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I have a few hundred pound to spend, and I was thinking of investing in some new tricks for my magic career as I have my first gigs coming up this year What would you guys recommend?

Mallusionist.com do some amazing tricks!!

Either that or tell us th kind of tricks you want?

A good overview with Pictures = Paul zenon street magic

Mentalism = 13 steps to mentalism

Cards = born to perform card magic DVD

Coins = bobos coin magic

Metal bending = liquid metal or psychokinetic silverware

Levitation = x levitation

Derren brown stuff = masterclass nlp in 7 days

Don't mean to be funny, but does spending a load of money on 'tricks' make you a better magician ?
I would prefer to spend that sort of money on really good books, DVDs or attending magic conventions.

Knowledge lasts much longer than any props or gimmicks.

Discombobulator wrote:Don't mean to be funny, but does spending a load of money on 'tricks' make you a better magician ?
I would prefer to spend that sort of money on really good books, DVDs or attending magic conventions.

Knowledge lasts much longer than any props or gimmicks.

recommend any books?

I'm with Chris on this. Mallusionist or a good cheap NLP book from Amazon is the way to go.

smidge146 wrote:

Discombobulator wrote:Don't mean to be funny, but does spending a load of money on 'tricks' make you a better magician ?
I would prefer to spend that sort of money on really good books, DVDs or attending magic conventions.

Knowledge lasts much longer than any props or gimmicks.

recommend any books?

Basically, you are on a journey and we don't really know where you are starting from or were you want to end up.
cards? coins? mentalism? hypnosis? psychic?
street? close up? stage? cabaret ?

Start with the basic books in each area and see where that journey takes you.

Royal road to card magic.
13 steps to mentalism.
Tarbells course in magic.
Bobo's coin magic.

I am sure they are all reviewed on this site.

Do not feed the troll.

Hi and thanks for posting. Magicians can be rude when a newbie comes along.

There are lots of magic tricks that will blow people's minds. It would help if we knew what sort of think you liked then we can narrow down recommendations.

A bullet catch could potentially blow people's minds. Also, mento's and coke does a pretty good job!

Give us more info so we can help. Nearly every piece of
Magic in existence (performed the right way) can blow people's minds.

Most of it takes lots of practice. There really are no easy routes in magic. Remember, a car doesn't drive itself, it's who's behind the wheel.

Alec

Discombobulator wrote:Don't mean to be funny, but does spending a load of money on 'tricks' make you a better magician ?
I would prefer to spend that sort of money on really good books, DVDs or attending magic conventions.

Knowledge lasts much longer than any props or gimmicks.

YES! What he said!

I've seen tons of poor little rich kids who had mommy & daddy buy them a John Gaughan Magic Kit at the tune of half a million bucks who couldn't do a show to save their lives. I've watched kids from the most dire of ghetto take what they learned from a single magic book, and build empires as top Vegas talents. In the first case we find someone that believes that the secret to magic is how much you can throw into the "hobby" while in the latter instance we see someone that understands that it's what you invest of yourself that makes it "Magic".

If you really must throw the cash around BUY BOOKS! And I do emphasize Books over Videos most of the time in that you typically end up getting far more for less up-front cost. But, which books?

Based on your question I'm betting you have very little genuine experience in magic and so my recommended list would be;

1.) The Complete Tarbell Course in Magic
2.) The Complete Mark Wilson Course in Magic
3.) Magic & Showmanship
4.) The Stein & Dey Handbook of Magic
5.) Bobo
6.) Royal Road to Card Magic
7.) Corinda's 13 Steps to Mentalism (The Book not the videos)
8.) Practical Mental Magic by Annemann (The Book not the videos)
9.) The Bill Tarr "Now You See It; Now Your Don't" two book set

When it Comes to Video However. . .
1.) The Jeff McBride Manipulation Series
2.) Improvisational Magic Series from L&L
3.) Bar Magic Series from L&L
4.) Finn Jon's Thread Working Collection

This list gives you the FOUNDATION from which to grow from. You will be able to get a feel for the different fields and styles of magic from this material and be able to make a better informed decision as to what direction you wish to go with your studies.

Alec Kobain wrote:There really are no easy routes in magic. Remember, a car doesn't drive itself, it's who's behind the wheel.

Alec

There are many easy routes in magic. You can ask someone you think is good to help you, and model them. You can buy a trick deck. You can buy a gaffed bottle. You can get something that if you are 15 and want to freak people out in school you can learn in 2 mins. OK, you won't be performing at the London Palladium soon doing that, but you'll certainly be able to freak out your mates.

You don't need to worry about having to buy loads of old books or jeff mcbribe pulling 100 masks off his face.

Just pick one effect you like, and it's PERFECTLY FINE if it is a gaffed prop. Who cares about the method? It is the EFFECT that counts.

Have fun and don't let the fuddy duddies put you off.

PM me if you want some more help and don't want to face the wrath of the "magicians" here.

I think that Freddie, Chris & myself assumed that the OP was a troll. The original post sounds like the kind of question that a troll would post thinking it would be amusing.

If we got it wrong, I for one apologise. Don't think too harshly of me, I'm not psychic after all.

Troll or not, by answering perhaps others will learn along the way.

So, there is not an effect out there that is going to blow anybody's mind. There are of course a few magicians out there who can pick up an effect and blow people's minds with it. It is not the effect it is the performance. .

Put your few hundred pounds in the bank and concentrate on the effects you already have and turn them into something great. What, you don't have any tricks?

Go purchase Mark Wilson's Course in Magic, along with a hank of rope, sponge balls, TT, a few silks a deck of cards, a few coins and you are off and running.

Dye Vernon wrote:

Alec Kobain wrote:There really are no easy routes in magic. Remember, a car doesn't drive itself, it's who's behind the wheel.

Alec

There are many easy routes in magic. You can ask someone you think is good to help you, and model them. You can buy a trick deck. You can buy a gaffed bottle. You can get something that if you are 15 and want to freak people out in school you can learn in 2 mins. OK, you won't be performing at the London Palladium soon doing that, but you'll certainly be able to freak out your mates.

You don't need to worry about having to buy loads of old books or jeff mcbribe pulling 100 masks off his face.

Just pick one effect you like, and it's PERFECTLY FINE if it is a gaffed prop. Who cares about the method? It is the EFFECT that counts.

Have fun and don't let the fuddy duddies put you off.

PM me if you want some more help and don't want to face the wrath of the "magicians" here.

There are no easy routes in magic.

For sure you can pick up a packet trick and blow someones mind but the 'magic' comes within the presentation.

Any magician (even the fuddy duddy ones )worth his/her salt knows that the presentation as a whole creates the real magic in a spectators mind.

Give a person an ID and for sure with little practise they will be able to perform a thought of card revelation. Give an ID to a magician however and you have a life times worth of material within the pack.

This has gone slightly off tangent. Is the OP still around to comment further?

Alec

My best advice, before you have "gigs coming up", is having an idea what you're doing before you put yourself out there doing gigs.