Learning card manipulation

[hellhound]

Yo... Brian (and other more experienced card gurus) I got a dvd from a friend of "Paul Wilson - Royal Road to Card Magic" and am slowly (I get distracted easily w/ Rev3 vids to watch) trying to learn the cuts/shuffles in his instructional.
I got 2 questions... 1st is: Card manipulation needs alotta dexterity.. are there "exercises" that one can do while just sitting around that are helpful but can become almost subconcious?
2nd: Is that a good vid to try and learn from as a beginner? any others I should look for?
After watching UR show from the beginning.. I kinda chuckled at the 3 or 4 minutes he took explaining what a "Keycard" was.. But then he showed shuffling techniques using the keycard before and after the target card. I'm only 90 min into 5 hour instruction.. and know the theory. Theory is easy... R/L execution of it is the tuff part.. dexterity, misdirection, distraction, stage fright/charisma (yeah you pretty much got that down by now)...
I'm sure your thoughts/experiences would help me and others. Trying a magic trick is in essence./. performing.. and alot of us have anxiety.. will we mess up when eyes are upon us..
UR performance experience/thoughts would be cool too.

[rikallen]

Hey man,

The Royal Road to Card Magic is a great place to start, I personally used the book and don't have the dvds.

Serious manipulation and sleight of hand takes practice. You can't do much better than RRtCM, but if you wanted a book that teaches the basics very well and wanted another resource, check out Roberto Giobbi's Card College volume 1.

It goes over the basics of card handling, a lot of which is in Royal Road (only updated with personal touches) and it is a goldmine for practical, psychological, and theoretical advice on the moves.

Overall I'd say pick one or two things and practice them. Then practice tricks using those one or two things (Overhand shuffle control, false cut or a force) and then add on moves one or two at a time.

A good way to practice the overhand shuffle is to pick a card to control (Ace of Spades) and put it on top, while watching TV do this-Control it to the bottom, back to the top, then put it as the 13th card. Shuffle the twelve on top of it off and start it back on the top. If you can do this without looking at your hands then you've probably gotten it down enough.

Also remember that most of the people you perform for won't know any of the technique you're using. So the Key card or some other simple principle is almost better than tricky sleight of hand in most cases.

As far as nervousness goes, pick up a book called Win the Crowd by Stephen Cohen. I think Barnes and Noble sells it for 10 bucks. It'll help anyone trying to be more ambitious and outgoing (magician or not) if they follow his madness.

If you need any help feel free to PM me. I'm not on daily, but am willing to help. If you made it this far, congrats, this post was really long lol.