New to Magic

[keith1569]

Hey guys I am quite new to card magic..I have learned a few tricks on youtube that require little work..one is the biddle and one other that i cannot remember the name for...anyway i am going to buy a dvd or two to learn more..i would like ur opinions

i am thinking

born to perform
dangerous trilogy
Xtreme Beginnerz DVD Set --for flourishing techniques

do you think born to perform will keep me busy??

 

[Chr!s]

Hey guys I am quite new to card magic..I have learned a few tricks on youtube that require little work..one is the biddle and one other that i cannot remember the name for...anyway i am going to buy a dvd or two to learn more..i would like ur opinions

i am thinking

born to perform
dangerous trilogy
Xtreme Beginnerz DVD Set --for flourishing techniques

do you think born to perform will keep me busy??

Welcome.

My opinion is, buy the royal road to card magic, then do this routine for six months-

-Study
-Practice
-Study
-Practice
_perform
-Study
_practice
_perform


Just something like that.

Oh, yeah, and stop learning from youtube. It's sick.

CL

 

[Bijlogg]

By learning from youtube you have made your job harder as you now will have to try and forget what you've learnt from these people who have no idea what they are talking about and relearn it the proper way.

I second Chris' recommendation, but I will also put in a vote for card college by Roberto Giobbi. Don't be put off by the large price tag of getting all the volumes at the same time. You do not of course need to do this. Instead buy volume one on its own and have fun working through that. You should find it is approximately the same price as a DVD, but far far better.

Alternatively if you insist on a DVD then get the Royal Road set with R. Paul Wilson, but pick up the book with it since it's only $10. Also, though I wouldn't recommend everything they put out, far from it in fact, ellusionist's Crash Course 1 is an ok start to card magic, it's main selling point being that it's lots of fun to watch so should enthuse you.

Best of luck, I'm a PM away if you need any answers to questions you may have.

Tom

 

[JustJoseph]

/slap/ ok man lets get this out in the open youtube=hell ok? now start with some easy things that are found in the 1on1 section of the site CARD FUNDAMENTALS : Volume one and two by aaron fisher. that is a good start for now

 

[praetoritevong]

Hi keith, welcome to magic!

First thing I would like to say is, directly regarding the ones you have listed, Dangeous/Trilogy will be too hard for you, and you won't have the necessary experience. If you'd like to get some flourishing down, by all means get the XB set; another resource for beginning flourishing would be something like The Encyclopedia of Playing Card Flourishes.

Regarding Born to Perform... Yes, it would probably occupy you, but like the guys above I wouldn't recommend starting with it. The most commonly recommended starting point for magicians would be Royal Road to Card Magic, and for good reason. Another one is, as Bijlogg mentioned, Card College. The reason for these being that they focus on the art of magic and the things beginners need to know about magic - and believe me, magic is far far more than just the tricks. They're created as a "course" for magic per se and they're good ones at that, and they should get you well on your way to becoming really good, the right way.

Speaking of the right way. I feel I should let you know that learning tricks off YouTube is frowned on by the magic community and furthermore is considered unethical. It's alright - many, many people have done so in the past, myself included I will admit, it doesn't matter now - but just for the future, keep in mind that revealing magic secrets, and learning without paying for them, is considered extremely unethical. A lot of people, like the guy above, won't bother to say that nicely. There really are lots of things to learn - but that's not a bad thing, understanding will come. I spent the first few months of learning magic quite lost and aimless and over time have built up knowledge and understanding, so keep at it, and again, welcome

 

[RikAllen]

Yeah. Not much more needs to be said unless you have specific questions about certain books.

Royal Road is a good starting place, I have never actually owned or looked through it...heck for 10 dollars I might pick it up. I started with simple self-working tricks taught by my dad and friends, etc. I'm currently working a lot from the Card College Series already mentioned, they're a great resource and volume 1 teaches a good amount of basic techniques very well.

I will re-iterate Chris's point... Over the next couple of months you'll want to find tricks that you like...say 3 or 4...and then

Study
Practice
Study
Practice
Ask questions for advice if needed
Study Practice
Perform (close friends and family)
Ask them to be honest about what you need to work on
Work on those things specifically
Study
Practice
Perform..

After you get three or four tricks perfect, try creating something new with the sleights or ideas you've learned. Then start to figure out what other tricks you'd enjoy performing.

OH! youtube has already been covered. But if you ever have a question about a product, or sleight or anything-Use the Search function and see if you can find the answer, and if you can't Then you make a thread about it.

With that aside,
Welcome to our world, and I hope you enjoy doing magic and stick with it.


-Rik

 

[keith1569]

hey no problem wtih being straight forward guys..ok i will loook into the Royal Road to Card Magic dvd..

thanks for the help guys..

keith

 

[Bijlogg]

I will re-iterate Chris's point... Over the next couple of months you'll want to find tricks that you like...say 3 or 4...and then

Just curious Rik, why do you say 3 or 4?

Tom

 

[keith1569]

what would be the route to go after the royal road to card magic? would it be a dangerous dvd?? or what..just curious

thanks

 

[StevenLevitt]

There is not a particular path that you should take. In order to become successful, you need to play with what suits you. What sort of magic interests you? What is your target audience? No point learning flourishes if you want to become a children's entertainer.

Have a think, if you just want to learn "tricks" and just do it as a hobby to show mates, then buy things that interest you. But, remember that in magic, it isn't how many effects you own, it is how good of a performer you are.

So just keep at it, and do what you want, find out what you want, and find out what suits you. I could recommend you the best things that gives me the best reactions from the audience, but only because I have tried so many different effects and I have practised, practised, and practised. It would be no point for me to do so as they may not even suit your persona.

 

[keith1569]

thanks for the reply..i would like to learn just to perform for friends at kids at school..i teach 3rd graders so i like to show them sometimes little tricks when we have spare time..i have done little flourishes for them and they do enjoy them,..i guess i said what path because i was thinking so i would not choose a trick to hard to learn or dvd set for that matter that has tricks that are to difficult

 

[Morgan B]

Keith,

The fact you took the time to ask, shows much about you already - you will be very good. Some say there is no "wrong" path, but the wrong path is trying to learn so much that you don't take time to do what you know well...but we all have been guilty of it.

The best you can do for now is learn the effects really well...experience will guide you the rest of the way. Not everything is good out there, but when you have nothing to compare it to - it is.

My recommendations for you are Micheal Ammar's Easy to Master Card Miracles...there are 9, but buy the first one and work through them. Ammar will teach you about credits, and the owner's of the effects. The moves are taught well.

I think Royal Road DVD is good too - and if you like magic enough, you should consider some books. Many will agree, some of the best stuff is hidden in books and NOT put on DVD. Sadly, there is a real struggle between people selling stuff for profit and people selling stuff to contribute to the art.

Being here and asking puts you on a good path. Good luck.

 

[keith1569]

Morgician--thanks for the info and encouragement...i will definately be lookin into it

keith

 

[RikAllen]

Just curious Rik, why do you say 3 or 4?

Tom

If you take 3 or 4 effects and learn them until you have them perfect, the sleights independent of the trick and the effects (essentially routine) themselves, it'll be easier to move on.

You don't want to overload yourself and learn a lot of stuff right away--look at a lot of stuff and find 3 or 4 you like, learn them well, and then you'll have a decent amount of variation.
Or you can choose 3 to 4 that routine well together, have a spectator cut to the 4 aces...do a packet trick with the 4 aces...do a sandwich routine with 2 of them...or even 'Honestly, Which one is it?' which has become known as 2CM.
Edit::You should take a book (like royal road, card college, anything else with a lot of stuff ) and go all the way through it, then pick the tricks that you enjoy the handling, patter, and presentation of to learn well.

You'll also get to see what kind of stuff gets reactions, and in my experience the more you do a trick the more you can adapt it to get better reactions (change patter, awkwardness during certain sleights/moments...etc).

You'll also get an idea of what stuff you enjoy performing (poker demos, packet tricks, self-working miracles, cards, coins, sponge balls(great for third graders...and adults, imo) etc...)

I found that card tricks are where I enjoy performing the most. Simple coin work, sponge balls(which have helped my hands for timing/general palming) and some general sleight of hand (vanishes, productions, changes) all fit into my repertoire, but most of it is done with cards.
And all that came after I learned some tricks, tried various things, and realized what I enjoyed doing.

Sorry for the long post. Hope some of it's coherent, I just kind of typed it out. And I hope it both answered the question and helps somebody (anybody...)
Also-This is just my opinion, I know magicians who all started different ways (learning tons of stuff all at once, learning just sleights and making their own tricks from the start and some who do any type of magic-they just love performing)

Anyway (to the thread creator). Good luck, and T11 is a good place for advice, generally there is always someone to help on any given topic.

I always end up typing more than I want...oh well, better to be thorough than have to answer another question.
Later,
-Rik

 

[praetoritevong]

Hey keith, I second Morgician's encouragements. I suppose after Royal Road - it kinda depends what sorta stuff clicks with you, you know? See like the Dangerous stuff for example, technically, most of it isn't terribly challenging. But, it does require a lot more audience management skills than other products do. See what you enjoy, as people have said, there are many roads, but the suggestions so far should keep you busy for a while ^.^

 

[Bijlogg]

If you take 3 or 4 effects and learn them until you have them perfect, the sleights independent of the trick and the effects (essentially routine) themselves, it'll be easier to move on.

I agree that this is a good idea, but with little/no experience it's not easy to choose the right tricks.

Once you've learnt and tried a number of tricks, you get an idea what suits you, then you can start to focus on a specific type of trick that you know you will like from experience.

Do you agree?

Tom

 

[Medifro]

thanks for the reply..i would like to learn just to perform for friends at kids at school..i teach 3rd graders so i like to show them sometimes little tricks when we have spare time.

I would advise you to get Mark Wilson's magic book ( I forgot the name, but its quite popular ), for these reasons:

- Teaches coins, cards, and most importantly, spong balls, which are great for young kids.
- Very cheap paperback, so if you plan not to get into magic more, or just "remain on the surface", you won't end up spending alot of cash.
- Very easy to learn from.

Good luck

 

[keith1569]

thanks for the great info guys..well i ordered born to perform and royal road..so that should keep me busy for a while..i suppose after a while with those i might pick up a good book..i am mroe of a visual learner which is why i went with dvd's at first..once i get some of the basics down it might make reading through a book easier..


thanks again for all the comments and help

keith

 

[filth0013]

what would be the route to go after the royal road to card magic? would it be a dangerous dvd?? or what..just curious

thanks

card college volumes 1-4

 

[RikAllen]

I agree that this is a good idea, but with little/no experience it's not easy to choose the right tricks.

Once you've learnt and tried a number of tricks, you get an idea what suits you, then you can start to focus on a specific type of trick that you know you will like from experience.

Do you agree?

Tom

Very true. I do agree, and even (right after I posted, so 2 days ago) edited my post to add that going through an entire volume (royal road, for example) and figuring out which tricks you enjoy performing is the best way to find tricks you'll want to do.

I still do a card through table that me and a friend have used for years, it fools the heck out of people (not a magician fooler, but who would want to fool a magician anyway?). But because we kept working and perfecting it, refining to what it is today, I have a trick that can be done more or less surrounded, through any surface. It's simple, direct...and since we kept with it, we have 4 or 5 variations (currently working on card through table...then repeat-but deck through table and card left on top)

And Keith-Good choices. I don't own 'Born to Perform' but I hear only good things from it.

-Rik