theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards

Total Beginner

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Mgen104

Sep 11, 2016
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2
Hey y'all,

I'm completely new to magic and but it has always been an interest of mine.

I'm looking to get into card magic and would like to know how to get started. For example, what are good books to start off with, videos to watch and even some good tricks to start with.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
 
I am also fairly new also, early on one of the magicians on this website suggest I get a book called Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. It covers most all types of magic and is fairly comprehensive. I think you have to get a used one, I recall I found one on Amazon and since it was used it was not real expensive. It is an oversized book and has around 500 pages. It covers a lot of card tricks and handling....it has been a great starter book for me and I use if for reference also when thinking of a new method or trick I want to learn. Good luck...
 
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Timewise64 said:
I am also fairly new also, early on one of the magicians on this website suggest I get a book called Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic. It covers most all types of magic and is fairly comprehensive. I think you have to get a used one, I recall I found one on Amazon and since it was used it was not real expensive. It is an oversized book and has around 500 pages. It covers a lot of card tricks and handling....it has been a great starter book for me and I use if for reference also when thinking of a new method or trick I want to learn. Good luck...
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Thank you for the help. Any other tips?
 
I actually came across the book on a used book site for around 7$ Canadian. It's a great book for general magic. Is there a particular type of magic that you're attracted to? Cards, coins, mentalism, ect..?
 
Sorry, I read the first message you left quickly and glossed over it. The best beginner books are The Royal Road to Card Magic (which is my favourite), and the Card College Series (particularly the first couple of volumes). Some other excellent books on cards are Expert Card Technique, Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, Scarne on Cards, to name a few. I encourage you to look up "what to read by Jason England", which is free to watch on Theory 11 and he recommends all of this and more.
 
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Everyone is different but I'll tell you how I personally approached card magic. I was introduced to a tape series card Easy to Master Card Miracles by Michael Ammar and what I learned on those tapes have stuck with me. I learned easy tricks, how to structure a routine, real secrets on presentation that changed the way I looked at magic at that time. I constantly go back to those tapes and I'm always re-reading my books to absorb the real secrets that go beyond the trick and its method.

I don't know how helpful that is but hopefully, you'll find something that connects with you in your journey in magic. You can always message me privately if you want to talk more, and there are plenty of people in the forums that will help you.
 
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I am not experienced enough to give you a lot about card magic. But many on this site are extremely good at all forms of card magic.

As I understand it you have two basic types of card magic, one is self-working card magic where you learn a method to create a card trick. I love these tricks, they amaze people and are generally very easy to learn, even for a beginner. Then you have another group of card magic that is done by the magician handling the cards in such a way that magic can be performed, most of these tricks take practice time to learn to do well, but some of the best tricks with cards are found here. Finally, magicians usually work hard at their cardistry, or how they handle the cards. This is a great form of showmanship and also leads to many forms of magic that requires one is talented at handling the cards.

Cards like most forms of magic have an unlimited number of things you can learn and create all part of the wonderful world of magic!
 
Timewise64 said:
I am not experienced enough to give you a lot about card magic. But many on this site are extremely good at all forms of card magic.

As I understand it you have two basic types of card magic, one is self-working card magic where you learn a method to create a card trick. I love these tricks, they amaze people and are generally very easy to learn, even for a beginner. Then you have another group of card magic that is done by the magician handling the cards in such a way that magic can be performed, most of these tricks take practice time to learn to do well, but some of the best tricks with cards are found here. Finally, magicians usually work hard at their cardistry, or how they handle the cards. This is a great form of showmanship and also leads to many forms of magic that requires one is talented at handling the cards.

Cards like most forms of magic have an unlimited number of things you can learn and create all part of the wonderful world of magic!
Click to expand...
Ok great thanks y'all
 
Anytime. Self-Working card tricks are great because you can devote all of your energy and focus on the presentation. From what I've seen The Card College Light, Lighter, and Lightest volumes are the best on this form of card magic. The encyclopedia of card tricks also has self-working card tricks.
 
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