Catching cards...A PROBLEM THAT I CAN'T JUST SOLVE...ugh

[Lord Magic]

So, it is one of the flashiest things to toss a card into the air and then catching it.
Some go the extra way and can catch it with their mouth...behind the back etc.
But here I am, who knows like a dozen ways to toss the card and I have practised them A LOT but I just cannot CATCH THE CARDS!!!
I mean I know it is knacky and stuff and I should probably experiment...but believe me, I have experimented a lot amd still am at a loss (I am sure no one will believe me there ).
Are their...like, NO tips for me?
Pls help.
Also if there really are nil tips, why don't you guys tell me how it was for you? Would help.
Am sure you guys had problems with this too...

**wonders if he is the only one who has problems, feels sad, pines away and dies.**

That being said, help me nevertheless pls

 

[Juvator]

Are you trying to catch it while holding a deck of cards in that hand? because that makes it extra challenging. And you need to have the deck deeper in your hand so that the cards don't bounce off, or your fingers don't have the reach to catch it if the cards doesn't land neatly on top. Because once you throw in the same arcs then the card catching also becomes easier because all you have to do is hold your hand in around the same place and it will just land perfectly on top of your deck even blindly if u master it not that I went that far in practicing it.

When catching without a deck in your hand it becomes much easier and well it's all about getting down throwing it consistently the same way and then you will know where the card becomes easiest to catch or in what part of it's trajectory you want to catch it.

I tried throwing them behind my back instantly without even being able to catch them properly so that didn't work. Then I just started simply just throwing them in front of me in small arcs so that my hand got better at catching first because I found that catching is much harder than throwing it in the same trajectories.

I remember that it took me 2 days to catch my first behind the back card and then I realized I wasn't necessarily throwing badly but you throw a lot more than you catch so therefor catching takes the longest to learn. And then keeping it simple works much better and once u get to a behind the back toss you will be catching it before you even realize what happened

I also don't know which technique you use for throwing so there is that.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

To sum up what Juvator said:

The throw is more important than the catch. When I teach people to juggle I make them toss one ball back and forth for twenty or so minutes, until the ball is going along the same path every time. That consistency in throws will mean you know where the object is going to land as soon as you release it, and you can have your hand there to catch it.

Make sure your throws are consistent.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

What these guys said.
Also, rubber bands

 

[DavidL11229]

When first starting out I would keep my palm open and slap catch it with a swing of the arm.

 

[Maaz Hasan]

What these guys said.
Also, rubber bands

O wait I just realized you meant a single card, not a packet ariel.

This prolly made no sense.

Instead of trying to catch it, learn to shoot it first. Once you get control on it, you can throw it to your hand.

 

[Juvator]

O wait I just realized you meant a single card, not a packet ariel.

This prolly made no sense.

Instead of trying to catch it, learn to shoot it first. Once you get control on it, you can throw it to your hand.

Hahaha I thought u just made a joke or reference to a previous comment
I find that it kinda helps to know what I'm aiming for though. But just throwing and learning which different angles are useful is also nice yeah. That's how I figured out how to catch it in my neck or mouth or behind or in the front.

When first starting out I would keep my palm open and slap catch it with a swing of the arm.

I tried to do that too at some point but I kinda messed up some cards with that and then to catch cards smoothly the lighter your grip and catch is the longer your cards lasts but more importantly the better it looks and feels. All these things are part of the move. Or I misunderstand what you mean by slap catch because I can't even really find that as a specific trick? Do you mean palm catching it with audible sound ?

 

[Maaz Hasan]

Hahaha I thought u just made a joke or reference to a previous comment
I find that it kinda helps to know what I'm aiming for though. But just throwing and learning which different angles are useful is also nice yeah. That's how I figured out how to catch it in my neck or mouth or behind or in the front.



I tried to do that too at some point but I kinda messed up some cards with that and then to catch cards smoothly the lighter your grip and catch is the longer your cards lasts but more importantly the better it looks and feels. All these things are part of the move. Or I misunderstand what you mean by slap catch because I can't even really find that as a specific trick? Do you mean palm catching it with audible sound ?

You shouldn't really be aiming for anything, you should be figuring out what combinations go where. It's kind of like how you see a (any sport involving people passing a ball) player catch a ball; he doesn't get to the ball, he knows where it is going and makes a minimal adjustment to catch it.

A Slap Catch would essentially b catching it as soon as it leaves your hand, like you would when you first learn a spring.

 

[Juvator]

I see yeah I guess that would be a better way to look at it. And that is definitely what you do when it comes down to it yeah.

Ah you mean that one would give the card a very light spin so that it wouldn't fly that far?

 

[DavidL11229]

I'm assuming this thread is about a boomerang card, perhaps it is not. When I say slap catch with open palm and a swing of your arm I mean with your palm open you catch the card by swinging your arm and slapping it as it returns to you. Slap catch with your palm open is not a trick, it's just a description of how you can catch a card by slapping at it with your palm open. You have to close your palm a bit as you catch it to hold on to it, but mostly it is a momentum thing. I don't remember which book this is from. The timing is easier this way than catching it between your fingers, but it does not look as good.

 

[Juvator]

I'm assuming this thread is about a boomerang card, perhaps it is not. When I say slap catch with open palm and a swing of your arm I mean with your palm open you catch the card by swinging your arm and slapping it as it returns to you. Slap catch with your palm open is not a trick, it's just a description of how you can catch a card by slapping at it with your palm open. You have to close your palm a bit as you catch it to hold on to it, but mostly it is a momentum thing. I don't remember which book this is from. The timing is easier this way than catching it between your fingers, but it does not look as good.

Yeah that's what I thought you meant yeah. It's just a different method of catching but it could help give you a better feeling for the timing I guess if you really have trouble catching it with fingers or while holding a deck. It is pretty frustrating to catch it with your finger at first and even more so when you hold a full deck in the hand that you have to catch it with but that does look the best I think. I just could not get my fingers to grab the card without tossing the whole deck out of my hands or it just endlessly bounced off.

Well I hope lord magic find anything useful here. When he returns to this topic he's gonna be able to do it in no time.

 

[Lord Magic]

Well I hope lord magic find anything useful here. When he returns to this topic he's gonna be able to do it in no time.

THE LORD RETURNS!!!

and is pretty happy...
Thanx!

 

[Lord Magic]

Am guessing the only remedy is to continue practising and obviously follow the interesting suggestions of ur guys...throwing in the same trajectory.

BTW...my main problem most of the times is the card bouncing off my fingers.
And then am like UGH!!!


But thank you!

 

[Lord Magic]

Btw...am talking about a few aerials in general...

1) Airbender by Chris Ramsay ( mainly...because it was knacky enough mastering the throw and then I find I cannot catch it)
2) Hot shot
3) The one where the deck is held horizontally and thumb tosses a card out.
4) Boomerang
5) Amazing jumping card, by Jeff McBride maybe?

 

[Juvator]

Am guessing the only remedy is to continue practising and obviously follow the interesting suggestions of ur guys...throwing in the same trajectory.

BTW...my main problem most of the times is the card bouncing off my fingers.
And then am like UGH!!!


But thank you!

Yeah that was my main problem as well. Even when you finally got the throwing down it's about that freaking catching and bouncing off XD

That's why I threw it in small arcs in front of me first to make sure my hand learn how to catch them. And now I can catch it cleanly on the deck or with a random finger holding the deck if it didn't land perfect. And well are you moving your thumb out of the way for example?

The moment your card has the right trajectory and everything then there's a moment just before catching it where you move your thumb out of the way and it just slides right on top of the deck. So just pay close attention to how your catching hand and fingers are positioned before catching it and what happens to your fingers when you try to catch it. Because automatically they will probably do stupid things but when you start paying more attention to that they will do what you wanted them to. And you are probably more focused on the throwing hand.

Also regardless of whether or not the card is going to fly right I usually watch my catching hand when I throw the card so that I don't have to turn my head because that's extra time and makes you less accurate. And that gives you more time to focus on the part where it's going wrong for you.. which is the catching.

So there's some additional advice

in regards to your edit

I am not very familiar with any throwing method because I just throw them my own way and it probably already exists but that's what I stumbled on accidentally and it works. It's probably nothing special. So for some throws some of the advice will probably not be applicable. I'm personally only talking about very straight forward throwing behind the back or in front... but this way also allows for catching with the chin, in the mouth or in the neck and such so i'm happy.

 

[Juvator]

Sometimes I hate this 5 minute edit rule haha So the way I do it is very simple I just hold a card horizontally between thumb and index near the bottom right edge of the card and then flick it with my middle finger. The trajectory is decided by how I high or low I hold my arm and how I tilt my wrist. And there's also some variance in how hard you flick it.

This might be a silly way to do it or there are better ways to do it It's working for me so i'm fine with that for the moment. And my friends are impressed when I show it haha, Nobody ever believes you can throw a card behind you and catch it . The learning curve tips are kinda applicable to your question though I think regardless of the chosen method.