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bmat wrote:I have nothing against gimmicks, but for the effects you mention I'm not sure gimmicks are the way to go.

to be fair Dynamo's (whether you like him or not) version is pretty impressive and can only be achieved with a gimmick.

however there are plenty of coin tricks / routines that are equally impressive that don't require any gimmicks, just a bit of practice

Bobo's Modern Coin Magic can be picked up for a few pounds (free if it's at your library like mine)

my fave is gimmickless Three Fly

Agreed -

This isn't a critisism, DarkBlaine, but you seem a little hung-up on performing effects you've seen Dynamo/Blaine etc. do.

I'd suggest starting where they almost certainly started; books!

Again, your money will serve you far, FAR better is you pick up Royal Road to Card Magic, Modern Coin Magic (Bobo) and Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic.

You should be able to get all three, pre-owned from eBay, and you'll have a choice of many dozens of *killer* effects, and a superb grounding in a wide variety of sleights and moves that you simply won't acquire from the latest, must-have gimmicked stuff.

In short, start at the beginning, work through the basics, and move on when you're ready.

(Oh - and, above all - have FUN!! )


Rob

DB...

For cards, Royal Road to Card Magic (Hugard and Braue).

For coins, Modern Coin Magic (Bobo) - this is in two versions, the public domain version which you can get for free and the "New Modern Coin Magic" which has extra material in it and you'll have to pay for.

For general magic (including coins and cards) get Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic.

With those three books you could realistically never buy another book and do OK, especially if you build on what you learn to create your own effects.
I don't know where you are but all the books I've just mentioned should be available through any book shop, anywhere.

If you've tried every bookshop you can and none can help you, there should be any number of websites you could order from, Amazon being one, eBay being another. If payment is an issue you'll just need to find a bookseller which will be flexible. Maybe they'd let you wire money, maybe they'd take a cheque, maybe you'd want to take a chance and send them cash by recorded mail, maybe you could to a bank to bank transfer.
If you're serious about wanting to learn and wanting to get the right books to learn from, there's no way it should be as difficult as you seem to think.

Now, you're quite obviously keen to learn. You've got a great website at your fingertips here, but as you'll be noticing people don't simply give up methods. If buying single effects and books is difficult for you, you'll have to accept that many effects simply won't be available to you unless you figure out your own way of achieving the same effect... but honestly that shouldn't be a problem. Rather than trying to emulate Blaine and Dynamo, start with their starting point (books), emulate their working method (working hard on the things in those books) and then get to work performing.

There's a lot of help waiting on this site and an absolute goldmine of advice and experience, but (and this is probably the most important bit of information you'll get from this rambling post) you won't get to that information until you make the first steps.

Good luck getting the books.

There's a DVD version of Modern Coin Magic and Royal Road, that's for sure. I don't know about Mark Wilson's book, though there could be.
If you've ever seen The Real Hustle you'll have seen Paul Wilson, he did the Royal Road one.

Some people will argue that you should get the books and (if you want) use the DVDs to back them up. I don't know which way you would learn better but most seem to suggest going with books. I expect it will be the cheaper way of going about it if nothing else.
Modern Coin Magic (the public domain version - also known as the "Dover" version) can be bought for less than £6.50 shipped on Amazon.
The Royal Road to Card Magic can be bought for a similar price.
Mark Wilson's book is closer to £10.

All three books delivered to your door for less than £25 or the Royal Road DVD on its own for £60.
If you're on a tight budget it's a no-brainer... and remember the cheap version of Modern Coin Magic is available legally and for free online so if £25 is too much for now start with the other two and download it.

Bobo's book has 116 sleights and 236 tricks.
Royal Road has over 300 pages and the format teaches you a single type of sleight and then tricks that work with it. Then it moves on to another sleight and shows tricks with that.
If you master all of them you'll have done more than many people who own them have done.

"Mastering" is a funny word though. You might be able to master the mechanics of the tricks, but the art of magic is about how you present them. Subtleties of speech, body language, gestures and so on are what turn mere tricks into magic (this is why so many magicians are opposed to people giving away the secrets of magic - because the secrets are kinda boring, it's the presentation that makes them amazing).
Think of a magician's tricks like an artist's canvas, paint and brushes or a carpenter's tools, workbench and wood.

Learn from the books, create your own presentation of the tricks and go from there.


Oh, and I certainly couldn't be described as an "experienced magician". Not by a LONG shot. I've just listened to some very good advice and saved a lot of money in the process. It's that advice I'm passing on to you here.

Your call, of course, but if money is tight I'd suggest getting a couple of regular decks of cards like Bicycle rider back (about £2 each) and foregoing the gaffs for the time being.

If you take the "practice before you perform" thing seriously you'll be putting a lot of wear into your cards when nobody else will get to see them. Maybe get some regular cards to start with, practice until they are going ragged and looking dirty and then, if you still want to, buy the Blaine cards and (if you still want them, the gaffs too) and perform with them.

If you got your books from Amazon - £25 for the books (method for several hundred tricks available to you) and £6 for 2 decks of Bikes in the same colour or £4.50 for one red and one blue has you fully set for card magic (not the Blaine ones you're keen on, for sure, but arguably more valuable due to their versatility), coin magic (if you use British coins) and most of the stuff in Wilson's book too. All for £30.

Getting what you've said (Blaine decks and his magician's set) would cost you £23 for the decks and probably about the same again for the set. There you've spent almost £50 and have the method for a grand total of 3 tricks. (There's no mention of him providing methods in his magician's set - perhaps he does, I don't know).

For the extra £20 you'd save by getting the three books (make it £26 if you download Bobo's book) could buy you a few extra bits and pieces which would leave you ready to practice and perform a huge variety of tricks.
I reckon if you shopped around you could make that extra money stretch to cover an entry level set of the cups and balls, a couple of silks and a bit of rope for the relevant sections in Wilson's course.
You might even find some of them on Amazon to help save on shipping too.

Where do you live (just a town or city is plenty)? There's a good chance you've got a magic shop not too far away where you could head to buy the bits and pieces that I've mentioned above if Amazon don't sell them.

Again though - it's entirely up to you what you get, I just know what my choice would be. But of course (and I'm sure this will come as no surprise) - I'm not you.

(Quoted texts deleted by request)
There's a link to Magic Tao, as well as other dealers, on TM pages but you can always email them, or PM Gochos The Greek here for location, opening times etc. Chances are you'll get a coffee when you visit!

Take the Red pill!

Sorry had to be done

(Quoted texts deleted by request)

If you buy and absorb everything in those books you could have a hobby or potential career without the need for further items and gimmicks

Not in my opinion but seems to be the general one....

DB - yes, if you stick around on the forum you'll see them mentioned over and over again.
Some people call them the "holy trinity".

Lawrence is right... but don't think absorbing those books fully and being able to present what you've learned in a truly entertaining way is a quick job. There's a lot of work involved.

The reason I (and others) are prodding you to look into those books before looking into gaffs and gimmicks goes back to my earlier comment about cost. You've got Bobo now, so that's saved a little money. If you got Royal Road for about £7 and used the cards you already have you've got what you need to get started with coin and card magic and learn a LOT. While you're learning that you'll start to get a better understanding of what style of trick you like presenting, what works best for you and so on.

Once you have THAT information, you'll be in a much better position to decide which (if any) packet tricks, gimmics, gaffs and so on you want... instead of spending the price of a Royal Road on a single trick deck now and deciding a couple of months down the line that it doesn't suit you.

It's not so much a case of being ready for the gimmicks now or later, or of needing or not needing them. It's a matter of how much you get for your money and then deciding about gimmicks for yourself later when you've had experience of learning and performing a few effects already.

When money is tight, making smart choices now can either stop you spending money on the wrong things, or give you confidence that you're spending it on the right things.

£7 to start with Royal Road.
£17 to start with Royal Road and Wilson's Complete Course.


One other point.
Buying and learning 3 packet tricks gives you 3 tricks.
What happens when you see the same friends a week or so later and they ask you to show them something else? What if they want you to show a new person something? Are you going to want to do the same tricks again? Or would you have liked to learn something new and show them that instead?
If nothing else, books are a much more cost effective way of getting started.

Lawrence, what are your recommendations? Just in case he wants to consider something different.

Honestly I lean towards DVDs rather than books.

Starting points for magic being Daryls ACR and Jeff McBrides The Art of Card Manipulation.
For further tricks in a "street/bar magic" kind of setting I'd go for anything by Lee Smith, Workers Corner or Mathew Dowden.

I would however also recommend the purchase of RRTCM and Bobo.
But I never read Mark Wilson's (sorry... sorry...) so I can't suggest it and I disagree with the other "standard" readings of Expert Card Technique and Expert At The Card Table; yes, they're "classics" and all that and worth the eventual read but you don't learn enough from them really. [flame shield on]

I started off ( a long time ago!) with RRTCM, BOBO, 13 steps, 2 decks of bicycle cards and some coins. No need for flashy gimmicks. Also the material on icandy (Lee Smith & Gary Jones) and STEPS 1 & 2 by Lee Smith would give you the perfect working set.

A solid grounding in basic sleight of hand magic will give you a massive advantage. With experience you will be able to look at packet tricks and know if the sleights are right for you and avoid expensive mistakes. Even people like Blaine, Dynamo, Burton etc started with the basic magic skills before they moved on to bigger things.

BigShot wrote:Just for the record, Dynamo's "Matrix" illusions is not new and is not "Dynamo's" either.
There's a human statue I've seen doing that (and doing a better, more convincing job of it too, I might add) for a fair while now and if I had to guess, I think that's where Bradford's golden boy probably got the idea from.

I know exactly who you mean, in the town centre. I did ask him about it and he just walked off, well shuffled.

Stephen Ward wrote:A solid grounding in basic sleight of hand magic will give you a massive advantage.

Very true - even as far as being able to safely switch out a gaffed deck or cards unnoticed so you can "hand them out for examination".
I've got a trick I do that wouldn't have a prayer of passing even a cursory examination so I switch it out for a clean version of the final reveal before anyone has a chance to ask. I don't push the issue, but if they do ask to inspect it gets a fantastic reaction.