talkmagic.co.uk

Hello everyone, I don't know if here is the right place to put the thread, but I'll just try anyway, feel free to move it to the proper place. Thank you.

Just to give everyone a little background of myself, I am from Hong Kong, a complete newbie to magic. I'm right now watching a lot of magic tutorials, I can't even do the false shuffle and emsley count well.

Anyway, here's my questions

1) What is the easiest type of trick to start with? card? coin? sponge ball?
2) How to practice? Where to learn? Who I can pratice with?
3) Any other tips to beginners?

Thanks very much for reading this thread and Thank you again for answering my questions!

Take the time to have a look round where you'll find all the answers to your questions.

I can't even do the false shuffle and emsley count well

You're not on your own there - many professionals who can't do such sleights get around it by using trick decks and gaffed cards. As long as your audience is entertained it doesn't make much difference how you achieve the end result.

If I had to choose one of the categories you list I'd say check out card magic where many great effects are almost self working which leaves you to concentrate on your presentation. Cards are a universally common item even if the back design isn't normally used in your area.

Of the 3 you suggest it would definitely be cards.

Basically the easiest tricks are self workers many of which vcan be found in the reviews section. In fact in the reviews section it nearly always gives a difficulty level, which you should find very helpful.

While there are easy coin tricks using gimmicked coins they are usually quite expensive and not neccessarily the best place to start.

As far as sleight of hand goes, sponge balls are quite easy if you have a good teaching DVD to follow, otherwise again can be tricky.

Some people learn better from the written word with diagrams and this is certainly the cheapest method into magic, though for me and many others a DVD is much easier to learn from. Ultimately linking up with someone or joining a club is difficult to beat.

Well, first of all I apologize for not checking out thoroughly the site, I really don't know which section to go to by simply looking at the forum headings, those that seem to fit are unfortunately reserved for preferred members only, so...

Thanks for the useful advices. I found that I am struggling to do the classical palm of coins, and some palmings of cards, I am doubting if my hands are too small for those techniques. It's quite discouraging, is it that I am inheritly not suitable to be a magician?

Anyways, thank you!

The reviews section is open to everyone and is the best place for you to start.

Your hands will not be too small though it's a common misconception of people new to magic, again I suggest you start with self working tricks. There are many professional magicians that never really get into sleight of hand in fact David Blaine is a good example of a magician that has been very successful yet uses little sleight of hand.

Hi Moonwalker

From one beginner to another the key to this game is practice, any time, anywhere. I have started with cards and coins and am resisting the urge to buy more and more stuff, the buying is easy!

So I keep coins and cards everywhere, in the car, at work, by my bed, by the telly and I just keep practicing. You will be pleased to know you soon reach the point when it starts to come together.

If I can do it so can you.

Cigarman

To Happytoad,

Yea, I did start with self-working magic. But I think if I want to take myself to a higher level, I should at least be able to do some basic sleight of hands well, like double-lift and breaks. I can do some false cut and colorchange now, but I'm still having problems with double-lift, double undercut and breaks.

To Cigarman,

Well, All I got with me are 2 bike decks, one blue and one red, I couldn't even get the tiger ones in my dealer's shop. The blue deck is already pretty worn out, by the way, I cant really do the one hand riffle shuffle and thumb fan (I can only open for at most 180 degree), are you encountering these problems too? Or you had already got over them?

Thank you to both Happytoad and cigarman!