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Hi

Started on the royal road book yesterday, wow is all i can say, and thanks to the guys who put me onto it. Very good book but can be alittle hard to follow at times. I am on page thirty, but I read a page then go back and refresh and carry on. I lv the new magic I am learning. I also now have Bobo's book and that is also ace. But I will leave that until my study of the first book is fairly clear in my mind.

How do you guys retain this stuff with day to day life to deal with ?? I keep going over the tricks and sleighs, but then get a mental blockage. Guess I am going to fast and need to step back a little....... I have tried really hard to get these tricks 100% before moving on though.... I may post a little video clip so you can advise me of how I am doin

Rgds

Paul

I was wisely advised by this forum to study royal road this way. Read a chapter, then go back and learn the sleights in that chapter. Spend about two weeks learning that chapters sleights and the tricks using those sleights. Once you feel comfortable that you can perform that sleight without think about it, without looking at the cards, then move on.

Something I now do is use my mobile or camcorder to video me doing the sleight i am practicing over and over again. I do the sleights with my eyes closed. and also singing a song that i dont know all the words too.. ie a new song. This is something I have dont just recently but because my mind is focused on remembering the words, and I have my eyes closed, the last thing on my mind is the cards. I keep recording myself until I get about 10 mins footage that looks perfect. Then do the same with a next sleight.

How you practice is a personal thing but you must be able to perform sleights effortlessly. its is better to know a few sleights and do them flawlessly than to know every sleight and perform them with average results.

I think I.D. has it right. Although I would recommend practising initially in front of a mirror, for a couple of reasons. First, it is usually easier to set up than a video camera. Second, it will give you a live, real-time view of what you are doing. Like many here I started back when the average person could never afford a video camera so the miror was the best option. I believe that video has it's place in practicing but I would think that you should start with a mirror until you are hitting it about %90-%95 of the time, then switch to a camera. The mirror is advantagious in the inital stages as it is better siuted to catch the larger, glaring errors. When you switch to the video camera you will have conquered the larger details and can take advantage of the video playback to fine-tune your sleights.

As for retaining stuff on a day-to-day basis, practice whenever you can. If you can't physically practice (don't have the time to sit down with a deck), go over the material mentally. You can think through the sleights/routines while cueuing up for something, traveling to/from work, etc... Even though mastery of sleight of hand requires a lot of "muscle memory", you will reduce the time it takes to recall something you have not done in a while if you can visualize it mentally, and that visualization will be retained longer if you think through the sleights/routines on a regular basis.

Thanks for that guys

Is there a good dvd that accompanies this book, or something close to it?? I am one of these people who watches things alot better than reading. But reading does stick in your mind quicker than a dvd. But I will read the book and try and get a dvd to match the book a little just to help me along. Any suggestions guys ????

Thanks for your comments

Rgds

Paul

Yes, you can buy royal road to card magic on DVD. I thinks it on at a good price at NUMS.

From what I have read are we talking about the R.Paul Wilson. 5 DVD set

Whats nums??? Sry to be a numb nuts

yes thats the one.

Nums - nothingupmysleeve.co.uk

hey norfolk boy,

dont rush these things, i too am new to royal road and have been studying for the last couple of months.

i just want to read/watchdvd and perform almost instantly but like these more experienced guys on tm its practise,practise and more practise.

my trouble is remembering the tricks but i think thats down to too much lager

where abouts are you in norwich??

Ok thanks for that

It's a good book, but the lack of diagrams and muddy descriptions mean that I used more descriptive books in conjunction with it.
The card section in Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic is much easier to follow.

and some of the instructions in it are a bit vague especially some of the earlier ones and I found watching Paul Wilson do the sleights on the dvd better but even then I had to play around with them a couple of times before I fully understood what you needed to do. I learn a move and then perfect it before moving onto the next one. The dvd might seem a bit expensive but with all the sleights and effects included in the book and dvd set its going to take me a while to fully digest it all.

I know what you mean, even the description of simplistic shuffles are explained in a very unclear and cluttered way ('phalanx',etc). The lack of diagrams makes you wonder whether you are practicing correctly at times and as I said in my previous post, I had to cross-reference with some others to make sure it meant what I thought it said.
There are other card books, equally as good and I can't understand why this one is rated so highly. Nothing sets it apart from other card tuition things I have read, in fact, I personally think it is written quite poorly.
The material in it is all good stuff but it's not as clearly put across as say the Tarbell books.

Hi guys

Thanks for the comments

Yeah I have just started the second DVD, it is cool. I never would have grasped this stuff from a book, the book is good but very unclear. I do the same I learn something to the best of my ability and then move on, I dont move on until I have learned it.

I still check back with the book to check what the differences are, but the book and DvD seem very compatible with each other.

Everyday I am learning more and more, and I must say the things I am learning are very good tricks indeed. I guess as R paul says speed and dexterity are the key to making it work.

Rgds

Paul

IM GETTING ROYAL ROAD!!!! Im very excited. But thanks for all these posts. They should help me. and i have heard how awesome it was.

Hi Pend

My advice is study it and take in as much as you can. For sure make some notes as time goes.

Rgds

Paul