New to card Magic - Learn all use some?

[Deadlyapples]

Couldn't really think of a better way of titling this post!

I am a beginner card magician. I am about 2 months in and loving it. I used to do juggling when I was a bit younger, and play the drums, guitar etc and love hand and arm dexterity things. I am also very much a fidgiter. Always doing something with my hands. Don't know why I didn't start learning this sooner.

Anyway I just have a few questions and hope I can get some honest answers and suggestions perhaps.

I have never actually had a card trick performed to me before, ever so I come at magic from this weird perspective I guess but I love learning this stuff.

So anyway so far I have learned / am still developing.

Overhand false shuffles (Injog, Retention, Milk Shuffle, etc) Double undercut from breaks. Double over-cut / swing cut to a break. (I didn't know the name so just thought of it as a similar result to the double undercut but from the top down instead. False Cuts. False riffle shuffle. Mahatma overhand Shuffle from a break. But I am also developing my clipshift and initial holding of card to bottom using a similar clipshift feel. And so far the clipshift and bottom sort of variation althought have taken me a week or 2 to get comfortable with feel the better options than using double undercuts and swing cuts and breaks.

So I guess my question is. Why not just get the selected card to the top , bottom or where you need it straight away without the spectator noticing and work from there? Do any of you do this.

I can appreciate it is a matter of circumstance because these won't work in every situation. Either way I am going to learn all I can and get as good as I can in as much as I can because that is the fun of it.

I hope this doesn't come off sounding insulting or anything like that I am just curious.

Its just that I have found now that I have 4 or 5 methods of getting a selected card to the top or bottom of the deck within the first few seconds without having to do cuts and shuffles should I abuse these manipulations or even sometimes force myself to use the standardized manipulations.

I do not have the experience yet so I am here to ask those of you who have that!

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Where are you learning these things?

 

[RealityOne]

So I guess my question is. Why not just get the selected card to the top , bottom or where you need it straight away without the spectator noticing and work from there?

The sleights used depend on the requirements for the effect and the design of the presentation. After a spectator selects and returns a card, they usually will be looking at your hands. If you do a control at that time, they will see you did "something." By waiting, you provide some time between the card being reinserted and the performance of the sleight. The other factor is that you want a sleight to be disguised as something else. So if the audience sees you doing a shuffle (which makes sense after a card is inserted in the deck) that provides the perfect cover for a control.

I do have an effect where I palm a card that was inserted in the middle of the deck in the act of closing the spread of the deck and handing it to the spectator. The action of closing the spread gives cover to me palming off the card. As I hand the deck to the spectator, I say "I'm not even going to touch the cards." The instantaneous nature of the sleight works in that effect.

In another effect, I have the card reinsered into the deck and the deck tabled. I think pick up the deck and do a couple of riffle shuffles. I top palm the card as I hand it back to the spectator for them to shuffle. As they shuffle, I put their card under their glass. In that effect, the delay of the control and the use of the cover of riffle shuffling works to convince the spectator that their card is in the deck and completely lost.

With the multitude of sleights available, it really comes down to picking the one that works best with the design of the effect.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

So far, it looks like you have learned nothing but controls. I think you would actually really enjoy The Royal Road to Card Magic. Its a beginners book that will take you through the basics (and it's cheap). Nothing you have learned thus far can really constitute into a full on trick, much less a routine, but the Royal Road will work you through the basics. Hell, I've been doing Card Magic for over 2 years now, and I am still learning incredible things from it. In fact, almost anything in the Royal Road can be paired with more advanced stuff, which is what I am doing right now with other books.

However, to answer your actual question, there is no necessity to actually perform any of these. It all comes with the scenario. There are sleights out there that I use daily to get cards invisibly to the top (my most used of which is featured in the Royal Road). As David said, it all depends on the presentation.

Just because you know something, doesn't mean you have to or should perform it. In fact, in a lot of cases, the simpler something looks, the cleaner it will be. You shouldn't really be using more than 2 or 3 of these at a time, and even then, that is soooo convoluted that I would advise against it. The tricks you see where people shuffle cards for 5 minutes straight in different ways normally end up being total crap, simply because no one really cares about how much the cards are being shuffled.

Sleights shouldn't be the performance in and of themselves. They should be used to create something. They should be the formulas you use to find x, the ingredients that were put in your cake, the handles you use to fly by the defense, the jabs you throw to keep your opponent back. Could you drive a car without breaks? Probably not, bad example. But you can sure hit 88 mph without them. That was a hypothetical scenario at the end there. Don't do that it's bad.

I would say go study the basics, I recommend the Royal Road, but there are also other good beginner sources out there. Then figure out what to do with the controls before you figure out which ones to use.

 

[Deadlyapples]

In response to Christopher I have learned some from videos but not always tutorials. Just watching someone perform and then trying to replicate it then practising in front of a mirror at different angles one I realised that angles were really important if you don't misdirect.

I know about a handful of tricks or effects like card into the deck upside down, also a summon 2 jacks to find your card which is just a variation on the first trick and then a choose 3 cards and the last card will find your first 2. Also a small one I did for my dads birthday which was finding his card and then doing a colour change that I forget the name of. Hehe. So far I am enjoying it, the manipulations are so interesting but I do need to start working on the theatre, story telling and actual tricks.

Thank you so much for the info guys gunna try get that book you suggested, probably amazon is my best bet. Do you guys recommend any video tutorials as I find I learn best visually and then just major practise.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

In response to Christopher I have learned some from videos but not always tutorials. Just watching someone perform and then trying to replicate it then practising in front of a mirror at different angles one I realised that angles were really important if you don't misdirect.

I know about a handful of tricks or effects like card into the deck upside down, also a summon 2 jacks to find your card which is just a variation on the first trick and then a choose 3 cards and the last card will find your first 2. Also a small one I did for my dads birthday which was finding his card and then doing a colour change that I forget the name of. Hehe. So far I am enjoying it, the manipulations are so interesting but I do need to start working on the theatre, story telling and actual tricks.

Thank you so much for the info guys gunna try get that book you suggested, probably amazon is my best bet. Do you guys recommend any video tutorials as I find I learn best visually and then just major practise.

By video tutorials do you mean YouTube or Downloads from TXI, E, Penguin, etc.?

The Downloads & DVDs are definitely a great place to learn, though they will generally be focused around one trick. It is better for you to learn a wide variety when you start.

As for YouTube, a ton of the stuff you find on there is going to be absolute trash. These videos will be poorly taught, have no performance, and have no references, if any at all. That being said I have run across a few channels made by actual magicians that will actually help you.

Once you get a lot more understanding of magic into your Arsenal, 52Kards is a great Website & YouTube channel you can go to to see visual tutorials of sleights. They will have the book(s) and magician(s) sited in the description, will go over performance & handling, and a ton more. They will rarely post full on tricks unless it is based off of a prior sleight they taught, but will also give you recommendations on how to use it. Where you are right now, it will probably be to difficult for you to understand a lot of the stuff on the channel, but as you perform & learn more, it can become a great utility. If you pick up the Royal Road, you will probably be in the zone in 2 - 4 weeks, but a lot of the sleights aren't easy.

Rise Magic can teach you a lot about performance and presentation. They are fairly new on YouTube, so they don;t have too much content, but all of their stuff is

Scam School will teach you basic principals & how to present a trick, alongside a complete trick. They make up their own tricks, or cite it from an old book (or a modern one if the author is living & gives them permission).

Just remember. The stuff you get from YouTube should never be performed as is. You need to tweak it to better fit your handling, your style, your personality, and your routine.

Furthermore, if you aren't using books, you are definitely missing out on a ton. All the good stuff is in the books.

 

[Al e Cat Dabra]

@Deadlyapples:"Do you guys recommend any video tutorials as I find I learn best visually and then just major practise."

Yes, Michael Ammar, "Easy to Master Card Miracles," especially any or all of the first 3 volumes. It's wonderful. But you'll have to purchase the DVDs.

One recommendation: It's great that you're enjoying it so much, but sleights and moves are tools. A tool has no meaning or function by itself, without a specific use for it. If you are building something you would use only the tool you needed for each phase of the particular project, e.g. tape measure for the measurements, saw to cut the wood, hammer or screwdriver to nail or screw things together, etc. You wouldn't just hammer nail after nail into a piece of wood just for the sake of doing it. Same with magic. Each trick or routine is a project. For each trick or routine, use and practice just the moves you need to accomplish the effect(s). It's a much more practical way to learn, and when you then have a trick you can do smoothly, you've got something to show for it. Maybe you can entertain yourself by sitting around practicing a bunch of moves and sleights, and if that's your goal, that's fine - but you won't be able to entertain anyone else...

 

[Deadlyapples]

I suppose I approached this like I did my drumming. Learn some technique before any song, then I can work on the songs using my technique. I find it enjoyable to grind away until a technique is perfected, then learning the song is that much easier, will start learning some tricks to put the slights to more practical use! Cheers guys.