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i have always wanted to start learing magic but never new where to start until my friend gave me the royal road to card magic. im reading at at the moment and it seems good.
i was wondering though how all the magicions on tv and stuf have such a wide aray of tricks. is it that they know some basic techniques and can apply them to laods of situations or do they just memorise millions of tricks lol.
and i was wondering what books would teach me the slight of hand type things and all the basic things so that i can just make up my on tricks ect.
i dont want like some marvins magic thing where i have to remember a maths formula to do a magic trick thats not even impressive lol.

thanks for any help.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0894716239/103-4966856-0891839?v=glance&n=283155 this is a great start lots of tricks from diferent styles to choose from, illusions to make up too.

You must remember that the magicians and illusionists you see on the Television have been performing magic for years. They have built up skills through much practise and careful study of the craft. They will have learn many routines over the years.

Don't forget that they also have a large budget and can afford the latest effects.

wow quick replys thanks alot...

i thought about buying that book but i saw a review that said most stuf in it was coverd in royal road to card magic.

i would realy like to learn slight of hand stuf. but that may be too advansed ?
are there any books you can recomend on that

oh and about what you were saying about professional magicians. do you meen that there isnt realy just some basik techniques you can use to bring a certain card out and you can just apply it to loads of routienes? magic is gonna be harder than i thought lol.

If you want to do card magic there are many sleights. What trick did you have in mind. If you mean basic card routines like revealing a selected card then stick with the royal book or something similar.

Magic can be hard, you don't just become a magician overnight. You learn the craft slowly, each move and sleight at a time. Your skills begin to build up and you become more confident. When you have the basic skills you then need to learn to perform to an audience. Dealing with people can be difficult.

But to back to your card question the best books DVDs i have seen are:

1. Royal Road to Card Magic Book and 5 Disc DVD
2. Born to Perform DVD

You mention card sleights, again this is a HUGE field, many of these (NAMES WE CAN'T MENTION) are far too advanced for you. You could spend years learning all the different sleights. The material covered in Born To Perform and RRTCM are a good starting point.

Another factor to consider is that the magician may be using special cards, a packet trick. In some cases this trick may have been made for him or her. There is no fast and easy road to learning magic. I have worked in magic for years and i still learn to this day. You never really stop learning.

I do not think there is a quick route to magic, it takes practise and dedication. And one final word, do not copy people on TV try to be yourself as you are learning, create your own style.

i thought you were looking at all forms of magic not just cards thats why i offered marks book, it covers the basic in coin card silk and ball sleights.

easy to do magic tricks, prop building, illusion building and many other pieces of advice covering the whole spectrum of magic.
it would be a good introduction if you had not already desided on what type of magic to concentrate on.

I've been doing magic for some 9 months, mabe a year now. It is HARD going.
You've got hecklers to deal with, people who burn you, grabby people...

Learning how to control a card is not going to get you a tv show like Paul Daniels.
Learn the art form and learn it well.

Practice something until it's 100% perfect. Then practice more.

Never stop practicing and don't hope to get to the level of the greats until you've put in as much effort and experience as they have!

I'm pretty good with cards at the moment (not great, but pretty good) but I don't see myself as the next Jay Sankey. Probably because I haven't put the 20+ years practice that magic not only requires but DEMANDS.

If you want to learn a few tricks to impress your mates, then stick with RRTCM.

If you wanna go somewhere with it, eat RRTCM. Then move on. Learn more stuff that matches your skill level.

And listen to Stephenmagic! He KNOWS what he's talking about

If you have a good imagination fair enough buy a book- jean hugard expert card techniques is a good buy. But if you dont have a good imagination then get yourself a DVD, there are loads on offer, Born To Perform and basic basic card techniques to name a few.

And you said about you wanted to learn the sleights then make your own tricks up- WOW you must be clever, becuase i can never seem to make a trick up, i dont know why i just dont have the brain to think of one up, does anyone else have the same problem.

Good Luck

Adam

thanks so much for the help guys...

oh and i dont think im that clever lol i just havnt tried making up a trick befor so i didnt realise it would be so hard. i just dont want to end up copying other peoples tricks all the time, know what i meen

thanks for the help, its realy cool because i never knew where to start from at all until now.

I also recommend Whats Up Deck. I bought this recently and it is a great book.

Aldo leaves nothing out, explaining the overhand shuffle and various techniques to control, force and glimpse a selected card.

He then splits the book into many chapters, such as card box trick, acetricks, pick a card tricks and oil and water routines.

Best of all most of the tricks are quite easy meaning you can put a lot of time into the presentation.

a pretty nice book that i started with called "The little Giant dictionary of Card & magic tricks" has some pretty good starting effects. Some effects from that book, I developed and made them better. It has card, coin, handkerchief, rope, and etc magic. Very resourceful. It aslo has all of the little techniques in between that a magician needs like the false overhand shuffle, top palm, locatings a card, riffle shuffle, etc.

Not to sound like a worn-out record, but learning to punctuate, capitolize and use proper words in a proper manner will help you a great deal too. If you are sloppy and take short cuts in your communication skills you will be the same way when it comes to doing your magic.

When i first started out in magic (wow! over a year ago now!) i was thinking the exact same thing. Got a couple of packet tricks and gimmick decks before realising that sleight of hand card magic was the way forward, maybe with the occasional packet trick (Twisted Sisters!) or gimmick (ID!) thrown in for good measure!

You may want to consider buying DVDs to start out with first as they give a visual interpretation of how the sleight should look. However, some people do not like DVDs because they believe books force you to create your own method and make your magic more personal to yourself. I do not believe in this, but its to each his own and you must go with what you prefer.

If you prefer books, then the Royal Road is a good start. You may want to consider the Card College series when finished with Royal Road as it is the logical next step. Are you aware that the Royal Road book also comes in DVD version? If not, you are now! Also, as previously mentioned, Born to Perform by Oz Pearlman is also a good starting point. Other options include How to Do Street Magic (Card, coin and other magic), and the Crash Course series, both available from Ellusionist.com.

Hope this helps you!

Rich