Just starting magic

[yesyes]

Hi y'all I am just starting in the art of performing illusions aka magic. I have been looking at a lot of stuff to get which I will list below. I am asking for your guys opinions on what I should get first, including books cause I don't know to many good ones. A lot of them aren't from theory 11 which I hope is fine to post here let me know if not.

Some big ones which I definitely plan on getting is
a close up pad something nice like this https://shop.52kards.com/products/luxury-pad-by-tcc-trick?variant=31903095062601
The invisible deck
Some gaff decks (visualies)
Invisible thread with wax
Svengali deck
and some other cool stuff like the odyssey ring, BLOW the 52 to 1 deck, triple helix and a few others

any recommendations on other stuff?
I have been practicing some stuff like calling

Any youtube videos or classes that you recommend too?

Thank you all so much I am so exited to get started on my magic journey.

“Now you’re looking for the secret... but you wont find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled.”

“The performance is where the magician’s lifetime of practice, and his innate skill as a performer, co-join to produce the magical display.”

 

[JoshL8]

You’ll have fun with the things on your list for sure. At the start of your journey people often buy lots of tricks or gimmicks, partly because they are exploring what their style is and partly because they have issues differentiating what things are. People often end up with a drawer or two (maybe a closet full) of stuff they don’t use anymore. If you want a good foundation that will help you choose effects you will certainly use, speed learning up, and get “more bang for your buck”…books are awesome!

For card stuff the ‘Card College’ series by Giobbi is excellent. It teaches not only foundational card magic (and advanced) but foundational magic principles. Mark Wilsons Complete Course in Magic is also a great book and very affordable! It’s honestly a book every magician/hobbyist should own. These two sources will get you far.

Speaking of books that you should own, the Tarbell series is public domain and electronic copies can be found for free. The original is pretty old and needs some sifting thru to get past some outdated bits (magics still good but things like the ‘history of magic’ have aged not too well). You can buy the updated books too. This series is gold, it’s a lifetime of magic in there.

Other books like BoBo’s Coin Magic and Royal Road to Card Magic also are often recommended and very affordable.

Welcome to the forums and Magic too!

 

[yesyes]

thank you for your advice so other than books anything else.

Also any recommendations on decks that are good for magic?

 

[JoshL8]

thank you for your advice so other than books anything else.

Also any recommendations on decks that are good for magic?

Practice in front of a camera. A phones camera is fine, it doesn’t need to be an amazing camera. Practice what you are going to say as well not just the moves. Perform often, you will learn faster.

If you are buying gaffs most work with Bicycle decks. Many people prefer them because they are common (even people who don’t use cards recognize them), have borders, and are not too spendy for what you get. Custom decks like t11’s are fine too…use what interests you!
Im sure some other folks will chime in with suggestions soon.

 

[yesyes]

Practice in front of a camera. A phones camera is fine, it doesn’t need to be an amazing camera. Practice what you are going to say as well not just the moves. Perform often, you will learn faster.

If you are buying gaffs most work with Bicycle decks. Many people prefer them because they are common (even people who don’t use cards recognize them), have borders, and are not too spendy for what you get. Custom decks like t11’s are fine too…use what interests you!
Im sure some other folks will chime in with suggestions soon.

thanks you so much could you provide a link to a good gaff deck if you wouldn't mind thanks

 

[tetromagic]

Welcome to magic! You've got some good items on your list. I'll second that I think books are awesome for learning principals and guidelines for performing magic. In addition to the ones that JoshL8 mentioned I can also recommend checking out Magic & Showmanship by Henning Nelms, Maximum Entertainment 2.0 by Ken Webber, and The Show Doctor by Jeff McBride.

I recommend looking into learning some classic routines with normal cards like the ones you can learn in Card College. This way you know you're always ready to go even if a trick deck of yours breaks or stops working properly, because they do eventually. This can be routines like the Ambitious Card, Chicago Opener, Out of this World, Triumph, etc. Learning the classics teaches you the principals of magic and are proven to be crowd pleasers.

Learning magic from videos can be great too just be careful because it's easier to pick up bad habits. Many accounts that post video tutorials online for free in places like YouTube are motivated for views and don't always care about making you a better magician. That doesn't mean that you can't learn great routines on YouTube it just means you have to be more careful. Seeing magic performed in person can help you tell the difference. See if there are any magic clubs in your area. Learning from others in person is fun. Watching yourself in the mirror or on video is helpful but nothing beats real time feedback from someone who's experienced in what you're learning. Hope this helps!