentioning other things, doing the move in the right context, general body language .. etc >__< ). After studying it, you're mind will get used to analyze sleights, and you'll see the most simple sleights become very complex ( e.g. double lifts )

---------------------

Cheers,

And that is why you're in my signature, great post.

- Sean
 
Jul 14, 2008
936
0
I personally like the classic pass because once you got it down, it will be almost invisible (if you practise the long period of time). I agreed with you that there are better controls out there that is easier to handle them.
 
Nov 1, 2008
24
0
@fridoliina - well well... I've been practicing the classic pass I'd say for 13 years give or take. It's one of those moves that I tend to do whenever I have a deck idly in my hands. That said - today I had a major breakthrough with the move. After reading your post and thinking about the pass for a bit and actually dissecting the mechanics of it slowly I found a bug. My left pinky was slowing the whole motion down. I found with some experimentation that if I adjusted my left hand grip just a hair and pushed the left pinky through the deck a bit further - the move is even more invisible.

It was a tiny adjustment to a move that I considered myself pretty adept at and hadn't actually revisited in some time.

If anything it's a lesson to me to go back and look at various sleights that we all do - at every stage of progression through ability.

- T
 
Jun 10, 2008
921
1
Newcastle upon Tyne
MY motivation to pass, is to use it as more than merely a control of one card, but to utilise it with as much variety as possible- as a colour change, a switch, a vanish, single card and multiple card control... and on and on.
I learned it originally as I was under the impression that it was a vital touchstone in learning sleight of hand, regardless of the fact that I may not use it much, but as I became more proficient with it, I found I was using it more and more. Now I use it daily.

CL
 
Aug 24, 2008
264
0
29
Greece
my story

well ......to start off i believe the pass is overrated though it is very versatile and can be used for many reasons (contols,color changes,etc).

When i was first learning the classic pass i was sure i would never get it down (and i am still not able to execute a descent classic pass). What i did though was to learn a ton of other passes (favourite being the herman pass , which i do very fast ).You see one day while i was practicing the turnover pass and the herman pass i sort of developed my own pass which was a combination of those two and really felt great.I execute the pass as my left hand points or gestures with the deck in hand . That is the pass i still use today and it is pretty darn invisible but the most important lesson i have learnt is that even you have the worst pass in the world you can get away with misdirection. I remember once i double-undercut the deck withouy the audience noticing because of an interesting presentation i used and because i kept all focus on them ( I didnt mean to "invisibly" cut the deck,i just wanted my psychological force to work :D). Though it really feels great when u know that u have a move that will never let you down when all else fails.


p.s. I later discovered that "my pass" was a version of the Ortiz Shift but in my version the left hand did all of the work while the right hand just held the deck and added cover

Peace
George
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
3
Back in Time
Right now my classic pass is OK if properly covered with good misdirection. But other than that it's not too fast. It'll probably be around another year or more before it gets to be decent in performing situations.
 
Jun 10, 2008
921
1
Newcastle upon Tyne
Right now my classic pass is OK if properly covered with good misdirection. But other than that it's not too fast. It'll probably be around another year or more before it gets to be decent in performing situations.


A classic pass, if used as a control (i.e, in it's original form), need not be particularly fast. This is a trap many students fall into. The pass is a move which should ideally be executed in an off beat, whilst being covered with good misdirection (you seem to have this part down by all accounts).
Dan Harlan's pass is invisible, but not because he can do it at 60mph, but because he has developed a wonderful misdirective touch. Mr.Harlan holds the bottom packet up at chest height to have the selectiopn replaced. His other hand, holding the top packet, approaches from above and drops the balance on top. Now, he squares up as he drops his hands to waist height. He passes as his hands are in motion. This is the kind of masterful misdirective touch that will elevate your pass to performance level.

I hope this makes sense.

CL
 
Jan 1, 2009
2,241
3
Back in Time
A classic pass, if used as a control (i.e, in it's original form), need not be particularly fast. This is a trap many students fall into. The pass is a move which should ideally be executed in an off beat, whilst being covered with good misdirection (you seem to have this part down by all accounts).
Dan Harlan's pass is invisible, but not because he can do it at 60mph, but because he has developed a wonderful misdirective touch. Mr.Harlan holds the bottom packet up at chest height to have the selectiopn replaced. His other hand, holding the top packet, approaches from above and drops the balance on top. Now, he squares up as he drops his hands to waist height. He passes as his hands are in motion. This is the kind of masterful misdirective touch that will elevate your pass to performance level.

I hope this makes sense.

CL

Well I don't want it to look super fast or anything. I mean there are a ton of other passes that use misdirection in them. The Spread pass, the dribble pass and also the cover pass. The only thing I am concerned with is my passes getting smooth and to decent looking. I could care less about it being the world's fastest pass sense I am not Akira Fuji and don't really have people burn my hands. For right now I am pretty much taking my time slowly passing a card to the top while watching TV and going through each of the passes.
 
Dec 29, 2008
29
0
Singapore
Since this is about the pass, I was wondering if I may ask a question here. Is it better to do the pass with a deep grip? It seems to make the pass less noticeable, also that also means less room to wriggle.

On a side note, is it possible to get something similar to akira fuji's pass, but in English?
 
Jun 10, 2008
921
1
Newcastle upon Tyne
Since this is about the pass, I was wondering if I may ask a question here. Is it better to do the pass with a deep grip? It seems to make the pass less noticeable, also that also means less room to wriggle.

On a side note, is it possible to get something similar to akira fuji's pass, but in English?


If anything, I pass at the fingertips. It starts in a deep mechanics grip, then as my othe rhand takes the deck (as this is my motivation for the cover hand), I transpose the packets and then square up.

Akira's pass is not something one can purchase, it's the result of years of arduous study and practice. He DOES however sell these block thingy's which apparently help in practicing your pass.

CL
 
Dec 29, 2008
29
0
Singapore
Deep mechanics grip? May I ask how does that work out? Cause I often don't go for a deep mechanics grip on my left, but instead have a deep biddle grip with my right (I'm right handed) to cover the motions. I was wondering if that is correct. While I get to cover more movements, the room I have is thus significantly decreased. What's your opinion on that, CL?

And thank you for the reply. =)
 
Jun 10, 2008
921
1
Newcastle upon Tyne
I'll break down my pass.

It starts in deep mechanics grip. I have my wedge break between the packets I am to transpose. As my other hand approaches from above, and subsequently covers the deck for a second, my fingers begin the passing action, shifting the top packet.
Now, as my other hand (cover hand) comes into contact with the deck (the packets are still at this point co-alescing), it takes the deck in a biddle grip and the first hand (the hand that shifted the packet) squares up. I wil lthen proceed.

I hope this makes sense. As far as I can tell, it is an unusual handling of the classic, but it's served me well for a long time.

CL
 
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