What to start with...

[Dastra]

Hi, I'm Daniel and I started magic a few years ago but I didn't do it continuously. Now a half year ago I continued with magic.
My Problem is that read much about magic and try doing it but I don't perfect every move, so that I learned a lot but I can't use it because in my opinion it is not good enough. So i am affraid of loosing the desire for magic again.

So I now want to start over and don't know what to read or watch. i already have a german magic book ( Jochen Zmeck).
It really teaches many sleights and many different variations of it but so I don't know which one I should choose. I cannot learn every variation of the e.g. 5 different double lifts, can I? Isn't it better to use just one double lift?

I happened to watch a part of the first royal road to card magic dvd and didn't like how long he just talked about the overhand shuffle.

I also watched the theory11 video for beginners. They also advised to perfect just 3 tricks. But on the other hand the bucks said " read as much as you can".

So do you have any tips what i should start over with, maybe books or videos?
And do you have any tips on how to read and practice for a sleight?

Thank you,
Daniel

 

[Aris.SA]

I think you should start with Royal road to card magic.. or Daryl's Encyclopedia its very complete and teaches you a lot of variations of the moves.. I think you should start again with this.. and do not go forward until you perfect one move

 

[silent]

The videos I started on were Crash Course 1 and 2 from E, I found those videos pretty helpful since after you complete those 2 there are DVDs for more advanced magicians called Ninja 1 and 2. If you were wanting a really long description and learn different performance styles you could try Kard Klub, which is a 2 part Video all about 2 card monte. These are all from E, and this is how I got started.

 

[Pots54]

I would say the same as silent. Crash course 1 and maybe 2. THEN(here is the fun part), get The Trilogy, by Dan and Dave Buck. Its not available here on Theory11 yet, but you can order it from www.dananddave.com.

-|P54

 

[-Ty]

Card College. Get the series and you've got a great foundation.

As far as knowing what to work on first - read the descriptions, find one that appeals to you, then work on it. If you don't find it to your tastes, try another. Trial and error, the only way to go.

Ty

 

[drorange]

u sound just like me a few months back i would suggest ge micheal ammars easy to master miricles series

 

[Dastra]

Thank you very much for your answers!

A friend of mine has the royal road to card magic book and I could look through it. Hugard first talks about a magician who can perform 8 tricks and that would be enough. But after that he wants the reader to practice the sleights and to perform also the tricks with this sleight and then go on. I think this is contrary to what he says before.
On the one hand I want to learn card magic just from the beginning with all the important moves, but on the other hand i don't know if I can perfect them all since there are so many different moves.

Kind regards,
Daniel

 

[c3rb3rus]

i would say read as much so that you find the information you want to use ... just because you read 5 or 6 books doesnt mean your going to use every single thing in them ... it just gives you the choice to select what sleights you want to learn and move from there. if your a sleight junky you might want to check out Daryl's Encyclopedia of Card Sleights Vol. 1 - 8.... alot of good stuff there, taught buy a great magician. i would also recommend that after you get the basics of a move down try to practice in front of a mirror to watch out for your angles... if possible get a practice mirror (or make one like i did)

the whole "learn 3 tricks and stick with them" thing is ok.. if your a strolling/working magician.... but if you perform more for friends and family they will see all those effects over and over... eventually start to work them out... i would say learn as much as you would like .. but when it comes to friends and family try to keep some variety and dont do too much so often.. unless your testing some new material on them first... but for ppl you dont know and will probably not see in a LONG time or never again .. yeah 3 or 4 effects in your bag is not a bad idea.

just my 2 centavos

 

[Dastra]

Thank you for your answer!

Daniel

 

[Dastra]

Hi!
Now I started with Royal road to card magic. But could anybody help me who owns this book:

I don't see a difference between the "Retaining the top and the bottom cards in position"-method and the "Top card to next to Bottom and back to the top"-method. I think the same method is described twice. It's in the Overhandshuffle-section.

Thanks,
Daniel

 

[Shodan]

Yep, that's right.

I recommend Greg Wilson's "Double Take" DVD - it is focussed on the DL, but teaches other sleights alongside and has some great effects. It's where I started getting serious about magic.

 

[harapanong]

I don't agree about getting E DVD's for beginners.. never had a good impression of those DVDs.

If you are serious about card work, get those books mentioned such as Royal Road, Card College, Expert Card Technique, Card Manipulations etc. Especially those written by Jean Hugard, or Frederick Braue.

If you just want to perform some effects for your friends, not really that 'into' serious card stuff, get some good DVDs like Michael Ammar's ETMCM series and the like. Those provide you with quite a bit of effects that aren't too shabby.

The reason why people say "Learn 8 tricks" or "Just perfect 3 tricks" and at the same time suggest "reading as much as you can" is because very often, beginners get too excited over the effects that they learn too much and try to perform too much. So, the suggestion is, it's good if you can read up a lot of different effects and sleights and whatnot, but generally keep a decent repertoire of tricks that you are REALLY good at, so you performance level and your knowledge level is up to standard simultaneously.

The amateur performs many tricks to the same audience, the professional performs the same tricks to many audiences.

The true master, however, performs many tricks to many audiences. And all of them are done flawlessly.

- harapan. magic!

 

[Dastra]

Thanks for your answer!
Yes I want to get seriously into card magic so I start over with the basics. Now I'm reading royal road to card magic.

Daniel