Great. Working/Practicing/Rehearsing with balance in mind: enough but not too much! Works for me . . . thanks!

I'm with Olaf... maybe take a break from that, work on something else, and come back to it with "fresh hands".

Slow the shuffle down until it doesn;t happen. You don't need to shuffle the cards at the speed of light. I have performed at many venues including a few restaurant gigs that run for a few years (I am no longer performing professionally) but I can promise you a slow shuffle and light conversation while you are doing it is much better than a super fast shuffle.

I would suggest going back and re-reading with a deck in hand so you can almost "re-learn" the shuffle again.

Good luck

Yeah I have had a big time out, so I might start Card College again, where are my cards...

I'm going to make a terrible suggestion - stop trying to learn a basic, standard, layman-type, overhand shuffle from a book! I can understand wanting to learn the overhand JOG shuffle from a book - I've taught it a number of times myself, because there is a "proper" way to do it - correctly, that is. But - a "normal" everyday overhand shuffle?! C'mon - just do the d@mn thing, just as a rank layman does when handed a deck to shuffle. It may just be that trying to follow such a simple thing from a book is what's causing the problem. Pick up a deck and just shuffle it, d@mn it! It's almost like trying to learn to walk when you're an adult - from a book! You'd probably keep tripping! Yeah, I know - terrible suggestion. Best - Harry L.

The thing is I developed a rather lame/embarrassing shuffle (im not convinced it even shuffles) back when I was a kid. So I'm kinda fighting the urge to go back to that every time I pick up the cards! You are of course right Harry, I'll put the book to one side and just get it bottomed out ;-)

Check out the sample private lesson on Aaron Fisher's page. He gives some tips on the overhand shuffle that I found helpful.

http://www.aaronfishermagic.com/coaching.htm

Harry said it all. And from the mouth of a master!

Aaron Fisher's instruction has helped me with a lot of aspects of card handling, and in particular, the OH shuffle.

I echo the suggestions of slowing down. First, get the accuracy down while doing the OH shuffle

s l o w l y.

The speed will come naturally.

For me, the difficulty was that I had never used an OH shuffle in card handling over the years prior to starting to learn card magic. I always riffle shuffled, so the simple OH shuffle felt odd and clumsy initially. After a few days or weeks of practice, it begins to feel pretty natural. This applies to learning all types of moves though, doesn't it?

[quote]after going through the rrtcm too quickly the first time I wanted make sure I mastered every section before moving on like I was supposed to
[\quote]

"Mastery" is NOT the accomplishment of a single leap; it's the progression you make over a life time.
You do NOT have to "master" every section RIGHT NOW! And you probably won't.

"Master" what you can for your level of ability, and move on from there.
The book will still be here later on, when your smoothness, touch, sense of pressure, confidence, etc. have increased.
THen you can go back and find something else that will stump you. 8>)

Ed