theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards
I'm just starting and need some tips
- Thread starter Timmeh77
- Start date
@Maaz Hasan. @kennethcmerrill and @Lord Magic are right. Take it slow. You are not ready to perform for money after six months of learning off of YouTube. You may feel like you know a lot, but you have barely scratched the surface. Embrace magic, learn its secrets -- not the methods but the real secrets about how to script, routine and perform. Go out and perform... for family and friends. After a year of doing that, then consider performing for money.
I agree. Nothing bad starting on youtube but you need start reading books to learn the basics. I would not preform for gigs yet. I would try to study and get good presentation and tricks down, start doing it at school and friends then once you get a good routine down ask the local pizza place or bar if you can walk around for free. Then if people think it was good they might tell the owner and he could hire you and then you are off! From there you can book gigs. The steps I listed should take a couple months at least though. I am only doing things for friends and school. I have done magic for 7 months, only read a couple of books like royal road but my routines are from books (which are usually the good ones).
Good Luck!
Routines will come when you learn the basics. A routine is essentially any 3 or more tricks linked together in a plot.
I'll come out and say that learning how to write a routine will be one of the most difficult parts of this whole thing. I don't have any advice because I'm a beginner just like you, but from what I've seen on the forums, it's very difficult for one person (even a master magician) to tell another person how to write a routine. It's almost like trying to tell someone how to write a book. Beyond learning correct grammar and basic story structure, there isn't really a method to writing a novel--the best way to learn is to read lots of great books, write lots of stuff (even unrelated stuff), and eventually it will come out of you. It just takes daily study and practice. I believe magic is much the same. Watch lots of great routines, and then just try to script stuff together yourself.
I've only written one routine in my life. I basically saw three effects that had similar premises, and I decided to string them together and use them to demonstrate that luck is a real thing--with a little sleight of hand
. Each effect naturally built on the last, and so it was easy to script into one fluid demonstration. So my limited experience is just look at the stuff you know and see what naturally gravitates together in your mind, figure out why, and figure out how you can creatively present that to people.As everyone has been saying, this will get easier the more basic magic you know. It's hard to write a novel if you only know 10 words. Get cracking on basic technique, and you'll start to understand the language of magic, and that will help you write your routines.
For resources on the basics, I would start with Royal Road to Card Magic. It's super affordable, has enough basic card magic to last you quite some time, and it will give you a solid foundation. It is a little old; so you'll have to work past some of the antique language, but if you can do that, it's TOTALLY worth the money/time you put in. And guess what, it even has some pre-built, pre-scripted routines in the back for you to practice with. I don't really care for the scripting, but it's not bad for workshop material.
PS. If you're interested in hearing the details of my routine, you can PM me, and we'll talk. I may not be able to reveal the details of the methods, but I can let you know the structure of the routine, and if you're interested I can point you to where you can learn the effects themselves if that's helpful to know. One of them is in Royal Road, actually.
Most of the basic magic books have a WHOLE chapter dedicated only to routines!
That will help you a lot I guess!
I’d say you’re too new to magic and young. You’ve been into magic for only six months, that’s a very short time for something like magic, that takes a lot of practice. Focus and erring better for now. Practice, find better sources than YouTube stuff only and rethink this in a year or so. That’s my honest advice.
If you are just starting out, gigs should be something you should not be too worried about right now. Focus on becoming a better magician, THEN you can start worrying about booking gigs when you are ready. Took me about 4-5 years of serious practice before I became comfortable charging people money to perform magic for them.
Focus on becoming a better magician, THEN you can start worrying about booking gigs when you are ready. Took me about 4-5 years of serious practice before I became comfortable charging people money to perform magic for them.Go to any magic shop weather it is online or local doesn't matter pick a book to learn and start reading
These people are 100% correct.
I started on YT.. Then went on to downloading pirated magic DVD's. It wasn't until I met a very good magician at a relatively local (1.5hrs away) magic shop that I was going about it the wrong way.
Since then I purchased an E-reader and purchased a bunch of magic books online, among other things.
It's taken me over a year to correct the damage YT did to my sleights. Learn it the right way first. Then... if you really want.. check out YT, that way you can weed out the garbage.
Books are far more bang for your buck. Not as exciting as a DVD and gimmick.. but far more beneficial.
I started on YT.. Then went on to downloading pirated magic DVD's. It wasn't until I met a very good magician at a relatively local (1.5hrs away) magic shop that I was going about it the wrong way.
Since then I purchased an E-reader and purchased a bunch of magic books online, among other things.
It's taken me over a year to correct the damage YT did to my sleights. Learn it the right way first. Then... if you really want.. check out YT, that way you can weed out the garbage.
Books are far more bang for your buck. Not as exciting as a DVD and gimmick.. but far more beneficial.
And yeah, books. In a club books can be passed around which is economical. Invest in good basic books...
Royal Road To Card Magic.
New Modern Coin Magic.
Routined Manipulation (all three).
Stars of Magic (if you can find it).
Tarbell (dated but still holds up).
Add a book on theory such as Ortiz's Strong Magic.
Get through those and then you will know which of the advanced texts to acquire next.
Spend a year or so with fellow enthusiasts and build off of each other using the above materials and you probably will not need to ask about routines. Plus you should have better skill, more confidence and your style of performance may begin to come out. Don't be in a hurry. Practice often. Perform seldom. Have fun.
Royal Road To Card Magic.
New Modern Coin Magic.
Routined Manipulation (all three).
Stars of Magic (if you can find it).
Tarbell (dated but still holds up).
Add a book on theory such as Ortiz's Strong Magic.
Get through those and then you will know which of the advanced texts to acquire next.
Spend a year or so with fellow enthusiasts and build off of each other using the above materials and you probably will not need to ask about routines. Plus you should have better skill, more confidence and your style of performance may begin to come out. Don't be in a hurry. Practice often. Perform seldom. Have fun.