Can anyone help me ?

Discuss your favorite close-up tricks and methods.
Guest

Can anyone help me ?

Postby Guest » June 16th, 2005, 6:16 am

hi, i've learned some card tricks jus from friends but nuthing like sleight of hand and the other things i've read in some other posts, i've been really interested in all this ever since i started showing people at work the card tricks .. i was jus wondering on how i should start learning card magic, can anyone help me ?

Jonathan Townsend
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Re: Can anyone help me ?

Postby Jonathan Townsend » June 16th, 2005, 6:30 am

Originally posted by pikturez:
...i was jus wondering on how i should start learning card magic, can anyone help me ?
If you want to make the investment, you would be well served by Greater Magic or evern Downs's The Art of Magic.

Another path with more hand holding is the Card College books.
Mundus vult decipi -per Caleb Carr's story Killing Time

Guest

Re: Can anyone help me ?

Postby Guest » June 16th, 2005, 8:07 am

Originally posted by Jonathan Townsend:
If you want to make the investment, you would be well served by Greater Magic or evern Downs's The Art of Magic.
Is that a book or a video ? and where would i be able to get it, and is this for cardicians ? cuz thats basically what im going for.

Guest

Re: Can anyone help me ?

Postby Guest » June 16th, 2005, 9:57 am

Hi,

I would recommend Roberto Giobbi's Card College vol.1 as a first investment. You will learn the basics of sleight of hand and some effects you can perform with those sleights. The writing and the pictures are very clear. The Card College books are now considered the reference for modern card magic by many cardicians.

I agree that Greater Magic and The Art Of Magic are great books, however, because of the writing style they can be more difficult to digest. Also, some of the effects need to be updated from these older books. Therefore I would recommend these only for someone who has already learned some basic card handling.

Another great, much cheaper and accessible book is Royal Road To Card Magic. You can get the Dover reprint for a couple of dollars on Amazon.com. This book, even though it was written a long time ago, is still great for beginners.

Good Luck!

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Bill Wells
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Re: Can anyone help me ?

Postby Bill Wells » June 16th, 2005, 11:53 am

First -

"The Royal Road to Card Magic" by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braude

...and after you finish that one. Then get

Harry Lorayne's "Close Up Card Magic".
Bill Wells

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Pete Biro
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Re: Can anyone help me ?

Postby Pete Biro » June 16th, 2005, 4:11 pm

Wells, where you been?

WELLS IS 100% CORRECT IN HIS REPLY.
Stay tooned.

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Gordon Meyer
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Re: Can anyone help me ?

Postby Gordon Meyer » June 16th, 2005, 4:47 pm

As much as I like Card College, I think Royal Road is a better book to start with. You'll be busy for a long time before you yearn for more, and will continue to use it throughout your studies.

If you're hankering for another good reference, consider "Counts, Cuts, Moves and Subtlety" by Jerry Mentzer. It's inexpensive, and easy to overlook, but a very handy and useful reference that won't distract you when you just need to look up a basic technique.

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Re: Can anyone help me ?

Postby Bob Farmer » June 16th, 2005, 5:26 pm

Harry Lorayne's THE MAGIC BOOK is very good.

Guest

Re: Can anyone help me ?

Postby Guest » June 16th, 2005, 5:33 pm

I entirely agree with Mr. Wells regarding Lorayne's Close Up Card Magic. A treasure trove of great real world effects without knucklebusting sleight of hand, except for the last chapter on Curry's Turnover, that is.

I still have routines from that book in my repertoire and it was one of my first books.

Guest

Re: Can anyone help me ?

Postby Guest » June 16th, 2005, 7:16 pm

Originally posted by Bill Wells:
First -

"The Royal Road to Card Magic" by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braude

...and after you finish that one. Then get

Harry Lorayne's "Close Up Card Magic".
thanks everyone who replied,

i think im gonna go with "The Royal Road to card Magic",
but when i look it up in the book store, theres 4 versions, is any of them alright ?

theres 1 by Jean copyrighted in the 1999, and 1 by Frederick copyrighted in 2004, and theres 2 that are "incorporated" ( i dont kno what that means )

but which ones do u guys think is the better one to get ?

Guest

Re: Can anyone help me ?

Postby Guest » July 2nd, 2005, 2:20 pm

Sorry to be late to the ball game, but I would emphasize Card College 1 as the best first source.
The Lorayne book and some of the other sources mentioned are all excellent books that you'll want to get soon after your journey through the volumes of Card College.

Royal Road is excellent and a long-time favorite, but it is somewhat outdated in several of its techniques, and will start you out with some bad habits that Card College will help you avoid. Card College is more updated, a little better thought out, more comprehensive, and better illustrated.

As far as which version of Royal Road to get, just get the commonly-available Dover paperback edition.


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