One question I get asked a lot is how do I start cardistry?
Cardistry is a beautiful art form that incorporates like sort of juggling and playing cards
looks really magical
But it isn't magic, let's not get into that right now
but it's amazing, I'm in love with cardistry
Now I'm not the best Cardist in the world; as a magician
I do use cards a lot, and I found a massive interest for cardistry and started learning
and I'm still learning all the time. Really love it
I really love the community
And I have some tips today that may help you start your journey into cardistry
alright so the first tip in cardistry and probably the most important; to have fun.
This is something that's supposed to be fun
It's not supposed to be grueling
it's not supposed to be painstaking if you're not having fun with it do something else
do kendama, or yo-yo or play pogs
I realize that most of you don't know what pogs are...
But regardless move on to something else and come back to it later
You should never be frustrated when doing cardistry, or else you're just not gonna have fun learning it
It is very difficult, but it's up to you to take the time, the right time, to learn it
I'd say to start off learn the basic grips
So the basic grips are just your dealer's grip. Get comfortable with a deck in your hand.
Straddle grip
And I actually had these exercises where I hold a deck while I'm on the computer
and I just kind of like flip it upside down
and hold it in different angles, between different fingers
and that develops a lot of the dexterity and finger muscles that I have
which apply to cardistry. Another great tip is to do finger exercises
Or you can just come up with your own. There are a few out there
I know a lot of people doing finger tutting
you can probably look up finger tutting tutorials and that will help develop, I'm sure, the dexterity
Is it necessary? No, but is it fun? It could be
Then move on to the basic cuts
so you want to learn a lot of the basic one-handed cuts, the easier stuff like charlier
Maybe a revolution cut. All these one-handed cuts will help you develop
your comfort zone with the deck of cards and eventually you'll be able to combo those single swing cuts
and that type of thing with other cuts to make a crazy looking flourish
A lot of people say trainers are a great way to practice cardistry
I for one don't use trainers all the time but I do see the value in them
Trainers are little pieces of plastic that allow you to do cardistry and
concentrate on multiple packets without having fifty-two cards slipping and sliding around also
they're pretty durable so you can just drop them in your pocket. You don't need a tuck case for them
You can drop them on the floor. It doesn't really matter, and it's just kind of its own thing
It doesn't doesn't have anything to do with cards
so you'll rarely get that associated with magic
One thing that I've learnt and I learned this really quickly is do not practice over a hard surface or a dirty surface
*Cardistry*
Go ahead and practice on a soft surface
So while you're watching TV or in the bed
anything over a couch or a carpet or this type of thing
you can really go ahead and experiment and try some riskier moves that
you wouldn't normally do if you were standing
Cardistry can seem very discouraging as well
there are thousands of videos online, show you all these incredible combinations, and then beautiful flourishes
And then when you have the cards in your hand you seem
useless, you seem like someone who can't handle a deck and that can be discouraging
But just know that not every cardist can do everything
There are thousands of moves out there to learn and new ones for you to discover so
You know what start somewhere where you wouldn't normally start get outside of your comfort zone
Don't always do what's comfortable because you'll never develop anything and that goes for just creating anything in life
You have to sort of step outside the box, think outside the box
But experiment, really try. Just, it's fine If your hands aren't doing what your mind wants it to
As long as you get the basic concept and theory of what it is you're trying to create
You'll eventually come up with something new and possibly something really cool.
A few tips for my friends the Buck twins
Who know a thing or two about cardistry
But they say just start from anywhere learn the basics if you like but you don't have to just start from anywhere
Just have fun try anything you like, have no expectations
when you have no expectations you can just start cutting cards and moving them around
and eventually you'll inspire yourself because you'll come up with something that maybe hasn't been done yet or something
That you're actually really good at and Dan and Dave even say that most of their creations came from happy accidents so really
experimenting playing around with new things new grips new ways of holding cards
They also say learn what appeals to you
You'll eventually, from doing it hours and hours and hours on end, develop your own creative style and from there
It'll be a lot easier to create or to
emulate a lot of the cardistry cuts that you guys see
I would say as well practice with both a new deck and a used deck
and the reason for this is that a new deck can be very very slippery it can be challenging which isn't a bad thing
it'll actually help you in the long run if you continue to use a new deck of cards
But if you use a used deck of cards the cards tend to stick together more
So you can actually practice a lot of cuts, a lot of combos that you can normally not do as easily with a new deck
So go ahead and use the deck. Don't even use the tuck case sometimes I carry deck with me
and I just slip it in my pocket because I know that that deck is solely for cardistry
and I don't really care about the condition of the cards
Obviously fanning the cards and that type of thing is going to be a lot more difficult
with a used and old beat-up deck, but if you're just practicing combos and packet cuts
I think old decks are the way to go.
one of the biggest complaints that I hear from a lot of people on the
comments or in my DMs is
"My hands are too small! I got tiny little hands, and I can't do cardistry"
and I'm gonna tell you a funny anecdote I used to think my hands were too small for cardistry
I know how crazy that sounds cuz I've got big mitts. I've got big hands
I can palm a deck laterally basically
and I thought personally that my hands were too small
cuz I was watching a lot of these cardists who had big hands
and I just couldn't understand why I couldn't do what they were doing and why I couldn't do it so easy
Why is what they're doing looks so easy compared to what I'm doing with my hands?
And the answer isn't the size of your hands
Yes, you will be a little bit more restricted when it comes to certain cuts
but there are things that you'll be able to do just as well as anybody else
with the largest hands in the world as long as you practice
because it's not so much a question of the size of your hands
but the dexterity and the muscle memory and the build up of those muscles
that you've never before worked out on
so combine that with the training exercises
and that type of thing and just get comfortable with a deck of cards and eventually
your hands will remember what a deck of card feels like and you'll just go into things a lot easier
and that just comes a time don't get discouraged if you have small hands
*CARDISTRY*
And the last tip, and not the- probably not the most surprising is practice practice practice practice practice
Drop cards, practice with your credit card, your debit card, your phone, smaller deck, a larger deck
It doesn't even matter as long as you keep practicing
and fidgeting that muscle memory will eventually set in and you're gonna start having way more fun with playing cards
Anybody who knows me in my personal life knows that when I started my journey in cardistry
I was swearing all the time. I'd find cards under the couch
Behind my bed like still to this day
but the idea was I really, really wanted to be good at cardistry
because I really wanted it to start being a lot more fun than it was at the time
because at the time it might have been a little bit more frustrating than I liked
I stuck through it and when it did get frustrating I moved on to something else I'd come back to it
and the mind has an incredible ability to practice when you're not actually handling stuff
It's a weird ability, but it actually works
just thinking about cardistry, thinking about cards, thinking about doing some combo
that's actual mental practice and when you get a deck in your hand the mind kicks in
and that subconscious that you've been practicing actually manifests itself and you'll get a lot better
Which is why when we come back to things, we suddenly understand them a lot more
so I would say guys; just literally have fun with it
Don't get discouraged, watch some videos, soak it all in practice all you want, but the idea is to have fun
if you're not having fun, do something else. cardistry is a pastime. It's not a job
It shouldn't be a requirement something that you should just do because you feel like doing it
Maybe set up a little meet and greet with some friends in the area and teach them cardistry, get them involved.
Just keep at it
There's no right way. There's no wrong way to cardistry
Everything is good
So many different styles, so many different things have come from people
who are just thinking outside the box and trying their own things.
Alright guys. That's it for me. Hope you enjoyed this video
Hope it was somewhat informative to a lot of you
And I hope it answered a lot of questions that you guys may have had
I'm on my way to San Diego tomorrow
I'll be vlogging while I'm there so stay tuned for that but until then
Peace