Hey guys, time for a review! I was familier with the basic spread pass technique, but I didn't know the finer details of the move. I saw that Chad had an "On-Demand" download for it at Dnd's webiste, so I thought what the heck, he was fanatatic in Surfaced, why not support him and learn a kick-ass move in the process?
What they say- "One of my favorite moves in card magic." The Spread Pass is an ingenious utility move created by Paul LePaul and updated by Chad Nelson, creator of Surfaced and the Full Nelson.
Learn everything from the basic mechanics of the Spread Pass, as both a control and a color change, to the psychology in this jam-packed tutorial by expert instructor, Chad Nelson.
What I say- For those of you who don't know, this is a download avaliable at www.dananddave.com. They have a mildly new section on their site, entitled "On Demand" this is basically the same as T11's 1on1's, or Penguinmagic's Instant Downloads. You don't download it though, you buy it, then you can access a page where you can view it as many times as you want. On to the move.
The first thing I noticed when I watched the performance is, Chad is FREAKIN INSANELY GOOD AT THIS MOVE. I watched it over and over again not to figure it out or anything, but just to look at his hands when he does it. The guy is inhuman. Even after watching it like 5 times burining his hands, you see nothing. This sounds crazy, but I would have payed the 4 bucks just to watch the multiple performances of the sleight. Anyways, on to the the explanation.
Chad is a little fast with it, finishing the download at around 6 minutes. I peronally had no problem learning it, but I can see where someone would complain about the teaching. Once I see the explantion once for something, I'm usually good to go. But I said before, he rushes a little bit, not too much, but its definently not really in-depth. Their are multple angles when he explains the sleight, which helps a lot in the learning process. After he teaches it, they have a view from the bottom, which in this case is an exposed angle, and this really makes the download. He shows it from that view like 10 times. kind of like the teaching method on Surfaced with the clipshift, where he teaches it and then does it slowly a bunch of times. He doesn't add that many tips as I thought he would for the sleight. He does add one good one that makes the ending "square up action" much easier, so thats a big plus.
the move itself isn't that hard, but it obviously helps a lot if you have experience in cards. If your a total beginner, I would wait a little bit. Its not extremly hard, but its requires you to be familier with a deck of cards, as well as being just comfortable with movement of cards. The angles are pretty good, just like any other pass. I personally won't use it if someone's burining my hands, but its great if there's misdirection. In my opinion there is no better control than a well-executed, invisible to the spectator pass. You don't have to cut the deck, do some weird flourish, or even do anything to the deck. It just happens.
This isn't something thats supposed to be used on its own. Just showing a card, making go to the top, then you stop, in my opinion is really dry. This is meant as just an all-round control to use in any trick that requires a controlled card, like the ACR etc., or it could be used as a color change, which I think looks pretty good.
The production value is fantastic. Crystal clear camera work, and great audio. It rivals T11's quality.
Pros
-Somewhat easy
-Versatile move
-Looks good
-Its only 4 bucks.
-Quality is great
-Its Chad Nelson
Cons
-Teaching may be rushed for some
-Not as many personal tips as advertised.
Overall, this was a pretty good buy. If you need to learn a pass, then I would definently suggest this as an option. I'll give it a 8 out of 10. Well worth it.
http://store.dananddave.com/spread-pass.html
What they say- "One of my favorite moves in card magic." The Spread Pass is an ingenious utility move created by Paul LePaul and updated by Chad Nelson, creator of Surfaced and the Full Nelson.
Learn everything from the basic mechanics of the Spread Pass, as both a control and a color change, to the psychology in this jam-packed tutorial by expert instructor, Chad Nelson.
What I say- For those of you who don't know, this is a download avaliable at www.dananddave.com. They have a mildly new section on their site, entitled "On Demand" this is basically the same as T11's 1on1's, or Penguinmagic's Instant Downloads. You don't download it though, you buy it, then you can access a page where you can view it as many times as you want. On to the move.
The first thing I noticed when I watched the performance is, Chad is FREAKIN INSANELY GOOD AT THIS MOVE. I watched it over and over again not to figure it out or anything, but just to look at his hands when he does it. The guy is inhuman. Even after watching it like 5 times burining his hands, you see nothing. This sounds crazy, but I would have payed the 4 bucks just to watch the multiple performances of the sleight. Anyways, on to the the explanation.
Chad is a little fast with it, finishing the download at around 6 minutes. I peronally had no problem learning it, but I can see where someone would complain about the teaching. Once I see the explantion once for something, I'm usually good to go. But I said before, he rushes a little bit, not too much, but its definently not really in-depth. Their are multple angles when he explains the sleight, which helps a lot in the learning process. After he teaches it, they have a view from the bottom, which in this case is an exposed angle, and this really makes the download. He shows it from that view like 10 times. kind of like the teaching method on Surfaced with the clipshift, where he teaches it and then does it slowly a bunch of times. He doesn't add that many tips as I thought he would for the sleight. He does add one good one that makes the ending "square up action" much easier, so thats a big plus.
the move itself isn't that hard, but it obviously helps a lot if you have experience in cards. If your a total beginner, I would wait a little bit. Its not extremly hard, but its requires you to be familier with a deck of cards, as well as being just comfortable with movement of cards. The angles are pretty good, just like any other pass. I personally won't use it if someone's burining my hands, but its great if there's misdirection. In my opinion there is no better control than a well-executed, invisible to the spectator pass. You don't have to cut the deck, do some weird flourish, or even do anything to the deck. It just happens.
This isn't something thats supposed to be used on its own. Just showing a card, making go to the top, then you stop, in my opinion is really dry. This is meant as just an all-round control to use in any trick that requires a controlled card, like the ACR etc., or it could be used as a color change, which I think looks pretty good.
The production value is fantastic. Crystal clear camera work, and great audio. It rivals T11's quality.
Pros
-Somewhat easy
-Versatile move
-Looks good
-Its only 4 bucks.
-Quality is great
-Its Chad Nelson
Cons
-Teaching may be rushed for some
-Not as many personal tips as advertised.
Overall, this was a pretty good buy. If you need to learn a pass, then I would definently suggest this as an option. I'll give it a 8 out of 10. Well worth it.
http://store.dananddave.com/spread-pass.html