talkmagic.co.uk

Hi

My name is Aaron and Im 26 years old and live in Nottingham.

I got into magic about February this year. It started last year when this gut I worked with used to perform 2 card monte every day and I was always around. I watched and watched and never got it. I bugged him every day ( pretty much the same way Iget bugged now lol ) and he never let on.

I got sneaky... He had a few to drink one work night out and i clocked kind of how he did it after the 9th time or something that night.He also did a really dodgy version of shapeshifter which I saw him mess up.

Cut this story short, I did 2 card monte from June 05 to Feb 06 and I wasnt comfortable withthe handling ( me knowing nothing about cards ) and figured I owed it to myself to learn it correctly.

I stumbled upon Ellusionist and was hooked by the demo videos there. It was real magic!! id have bet my life on it. Of course, sense told me that I wouldnt pay their prices, so ebay was my option to get the dvds cheaper.

The rest is history, I dont know that much considering the amount to be learned out there. I am pretty much a card purist but would like to expand into other areas... In Birmingham where I originate from I get into just about any club free, free drinks etc and people in Nottingham think im the devil or something, so i guess im heading in the right direction.

I am not satisfied as yet though, I want to turn proffessional by 30 and have this mountainous road ahead.. well exicted though

I own...

DVD's and downloads

Crash Course 1
Ambitioux Card
Ninja 1
Ninja 2
Mindbender
Jay Sankeys revolutionary coin magic
Jeff Mcbrides art of card manipulation
Mercury
Kard Club
Shapeshifter
Army of 52
Best of Jay Sankey
David Gorings the exchange
STS

Tricks

Rising Card
Exchange deck
ID
Brainwave deck
Self Tying Shoelace (STS)
The Raven
Superman Trick ( I now have varicose veins goddamit!!! )
and a few leviation effects (balducci, king rising, chriss angels one ).. I want Aliun leviation.. I cant find it.. only a preview

I think thats about it... I think


Since February I have learned all the above ( kind rushed through learning.. and gained experience through.. well.. experience.. ( mistake I now know yes.. but I wasnt a magician then//)

I now dont know where to go.. XCM is calling for me and I have ordered Xtreme beginnners.. but I really want to spend time learning coin magic as I have paid little attention to it.. card purist till now..

A bit like this thread.. i want my fingers in all the pies.. i learn like I talk ( ultra fast ) but a bit like peoples reactions when they speak to me Im sometimes like '??!!! huh??!!

I only wished I started when I was 6.. im 20 years late and i want to catch up...

So Hi everyone.. any suggestions..
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Welcome

He had a few to drink one work night out and i clocked kind of how he did it after the 9th time or something that night

A testimony that alcohol and magic don't mix

Anyway, I'd recommend that you scrap most of the Ellusionist stuff as I don't think that they give a solid grounding in magic, certainly not enough to turn Pro

Agreed! for coins get modern coin magic by bobo. What kind of professional magic do you want to do? do you want to do corporate close-up?

Nice to see someone taking their time with an introduction, welcome aboard

I have bobos modern coin magic too.. just havent looked at it yet.. once.

I actually dislike ellusionist now.. from time ago... i just go there to browse occasionally..

I want to do close up magic... yes corporate close up magic.. I do street magic every day.. not too interested in stage magic yet.. I feel there is a long way to get there..

Having learned all the ellusionist 'quickly skimmed over' material... you think I should go back to basics through better sources.. ? like royal road to card magic?

The only snag with me is money.. recently married 2 months ago.. new house 1 month ago.. money is not pouring out of my pockets right now.. lol

But yes.. to sum me up.. im dying to do close up magic in any paid setting.. thinking of gettin some table hoppin position at a bar close by..

and i really want to master coin magic but tell me.. why is it uk coins arehard to work with> I can palm U.S coins but Uk coins just fall right on out.. is that just me a distinct lack of practice!??

it is just practise, you will soon get used to it. Corporate work is hard to get into at first, getting good advertising is the key unless you know some small businesses you can ask. It is best to start with smaller gigs such as small restaurants etc. You are looking to do about 10-15 minutes per table. I normally do 4 effects per table.

Working as a pro or semi pro magician requires more skill than just cards and coins in my opinion. Sure, there are those that can get away with this but they are few and far between.

If you really want to impress and get more an more work, building up your reputation as you go along, then you need variety. Some TT work, sponges, silks, rope, chop cup, watch steals etc. are all potential areas of magic to explore and to become competant in.

This is what i do, i vary my acts a lot. A table may see card, coin, silk, prop or something else. This where you need to think out of the box, you want something different. I would never perform just card magic at a table unless they ask for it.

Of course and I agree. I just think I will spend some time mastering these type of effects before I move on. Im giving myself 4 years to turn pro.. morethan enough time I feel to gain experience..

I know sponge ball routines, and tricks with sugar packets, thump tips, cig vanishes. I know 4 coin through bottle effects... i forgot to mention I also own Daniel Garcia project volume 1 too. coin through glass is awesome, though I have no idea how to do a muscle pass?? never heard of it and cant find it anywhere. I know how its done ( i think ) but i cant do it.

I didnt really appreciate magic like sponge balls etc till very recently and I talke time to learn these but in time. Jay sankey teaches some great stuff with matches, rubber bands, paperclips etc in one dvd, forget the name of the dvd, just need to put the practice in..

table hopping first step then move from there.. but i wont do anything paid for at least a year.. though one chinese girl did give me £120 as a tip last month for being at her party just doing walk around magic.. that was nice..

mentalism also.. i like this.. i have jay sankeys boris pocus. Jay Sankey is ANNOYING but if i learn in small doses.. its pretty cool

I do also own.. third degree burn.. i love this trick.

I want to do everything.. but i am new in the sense that I have less than one years experience.. and I just want to take evrything in.. advice.. tricks. buy up dvds and books and just go with it. All I do is practice.. when the wife lets me lol..

"trying to take everything in" can lead to big problems. If you try to learn too much too fast you never really master the art of magic. Good magic comes from careful study and practise. I see many eager people try to race to learn as much as possible and this is really not a good idea. You have plenty of time to get a good professional act so take your time and enjoy the learning. You will get so much more out of it if you do not rush. get a good plan of what you want to perform, if you are going to perform professionally then you need to think about what effects you are going to need. Have you mastered the chop cup yet? this is very popular with corporate clients and an effect i use nearly every booking. This is the kind of thing you should be looking at.

I would also advise that you consider the two Martin Sanderson DVDs "corporate close up magic" and "the business". As well as some great effects to perform you will get some great information about working in the business. The lectures that are on the DVDs are worth the price alone. Also "The business" DVD has some great corporate effects you can perform with little cost. I am currently performing "it's a steal" ,"Storm force 7 trade show" and "boxing" from that DVD and getting great results.

It always reminds me of when i was in a magic shop and someone came in and purchased about 20 tricks at once. How on earth they divided their time learning it all i will never know.

Hey there welcome to the forums. We're on the same road. I'm into magic more than 1.5 year now and I'm still trying to take everything in. Why? I've never seen these stuff before, I don't know how will I feel when doing these kind of stuff. But doing, watching and most importantly practicing the magic gives you a better direction; showing a way to lead into.

I started with the E guys too. I knew I like close-up(maybe mentalism in future) but not the stage kinda thing so I found the E site. I had many of those tapes, watched many times and witohut proper practicing, went out to fool people feeling like I knew & can perform the all the sleights and tricks. NO! A big no..
After that time, I got a Royal Road to Card Magic book and find the GoMagicGo podcast (they have a beginners podcast, campanion to RRTCM book) and I started magic seriously. I begin to see why tricks are menat to perform that way, what will spectator think and many others which haven't thought on those tapes.

I like to read instead of watching the tapes, because you can find your pattern with reading easily. You can have your own ideas or presantations with books easily.

edit: You couldn't find Aliun levitation because it hasn't and won't be released because of the safety issues.

Welcome to TM, Aaron.

In your case, I would also reccomend a few tricks with simple things you find around, like rubber bands, paper clips, bottles etc. to spice up your variety.

Greetings from Iceland!

My friend started learning magic this year. Kinda of apprintace to me and i am always telling him to slow down one day he is running around with the RRTC the next a TT, every time he says i want to get one of these i always make him justify the reason and how often dose he think he will use it. So i agree with others its easy to get bogged down when i started i wanted to be a great card manipulator i am an average one but theres no where i can use a Thurston 5 card vanish except on stage. All though manipulations is more a love for rather then showing people.


Anyhow welcome!

Thanks for your help guys. I am really pleased with my prgoress but I do tend to feel like I am just a guy who knows a bunch of amazing tricks..

I think its time to slow down, get RRCM and go through slowly practicing everything until my fingers bleed and i can do it with my eyes closed ( I actuually practice things like ACR now with my eyes closed and it kind of helps )

XCM is just something I fell in love with when I stumbled across the handlordz site. I dont want to be an xcm'er, i want this to be my hobby, and magic to be my art.

Ok.. where to get RRCM i can afford!!>??

After those videos you have, RRTCM book is really affordable. It's only 10$ or something like that.