Okay, I've been doing magic for a year now and I realised I haven't learned anything new that actually helps me performing my tricks (other than small details) in a month or two.
I know several different color changes, double lifts, shuffles, sleights and flourishes. I also like doing spungeball tricks and even thought I'm not too good at it I like invisible thread(working on that^^). I've bought rigged packs of cards and gimmicks and most of them I don't use much. I'm slowly working on my routine but I want to improvise in a better way and practice more before starting a routine and performing for an audience.
I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on good tutorial links or places to look for them so I can learn sleights (like the pass) directly in the right way. Any other advice? Should I get into an other type of magic (like cloth for example)? Are there any other DVD's or Gimmicks REALLY worth getting (and not too bulky so I can always carry them with me)? I also have a lot of time on my hands for a week and the I can't practice for a week or two so I want to get the most out of it, should I practice the same sleight all day and only go to the next one once I can do it perfectly or do a bit of lots of sleights each day?
Thank you in advance for your answers!

Welcome to the Café, Magicube! I think Dick Oslund needs to bring his words of wisdom here...

Doug

Yes 'Grasshopper'.... errr.... Magicube. Welcome to the Café. So much to learn... so little time. Your best investment is not in purchasing more 'tricks' but in learning from books and DVD's. For cards I really would suggest Royal Road to Card Magic or Harry Lorayne's Close up Card Magic. The Tarbell series, Mark Wilson or Joshua Jay will definitely help you in the beginning stages. Practice the various sleights, then practice the routine you want to perform with those sleights. Enough for now. Good luck with your endeavours.

Ray

Okay I'll start off with all of that, thank you

The best tip I can give you on learning sleight of hand is to learn a move in conjunction with an effect. That way when you have perfected the sleight you will have a use for it. Then, learn other effects that use that sleight. Then learn another one, again in conjunction with an effect, possibly that also uses the first sleight. The second best tip I can give you on sleight of hand is that there is no single way to do any sleight. Many books present this idea unintentionally by directing the student exactly where to place their fingers, etc. Every book or video on sleight of hand should repeat over and over, "There is no single, absolutely precise way to do this move!" You will have to read the directions and eventually adjust the move to fit your hands. You may even find that some moves don't work well for your hands and you have to find a different way. The third tip I would give you about learning sleight of hand, is to break a move down into as many small steps as you can, learn the steps and slowly combine them into one smoothly flowing action. This is the best way to learn an effect as well. Learn the parts and combine them into a whole.
Also, keep in mind that the method is probably the least important aspect of magic. As long as the method accomplishes what it intends to accomplish it is fine. You must also consider what the effect itself is. Depending on another important aspect of magic, presentation, most effects can change. For example, a simple card trick can be performed as if it is a production, or as if it is a demonstration of psychic ability.
As to effects and source material, it sounds as if you have plenty to work on right now. The thing to do is to pick one thing and work on it until you can do it flawlessly before you move on to something else. And don't burn yourself out by working on something all day long. If you aren't getting it after a reasonable time--15 to 30 minutes-- take a break and rethink what you've been doing. One of the worst things you can do is to practice a move or routine incorrectly because it is much more difficult to learn something wrong, "unlearn" what you have learned, and then learn it the correct way.
I hope this helps!

It may be worth while to find a local magic shop near you and take some lessons. Like everything else you learn, there's the basics that you'll need to learn and then you just start getting into variations on these building blocks.

I practice with a friend and we teach each other the moves we've learned!

Hey Dougini! Sheesh! Yer gittin' me into more work!

I happen to know, and have been mentoring a young high school lad in Switzerland. --(He just won first place in his magic school's annual contest.)

I'll try not to confuse the "grasshopper"'s mind too much!

Ray and MR have passed along very good advice and information.

I WILL caution the 'cube' not to pay too much attention to the other poster above, who does not seem to realize that brick & mortars do not exist in every village in rural France.

Yr's, 'til...

Dick

Stop learning tricks start practicing performance? Let me put it this way. Your pass is so awesome it is invisible, the card appears at the top of the deck - WOW. Now you learn a double undercut - Card appears at the top, great, then you learn A, B , C all different sleights, all perfect.

But a card coming to the top of the deck is not magic, it is a puzzle, it is not entertaining. Your performance turns it into magic. Practice performance.

Greetings Red Hat! It may be a bit presumptuous of me to use your first name, but, I think we know each other well enough to be informal!

Your note above--especially your second paragraph--is "right on"!

Learning sleights is basic, but, using them to perform a trick, so that the trick is entertaining is the ultimate!

Jay Marshall and I, years ago discussed this, and mutually agreed that to add a trick to one's act, three "things" are necessary.

(vix. 1. Learn how the trick is DONE.

2. Learn how to DO it.

3. Learn how to DO it so that it ENTERTAINS an audience!

No. 3 is the challenge! (Too many "magicians" never realize that MAGIC is NOT INHERENTLY ENTERTAINING!)

The magician's PRESENTATION (AND PERSONALITY) is always MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE PROP, or SLEIGHT.

My own act depends mostly upon sleights or "moves". The props are generic! --silks, rope, cards, golf balls,coins, etc. I present a few tricks that are mainly "mechanical"
(e.g.: the Mutilated Parasol, and, the Pom Pon Stick) but, even with them, skillful "handling" and presentation is critical. I have seen such tricks presented like the "catalog" description, and they were anything but, entertaining!

So! FESTINA LENTE! (Latin for: "Make haste, slowly!) Learn basic sleights, as a necessary means to perform and present a trick. If a person just learns skillful sleights, he may be considered a juggler, not a magician. (I'm not disparaging juggling! However, magic and juggling are separate and distinct art forms.) The magician uses aubtle skills, and actually conceals their use. They are necessary to perform a trick, but, must not be obvious!

The "grasshopper" is starting the "journey of a lifetime"! I've been "on the road" for seventy years, and, am still walking!

The road is not a smooth highway! There are hills and valleys. Sometimes the progress is slow! --but, the journey is the "thing"!

Yr's, 'til the curtain closes!

Dick
Sneaky, underhanded, devious, and surreptitious itinerant mountebank.

P.S.!!!

Hey Red! Let me clarify! After the first two lines above, I was "speaking" to the "grasshopper"!!! (It's OK if you listened in!)

He appears to be a very interested and courteous young man. We've been PMing since mid July. I am enjoying our conversations!

Oh! see my post just above...."vix" is a misstype. It should be "viZ". (I've wanted to use "viz" in a sentence ever since I read "ROBINSON CRUSOE" when I was 10.)