Hello!

[LukeFlourishes]

Hello everybody! Mine name is Luke and I am a young cardist and magician. I am turning 13 shortly and have been practicing sleight of hand for about 6-7 months. I can't wait to expand my knowledge of magic and cardistry on Theory 11 and meet all of the great people here! I will do my best to be active on the forums and I can't wait to see you around.
Thanks! -Luke

 

[Tower of Lunatic Meat]

Welcome to the forums!

There's lots of great people and a vast expanse of knowledge to be dispensed. Don't be afraid to ask any questions, but using the search bar could certainly save you some trouble.

Let's start with this, what magic books do you own?

 

[LukeFlourishes]

Welcome to the forums!

There's lots of great people and a vast expanse of knowledge to be dispensed. Don't be afraid to ask any questions, but using the search bar could certainly save you some trouble.

Let's start with this, what magic books do you own?

I have many books for beginners. That was my main resource when starting magic.
The books I own are The Royal Road to Card Magic by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue (this is a great one), Magic Card Tricks by Nicholas Einhorn (has my favorite card trick Gliding Home in it), Self Working Card Tricks by Karl Fulves, 101 Best Magic Tricks by Guy Frederick (some book my grandmother gave me), and Card Tricks for Beginners by Wilfried Jonson (which actually teaches some sleights). I am looking to buy some DVDs, but don't want to invest a ton of money. I saw the Daniel Garcia Project, which I loved, but I am looking for other suggestions if you have any. Thanks!

 

[leighelkins]

Welcome to the forums Luke.
Getting into magic can be so overwhelming, there is just so much out there to learn and every dvd seems to be endorsed by 100 top magicians. Just today I was looking through different torn and restored effects after one caught my eye, THERE ARE SO MANY!

One of the things I wish I had learned early on is that DVDs and downloads are great if you are desperate to learn a specific trick, but that's it. Some may come with multiple ways to use a particular method, but still, you're essentially learning one thing. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't bad and it isn't even true for all or even most DVDs although I do own a decent number of DVDs just like this, but in a lot of cases I wish I would have spent my money early on on lectures.

If you're not aware, in a lecture the lecturer will perform and then teach their own material, often stuff that they have been performing for years. These can be great fun to watch, you can learn a lot of material (often a great mix of stuff such as cards, coins, bands, impromptu, etc depending on the performer) and you'll get some great insights into the theory behind what they do. Obviously every lecturer is different so my advice would be to look through the Penguin Live lectures as well as the At The Table lectures and pick out some performers you like. Daniel Garcia has a great lecture with Penguin that is one of my personal favourites, he has also done At The Table.
A few of my other Penguin favourites are John Van der Put (Piff), Gregory Wilson (1 and 2) and Shawn Farquhar.
If you get just a few lectures you will learn a massive amount of tricks, within which there is likely to be a decent amount that you want to perform and you will also learn so much about the art that your ears will bleed.

 

[Tower of Lunatic Meat]

I have many books for beginners. That was my main resource when starting magic.
The books I own are The Royal Road to Card Magic by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue (this is a great one), Magic Card Tricks by Nicholas Einhorn (has my favorite card trick Gliding Home in it), Self Working Card Tricks by Karl Fulves, 101 Best Magic Tricks by Guy Frederick (some book my grandmother gave me), and Card Tricks for Beginners by Wilfried Jonson (which actually teaches some sleights). I am looking to buy some DVDs, but don't want to invest a ton of money. I saw the Daniel Garcia Project, which I loved, but I am looking for other suggestions if you have any. Thanks!

Here's the thing that helped narrow it down for me a bit:

WHO do you want to perform for? Kids? Adults? A mixture of both?

Now, WHERE do you want to perform? On the street? Restaurant? Close up shows? Stage? Hospital?

I feel like once you have an idea of these, you have now plowed through 80% of what you don't want right off the bat. From there, it's just HEAVY research of the effects and variations that you would want to do and selecting them carefully (because, let's face it. You don't want a cache of unused tricks in your living accommodations. Plus, that's money you could have spent on things that you WILL use).

 

[ScottH5]

A few potentially helpful tips, Luke! First, get Erdnase's The Expert at the Card Table. This is an invaluable resource. I cannot recommend Roberto Giobbi enough, especially when beginning. While his most popular work is the Card College series (originally published in German as Grosse Kartenschule), do not overlook his Card College Light (originally published in German as Roberto Light.) If you couple these few works with Royal Road, which you already have and presumably have worked through to some extent, you'll be surprised at how much more you will learn by doing so.

 

[Tower of Lunatic Meat]

I am looking to buy some DVDs, but don't want to invest a ton of money. I saw the Daniel Garcia Project, which I loved, but I am looking for other suggestions if you have any. Thanks!

Buying DVDs are a bit of a tricky thing. As you don't want to buy something that will take up space only to use 2 or 3 things from it. I only have two DVDs: Ray Kosby's Impossible Card Magic and Impossible Close Up Magic. I'd honestly have downloaded them if I could just to save space.
It's also because I'm a glutton for punishment, and it's going to take me A LONG TIME to learn his stuff.
And I think that's what you need to account for: Will this DVD be something I'm going to learn and use from for a very long time?
The key here is to save you space and money in the long run.

But if you can't find it in a download format, I'd suggest you look up reviews all over the place and make sure you know exactly what you're getting--especially since DVDs will cost more. I'm trying to get Max Maven's Multiplicity. Oh boy is that one not cheap (at least in my neck of the woods right now, it is not cheap. But it will be SO worth it.)

Honestly, I would search on DVD (and maybe books) on performance and/or character building.

You'll also need to learn what sort of magic works for different age groups. But that isn't as important as having building blocks like knowing how to carry yourself and the type of character you yourself want to convey to your audience.

I hope this helps in some capacity.

 

[LukeFlourishes]

Thanks everybody SO much for your help! It really shows just how great this community is.

Welcome to the forums Luke.
Getting into magic can be so overwhelming, there is just so much out there to learn and every dvd seems to be endorsed by 100 top magicians. Just today I was looking through different torn and restored effects after one caught my eye, THERE ARE SO MANY!

One of the things I wish I had learned early on is that DVDs and downloads are great if you are desperate to learn a specific trick, but that's it. Some may come with multiple ways to use a particular method, but still, you're essentially learning one thing. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't bad and it isn't even true for all or even most DVDs although I do own a decent number of DVDs just like this, but in a lot of cases I wish I would have spent my money early on on lectures.

If you're not aware, in a lecture the lecturer will perform and then teach their own material, often stuff that they have been performing for years. These can be great fun to watch, you can learn a lot of material (often a great mix of stuff such as cards, coins, bands, impromptu, etc depending on the performer) and you'll get some great insights into the theory behind what they do. Obviously every lecturer is different so my advice would be to look through the Penguin Live lectures as well as the At The Table lectures and pick out some performers you like. Daniel Garcia has a great lecture with Penguin that is one of my personal favourites, he has also done At The Table.
A few of my other Penguin favourites are John Van der Put (Piff), Gregory Wilson (1 and 2) and Shawn Farquhar.
If you get just a few lectures you will learn a massive amount of tricks, within which there is likely to be a decent amount that you want to perform and you will also learn so much about the art that your ears will bleed.

Thank you for the tip! I have trouble learning from text or just by watching, so lectures will be great for me.

A few potentially helpful tips, Luke! First, get Erdnase's The Expert at the Card Table. This is an invaluable resource. I cannot recommend Roberto Giobbi enough, especially when beginning. While his most popular work is the Card College series (originally published in German as Grosse Kartenschule), do not overlook his Card College Light (originally published in German as Roberto Light.) If you couple these few works with Royal Road, which you already have and presumably have worked through to some extent, you'll be surprised at how much more you will learn by doing so.

Thanks for the help! The Royal Road to Card Magic was such a great book. I have heard of Expert at the Card Table and have a Ebook version of it, but the English is a little poor, so I may try to find a revised version.

Here's the thing that helped narrow it down for me a bit:

WHO do you want to perform for? Kids? Adults? A mixture of both?

Now, WHERE do you want to perform? On the street? Restaurant? Close up shows? Stage? Hospital?

I feel like once you have an idea of these, you have now plowed through 80% of what you don't want right off the bat. From there, it's just HEAVY research of the effects and variations that you would want to do and selecting them carefully (because, let's face it. You don't want a cache of unused tricks in your living accommodations. Plus, that's money you could have spent on things that you WILL use).

Buying DVDs are a bit of a tricky thing. As you don't want to buy something that will take up space only to use 2 or 3 things from it. I only have two DVDs: Ray Kosby's Impossible Card Magic and Impossible Close Up Magic. I'd honestly have downloaded them if I could just to save space.
It's also because I'm a glutton for punishment, and it's going to take me A LONG TIME to learn his stuff.
And I think that's what you need to account for: Will this DVD be something I'm going to learn and use from for a very long time?
The key here is to save you space and money in the long run.

But if you can't find it in a download format, I'd suggest you look up reviews all over the place and make sure you know exactly what you're getting--especially since DVDs will cost more. I'm trying to get Max Maven's Multiplicity. Oh boy is that one not cheap (at least in my neck of the woods right now, it is not cheap. But it will be SO worth it.)

Honestly, I would search on DVD (and maybe books) on performance and/or character building.

You'll also need to learn what sort of magic works for different age groups. But that isn't as important as having building blocks like knowing how to carry yourself and the type of character you yourself want to convey to your audience.

I hope this helps in some capacity.

You have been incredibly helpful Brett! I only see myself performing in front of family and friends at this point in time, so I will do my best to see which tricks are best for certain people and not so much for others. I also agree on the DVDs. It is very hard to decide what to buy and what not to buy. Everything is so tempting, but I have a pretty limited budget. I prefer having DVDs than downloads because I would prefer to watch it on the big screen than a laptop.

Thanks everybody so much!
-Luke

 

[RealityOne]

I have many books for beginners. That was my main resource when starting magic.
The books I own are The Royal Road to Card Magic by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue (this is a great one), Magic Card Tricks by Nicholas Einhorn (has my favorite card trick Gliding Home in it), Self Working Card Tricks by Karl Fulves, 101 Best Magic Tricks by Guy Frederick (some book my grandmother gave me), and Card Tricks for Beginners by Wilfried Jonson (which actually teaches some sleights). I am looking to buy some DVDs, but don't want to invest a ton of money. I saw the Daniel Garcia Project, which I loved, but I am looking for other suggestions if you have any. Thanks!

Start with Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. For $15, is a great book and has everything including cards, coins, bills, rope, cups and balls, sponge balls, mentalism and stage magic. Just don't do the "pointing" thing that Mark does when vanishing an object -- it doesn't look good. That book will give you a strong set of basics in sleight of hand.

If you are looking at DVDs, the Daniel Garcia series is good. I like Eric Jones' Metal for coin work. You should get Bobo's Modern Coin Magic (the book) also for coins. For card magic, I agree that you should get the first two books in the Card College Series and Card College Lighter. Awesome books and you will learn sleight of hand the correct way. If you have lots of money and you think it will help, Roberto Giobbi has DVDs that go along with the books. I like Nathan Kranzo's Boondock Mentalism and Wayne Houchin's Art of Magic for a variety of tricks. I also recommend the Art of Astonishment books by Paul Harris. For the same price as a DVD, you get 10 times as much material. Get the first volume and work through that.

The biggest mistake beginners make is buying too much stuff and becomming overwelmed. Come up with a plan of what you are going to work through. Take one book or DVD at a time and master the material and perform it. Then go on to the next.

As far as learning from books, if you have any problems, we are here to help.

 

[LukeFlourishes]

Start with Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. For $15, is a great book and has everything including cards, coins, bills, rope, cups and balls, sponge balls, mentalism and stage magic. Just don't do the "pointing" thing that Mark does when vanishing an object -- it doesn't look good. That book will give you a strong set of basics in sleight of hand.

If you are looking at DVDs, the Daniel Garcia series is good. I like Eric Jones' Metal for coin work. You should get Bobo's Modern Coin Magic (the book) also for coins. For card magic, I agree that you should get the first two books in the Card College Series and Card College Lighter. Awesome books and you will learn sleight of hand the correct way. If you have lots of money and you think it will help, Roberto Giobbi has DVDs that go along with the books. I like Nathan Kranzo's Boondock Mentalism and Wayne Houchin's Art of Magic for a variety of tricks. I also recommend the Art of Astonishment books by Paul Harris. For the same price as a DVD, you get 10 times as much material. Get the first volume and work through that.

The biggest mistake beginners make is buying too much stuff and becomming overwelmed. Come up with a plan of what you are going to work through. Take one book or DVD at a time and master the material and perform it. Then go on to the next.

As far as learning from books, if you have any problems, we are here to help.

Thanks so much for the help! I have heard Card College is a great book series from many people, so I may try to research it.