hey guys I have a quick question. What are some of the basic moves that I should start learning? Things like the classic pass, and other sleights that every magician should know. If you guys can list some that would be very helpful to me because when I go on youtube or something there are always so many different changes/sleights/passes that I don't know which ones to start with. Thanks guys
Question about sleights ?
- Thread starter Turbay_Travis
- Start date
Although most magicians won't like my answer:
If you're not willing to buy a book you could start to learn stuff on YT. There you will get an overview over card magic (beware: false tutorials!). If not just get Royal Road first. You don't need 3 books at once.
If you're not willing to buy a book you could start to learn stuff on YT. There you will get an overview over card magic (beware: false tutorials!). If not just get Royal Road first. You don't need 3 books at once.
Do yourself a huge favor and don't start with playing cards, learn the basics of actual slight-of-hand with balls, coins, thimbles, etc. before you move into playing cards. The best analogy I can give you is that in martial arts we found that it is much easier to teach a boxer how to use his legs than it was to teach a karate guy how to use his hands. It's the same kind of thing here; if you get addicted to playing cards first you aren't as likely to learn the other stuff as well or at the same level of proficiency.
To that end I'll point you to the Jeff McBride Manipulation videos as well as the Bill Tarr books "Now You See It; Now You Don't" as well as Bobo's Modern Coin Magic
To that end I'll point you to the Jeff McBride Manipulation videos as well as the Bill Tarr books "Now You See It; Now You Don't" as well as Bobo's Modern Coin Magic
If you are really fixated on cards, I wouldn't start with the classic pass, either. Save that for later; it's difficult and will take a very long and frustrating time to get good at.
To throw out a couple of more basic card sleights, maybe start with a simple double turnover or double lift, a top change, a couple of simple false cuts, and the double undercut.
To throw out a couple of more basic card sleights, maybe start with a simple double turnover or double lift, a top change, a couple of simple false cuts, and the double undercut.
To be honest, if you want to start card magic and hate reading like I do, the absolute best source I found and I wish I had it when I started is How to do Miracle Card Tricks by Adam Wilber and Peter Mckinnon...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9c9A4q0SwQ
Watch that video, it doesn't really matter which one you get but probably get one of them, something with lots of content aimed at beginners will do. There is always the old book/videos argument. To me it mostly seems to be older magicians who don't like change arguing against using videos, but they are fine; and then younger magicians too inexperienced to be patient with books. Think what you want to think. I'm of the opinion that both books and videos are fine, but you'll probably get the best value out of big anthology style books that build foundations, rather than one trick downloads that cost the same. Some things are very hard to teach in a book, and some things are very hard to teach in a video.
Just learn a whole bunch of stuff for at least a couple of years, you'll get all the terminology and culture about it, it just takes time. Also, perform while you learn.
Watch that video, it doesn't really matter which one you get but probably get one of them, something with lots of content aimed at beginners will do. There is always the old book/videos argument. To me it mostly seems to be older magicians who don't like change arguing against using videos, but they are fine; and then younger magicians too inexperienced to be patient with books. Think what you want to think. I'm of the opinion that both books and videos are fine, but you'll probably get the best value out of big anthology style books that build foundations, rather than one trick downloads that cost the same. Some things are very hard to teach in a book, and some things are very hard to teach in a video.
Just learn a whole bunch of stuff for at least a couple of years, you'll get all the terminology and culture about it, it just takes time. Also, perform while you learn.