Please help me improve my Classic Pass

[LarryX]

Hi, I am a novice magician with a bit over a year's worth of experience. Up till now, I was able to figure out many knacky moves and tricks alone (with a DVD/book). However, there is one move, the Classic Pass, that I have practiced for many months now but it still looks shoddy. I always practiced in front of a mirror, at many angles, and even videotaped myself for analyzing. All of my efforts seemed to have no effect on improving my pass .

I will post a youtube link of my classic pass, and I will really really appreciate it if you guys could critic me on how I could improve the pass.

My ultimate goal in doing the classic pass is to make it completely undetectable. A card goes in the middle of the deck, the cards are squared, and the card is simply at the top. I want this to work even with my hands being burned.

Here is the video of my current Classic Pass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N44CJtAst9c


UPDATE! Thanks to all of you guys' great feedback, I think I got better with my pass than I would have by probably weeks or months. It is still not perfect, but it is precisely because of that that I will link you guys my current classic pass. Please critisise it, and give some tips for further improvement. In the meantime, this pass is now what I deem good enough to perform live (with a little misdirection), so I'm practicing my palming (which I accidentally flashed in the vid -_-). I might take down my previous vid in time; if I wanted to purposely flash, I might as well make a tutorial.
My Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jKyAFfiZx8

 

[10magicman21]

My friend, when I was a year old magician, I barely knew what a classic pass was. Yours looks pretty awesome from what I saw. My advice is to keep practicing. Also, if you incorporate a movement of the arms, it looks a lot better. Here's an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKx0zy2RZck.

 

[LarryX]

Well that's the thing, I don't want to go for a pass that requires more movement than just...squaring up the deck. After all, even a spectator knows that something is up when hands go up and down vertically to square up the cards. I want it to look like I'm just...straightening the deck.

Oh and I bought a video tutorial after a few weeks of frustration. It is Alex Pandrea's Brick Pass. It looks like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EDh27Shgbs

 

[mbryanroy]

Your pass looks great, especially considering the length of time you've been practicing. Most of the problems that beginners would have (flashing the cards between or under the fingers of the covering hand) you have nearly completely eliminated. What you should understand about the brick pass, is that he has had so many years of experience, so you will get there. In the mean time you should experiment with motions to cover the pass, I understand you want it to look just like squaring the deck, (believe me, I think every card man would love a pass that was honestly invisible) but you'd be very surprised what a very small movement or natural motion can do to help hide the move. In short my advice would be to begin looking at ways to incorporate the pass into a natural move, (as suggested by the previous reply). I have also seen the pass done with a riffle action, maybe look that up on youtube. Your classic pass is well on its way to looking the way you want it to look, that will come with more and more experience.

Hope this helps

 

[venom546]

What some people have said, I think just shaking your hands a little maybe would help it look a little more visual. I have been messing around with the classic and the brick pass and although the brick pass helped me, I still can't make it look as visual as Alex does in the video. That just takes practice which I understand. But I know that if I just wave my hands a little, then it looks pretty visual.

 

[LarryX]

Thanks for all the awesome feedback. After hearing that this blasted 2 step sleight needs to be normally practiced for a very very long time by all of you, I am motivated again to pour my time and patience into this move. For now, I'll do as venom said, and give the deck a small wave to hide the execution. All that's left is for me to practice more and memorize all my angles so that I can finally perform this sleight.

Update: After roaming the Magic Cafe for a bit, I'll try a routine where I practice the classic pass with almost two full decks' worth of cards. The idea is like running with weights: after the cards are slimmed back down to size, my performance should improve.

 

[TylerRouss]

Two techniques that will bring your pass forward leaps: practice with your eyes closed/in the dark, practice with a rubber band around the deck, so that the deck must rotate within the rubberband. Practicing in the dark gives you a different way of understanding how the cards actually move in your hands, practicing with a rubberband increases your finger strength significantly.

 

[LarryX]

After watching Alex Pandrea's video over and over again, reading u guys' comments, and practicing the subtleties, I feel that my pass got a lot better. It is still not perfect; It is noisy, still has a small flash in real life, and sometimes I flash my break (but I can hide it, I just need to remember to....).

Just like when I posted my first video, I will post my update. I'd love to read you guys' feedback, and critisism on how to improve it further.

My update: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jKyAFfiZx8

 

[xizaf]

Your ultimate goal should not be to make it completely invisible. It would take years of practice to make it undetectable.

Instead, you should work to make your classic pass smooth and easy to do. Then you work on your misdirection and performance skills so you do not have spend all the time trying to make it hidden.

Just my opinion, but you might be able to benefit from it.

 

[LarryX]

I don't try to kill my self practicing the pass. In fact, I do it under my desk during school (when I'm listening to lectures or watching vids). I'm not aiming to be Alex Pandrea, but I want an invisible pass that looks natural.

Thanks for your opinion though. As I stated earlier, I am currently using misdirection with my pass (I say something so they focus a bit more on what I'm saying, and I use a small riffle to cover my pass.

 

[Carson098]

Don't base the move entirely off of putting the top under the bottom, you need to tilt the bottom up the same time you are moving the top to the bottom

 

[LarryX]

That is what i try to do. I want it to look like I'm just squaring the cards by moving the pack side to side lightly, so I do move the bottom pack up with that motion.

 

[wZEnigma]

I personally do the pass on an off beat, when I ask a spectator a question, etc. An invisible pass is a great thing, but calling no attention to the cards, using covering actions, or misdirecting works 99% of the time. A truly invisible pass will only impress magicians and hecklers, the two groups you shouldn't be performing for.

 

[Qs_Pung]

Improve ur index finger , don't always flash out , use ur index finger to hold ur deck , so ur classic pass can do more fast and neat
Next , when u do pass try to use "cut " the pile not pull the pile up and put the pile under the pile , I dot know how to explain this point , I hope you can understand what I say and hope this two point can help you too : D

 

[Alex33]

The way I do my classic pass is kind of like the brick pass. When I do my classic pass I move the bottom packet forward and the back of it up to hide the front of the packet flashing.

 

[Liderc]

There is always the discussion to be had of "why move half the deck when you can move one card" and it is a valid conversation

 

[RealityOne]

@Alex33 please don't bump old threads. This one is seven years old...