Hello:

It may seem insane for a dealer to suggest this to a beginner, but I have a LOT of experience in starting folks out in magic. After 33+ years the number has to be in the tens of thousands.

The question is asked time and time again: How do you start out?

Historically, going back before the publication of Modern Magic by Hoffmann, you became a 'magician' by direct induction via someone already a magician. You literally apprenticed yourself to an expert in the craft and were thereby given over time the tools to become, hopefully, a magical performer yourself.

There were very few books and obviously no videos to work with and the number of those performing magic was small in comparison to other art and craft forms.

Time passes and the publication of Modern Magic and then Greater Magic and some other significant tomes have a huge affect upon the numbers of folks who practice magic.

Today you are probably as unlikely to apprentice yourself to a magician as you were 100+ years ago, but for very different reasons. The most obvious is the sheer availability of information and training available in book and video form.

So what do you do? Oddly, I think the best way to start is to simply buy ONE trick that you like either the demo or sound of and work on it until you have it mastered. Attempt a performance.

What went wrong?
What went right?
Why?

If it went wrong, what could you adjust to make it go right the next time?

If it went right, how right did it go and what could you do to make it better, more profound, more entertaining?

Use that first trick to SEE what magic is about. Experience MAGIC performed for others and see if it fits you..really.

If it does then proceed .... but, well, start with something that will teach you the foundation principles, sleights, philosophy of magic. Build from there.

Best,

That sounds like good advice.

I'm not massively into buying packaged tricks & gimmicks, but they are always tempting, and its also tempting to start to amass DVDs and books before properly working through the ones I've already got ...

The first thing I ever bought, which got me into magic, was the Invisible Deck. Since it was the only thing I had, I mastered it first. Good advice Brad!

Top advice Brad

Did magic as a kid then gave it up. Got into juggling at college and dabbled in magic things like dynamic coins, Silk vanish and Svengali decks. And about 3 years got back into magic in a big way brought loads of stuff. Then a year and a bit ago culled loads of stuff and went out and about with silk vanish and professor nightmare. Now I have a regular walk round and do a bit of busking with a simple ACR, fibre optics and a sponge routine.

I wished that I started just doing rope stuff but it took me a while to to see what a great thing it is. Also light cheap and available anywhere is good.

That is really good advice and obviously you would know with your background but being someone who started quite recently getting into magic I fear it may be impossible to follow? What I mean is that exactly due to the masses and masses of information out there its just too much of a temptation to get loads of things raher than perfecting one no? I know that when I started I couldn't help myself from knowing loads of tricks wihtout actually taking the time to perfect any ( a mistake I know). The problem is that the demos of magic tricks aren't very good indicators of the trick itself, the only good indicator I think is seeing it performed or shown to you as all tricks hype themselves up to be easy and available to all when in fact they could be not your style at all.

on that point and I was going to make a new post on this (and might still if its deemed off topic) but I always wish magic dealers were a bit more open and helpful when I come into the store lookign for a trick. If I am to choose one trick over another and really go for it and master it it then the help of the dealer would be priceless in saying 'what sort of thing are you looking for, what do you like, whats your style, do you prefer this or this' etc. On my experience they tend to only hand you something you have specificlaly asked for with little explanation of how useful it would be to you meaning that I end up buying a lot of thins in he dark and often find they are not suitable to me..

wow this post is longer than I wanted it to be.. I just meant that its absolutely true we should be concentrating especially at this beginning stage on few things and perfecting them I just don't think its possible with the plethora of material out there and without any help and guidance.. Do you guys agree?

I don't agree that focusing on one trick at a time is impossible.
Sure, the temptation to learn a lot quickly is there but it comes down to discipline.
For instance, if you like a particular coins across routine then you should look into other coins across routines and work on those or come up with your own.

The real issue to me is why are you learning magic? If it is to perform for others (either for friends or professionally) then it is so much more rewarding to learn one thing well and be able to perform it than it is to "kind of" know 10 routines but not be comfortable performing any of them.

I too have a bit of "monkey mind" so usually have 1 other trick (never more than 2) that I can distract myself with if I feel I am getting burned out on the trick I am focusing on.

As an example, I am currently working on John Bannon's Royal Scam which I love but is not as easy as I hoped it would be -- of course the upside is it is making me better at using cards. When I get frustrated or bored I move on to playing around with Loops focusing mostly on Haunted Deck. If/when I get Royal Scam down, I will move Loops to the front and pick up a new trick. To be clear it might not be a specific trick but rather a book or a DVD etc.

Hope that helps.

Just to specify, I didn't mean that it was impossible to concentrate on one trick until you have it down perfectly I actually agree full heartedly with the beginning statement. What I meant is that when youre just starting out in this great world of magic there are so many dazzling lights its really hard to remain focused especially with no guidance. Eventually you understand you've not been doing things right and start concentrating on single skills and tricks to perfection and that's definitely the way to go about it.. just hard for straight off beginners to begin that way

Dear rdsachs:

The problem with a lot of dealers is not so much that they wouldn't like to sell you the perfect thing for 'you', but that they really don't know how. I had an advantage in many ways in that I did not start out as a "guy behind the counter". I actually began my magic shop career as a magic teacher and moved into the other.

That gave me a unique chance to see what in fact folks could and could not do and that reasonably so. And, even then it took years of trial and error of getting feedback from clients, etc. For the most part the really, REALLY good magic dealers are truly over qualified for what they do, because you have to be. And, it's a grind. You can spend an hour with someone and really give them great advice, demos, etc. and have them buy nothing or purchase a $6.00 trick. I'm not complaining...really. But, when folks walk into a magic shop and think: Wow, what a great job this would be! Well, it IS a great job, but not always a very profitable one.

Value your local dealers gang. The guys that are still open are to be commended. Unless of course they are dastardly crooks or worse...not sure what worse would be...maybe a murderous space alien. Regards,

I agree that it's hard trying to concentrate on just one thing, when there's so many exciting looking tricks out there. That's what I'm trying to do, in a sense. I'm into cards, coins, sponge balls and rope magic, so I decided to pick one good card trick, one good coin trick, a sponge ball routine and a rope routine. I just alternate between working on each thing. If I get tired of working on those same tricks and routines, I just pull out a book and work on my sleights.

As for magic dealers, you guys that have them should feel lucky. I went into the nearest magic/costume shop around here and the girls that were working there didn't know a thing about magic. She told me that I could come in on Saturday morning cause they have a magician that gives a class for 5 bucks. So if I have any questions about tricks or whatever, I have to wait till Saturdays and hope I make it there before he leaves. She said sometimes he sticks around for a while if he doesn't have any shows that day. Oh well, maybe I'll find a better magic shop around here somewhere.