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Control a Playing Card Magic – Card Control Magic

When you learn magic tricks you will be asked to control a playing card. This is all well and good for the seasoned pro, but what if you are new to card magic, and do not yet have your favourite method?

There are countless ways to control a playing card to the top, bottom or even to a chosen position in the deck. The questions we need to ask ourselves though are which methods in card magic are the most versatile, which are the easiest, which are the most deceptive and finally how many playing card controls do I actually need to perfect.

What follows is a list of our personal favourite card magic controls, listed in priority of difficulty, the easiest being the first, yet in our view, possibly the best card control for its simplicity.

Key Playing Card Control.

The Key card control is a very underused overlooked and underestimated sleight, that, when used correctly can also be most deceptive. The beauty of this card control is that you can move the chosen playing card to the top, to the bottom or even to a specific place in the deck. Also, it requires no sleight of hand. From experience using a key card can not only fool spectators, but magicians as well, because of its simplicity.
The secret to using a key card deceptively in your card magic is to disguise the moment you are looking for the key card, and disguise the cutting of the deck. When using a Key card control, whilst searching through the deck for the key playing card, Spread through showing the cards to a spectator, asking if they have any idea what card was selected. It’s a small touch but takes attention away from your actions. Also, rather than just cutting at the key card, cut a few playing cards in small batches as you search for the key playing card and then cut at the key card. This helps hide the fact that you are looking for a single playing card and then adjusting the order of the cards.
A final tip on the Key playing card: Why not use the back of a playing card? By having one card subtly marked on its back this can be used as a key playing card, and can be used as a very deceptive card control within your card magic.

Marlo’s Depth illusion, aka Tilt

Marlo’s depth illusion is a great way of controlling a playing card to the second card from the top of the deck. Admittedly, the performer has to place the playing card into the deck himself, however, the illusion of the card going into the centre of the deck is perfect, and this control is well worth learning and perfecting as it has many many useful card magic applications.

Double Undercut.

The Double under cut is quick, convenient, requires no table and also allows control of the playing card to the top or bottom. Admittedly not as simple as the key card control as it requires being competent with the basic card magic. However, this is an ideal control should you wish to start learning sleight of hand. The double undercut will get you used to using your hands in such a way that it becomes inherent that the playing cards are handled lightly and under control.

The Cull.

We now enter the tougher card magic controls. The Cull will take practice to perfect. So, what are the advantages of learning it? Huge advantages! You can control a playing card in plain view to any position in the deck you choose just through the apparent action of spreading the deck. Not only can you control one card, but any number of cards can be controlled through one simple spread of the cards. The cull is an incredible card magic tool worth mastering if you wish to have an invaluable tool in your arsenal.

The Pass.

The Pass is the ultimate card control, yet with no doubt the toughest to master. The overall benefit of the pass is that when performed correctly there is no visible change to the order of each playing card. The selection is returned to the deck, and it is instantly on the top, or the bottom of the deck. The pass is literally invisible, yet for perfection you must be prepared to put in many hours of dedication.

Final thoughts on card control.

Whichever route you wish to use to control a card, here’s some advice. Don’t lose focus on the big picture. To the spectators you should not be trying to control any playing. When you need to control the playing card try to justify it within the magic trick. For example: rather than just going through the deck and then cutting the deck, cover the move with justification. A good example is to go through the deck to remove the jokers. As far as the spectators are concerned the control of a card should not even be part of the magic trick. They should be completely unaware of any card control occurring through your card magic. Your control of the playing cards should be a non event in the performing.

Here are some of our favourite resources for learning not only the controls we have mentioned, but also many other useful card magic tools that will help enhance and build great foundations for your journey with the playing card.

Royal Road to card magic

Royal Road to card magic – 5 DVD set

Daryl’s encyclopedia of card sleights

Born to perform

Essential Card Magic Toolbox

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How Long to Learn Magic Tricks as a Professional Magician?

by Merchant of Magic 1 Comment

Marco asks: ‘How long should you need to learn magic tricks to become a professional magician?‘

That’s a really good question, but it does need some clarification.

To answer it, we need to define what a professional magician means.

It could have two meanings:

1) It could mean a someone who performs magic tricks to the public for money. A professional treats a subject as a business. For professional magicians, the factors that are important to success are just as much about marketing and business as they are about how to learn magic tricks.

2) Professional magician could refer to someone who attempts to master each magic trick that they choose to learn. They treat the subject seriously and develop their technique and performance skills. Unlike a causal performer, you treats magic as a toy or recreational activity, the magician takes on a professional approach to developing their skills.

For Marco’s question we have assumed option 2. A way to rephrase it would be to ask:

How long does it take to learn magic tricks?

In short, the answer is as many as possible!
The first thing you need to do to learn magic tricks proficiently is get a good practice routine set out. Some of the magic tricks you should learn will need you to practice individual sleights and moves separately before rolling them all into one routine, which can then be drilled. Other magic tricks will require you practice the whole routine from start to finish as they only work when performed in a flowing manner.
There is a book called Outliers in which the author Malcolm Gladwell talks frequently of the “10,000-Hour Rule”. This rule states that the key to success in any line of work, to a large extent, is a matter of practicing your specific task for a total of 10,000 hours.

This is a good guide for how long one must practice to learn magic tricks inside out and upside down. This amount of practice will shape you into a technical and very skilled magician. Unfortunately, it won’t make you an amazing entertainer. This is something to keep in mind when performing professionally; entertainment is paramount.

In order to learn magic tricks to a professional level requires far more skills than sleight of hand. More experienced magicians will already have developed their performing style and have knowledge that they can apply to each new trick that they take on. How long it takes to learn a magic trick, really depends on your previous experience, just as much as the amount of time you can commit to learning.

The secret to learn magic tricks faster.

The secret isn’t sitting alone running through a magic trick 10,000 times. It’s about practicing the moves, rehearsing the presentation and then getting out and performing it as much as possible. Professional magicians may perform some of their magic tricks 20-30 times per night. That’s a LOT of repetition. If you are not doing magic commercially, you still need to drill a new trick as much as possible, so you can master it.

Learn magic tricks that are good for beginners.

We shan’t give you actual names of magic tricks to learn as everyone is different, but we can guide you by telling you what to look for in a good magic trick when you begin your journey.

In general, you should learn magic tricks that are short in execution and routine, long winded routines can become boring for spectators. It can take a lot of your attention to remember all the process involved in a long routine; this will definitely show in your performance, which is not good.
Try to learn magic tricks that can be described in one sentence. For example, ‘I selected a card and it appeared on the other side of the window!’. If you find magic tricks to learn that are easily explained then your audiences will talk about your performance to others, this is a good thing.

It is best to learn magic tricks that are not too far out of your comfort zone. It is great to push what you do but as far as practicing magic that you intend to show people it is best to learn magic tricks that are not too advanced. Performing magic tricks above your technical abilities will show when you perform them to people, and they may see through your technique; this will ultimately end up ruining the magic.

Don’t try to learn magic too fast. Slow down, master the basics first. By all means practice magic tricks that are out of your comfort zone as this is the only way to push forward. However you should resist showing people these magic tricks until you have perfected them and can perform them with patter flawlessly.

How to learn magic tricks : Practice A Better Way To Practice

Learn magic tricks with context and meaning

Learn magic tricks with coins

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How to Set the Pace of Magic Tricks – How to Relax and Slow Down

by Merchant of Magic 3 Comments

Do you struggle to set a consistent speed and pace when performing your magic tricks? It all seems to go well in private, but as soon as you perform in front of people, you tend to speed up and rush through the magic trick. That’s a very common problem magicians face, and it’s easy to fix.

When you practice your magic tricks, you are performing to yourself. You run through the trick at the speed that feels right for you. However, that can often be close to your thinking speed. A persons inner dialog or voice is much faster than they naturally talk. Unless you take this into account when you reach the rehearsal stage of your practice, you may find that you perform your magic tricks to fast.

Testing out your practice and performing pace.

Magicians don’t suffer from this alone. Comedians, MC’s and professional speakers all have to train themselves to present their ‘act’ at a slower pace than feels natural to them.

A great way to see this in action is to take part in a small magic competition or open mic night for magicians. In these situations, you will often have a time limit. The ‘act’ that you put together will run perfectly during private practice, but you will be shocked at how time changes when you are on stage. Many magicians run through their material at such a pace that they end up having to improvise more material at the end, then lose their timing and get a red light for ‘going over time’.

Slowing down your magic tricks.

Once you have practiced the mechanics of a magic trick, it’s important that you take the time to rehearse the full performance in natural time. Saying the full magic script out loud and building in natural pauses and breaks in the patter.

Run through the full presentation at half the speed that feels natural to you. That’s probably close to the speed that you should perform at in public, to sound natural and relaxed.

The old saying in magic is that the hand is quicker than the eye. This is, in itself, a trick. In reality speed makes people suspicious. The best sleight of hand is performed slowly and NATURALLY, and that’s just the same with your patter. Talking and moving fast suggests nervousness. Smooth, graceful, easy actions look more professional, and it’s just the same with your speech.

Do this: Invest in a metronome. Perform your favourite magic trick and time it. Now set the metronome to a pace that is half the speed. Practice running at this slower speed. It will feel very unnatural at first but will soon become second nature.

When you perform for the public, take a moment to stop. Just breathe and relax your body, now continue at at half speed and notice how much easier it all feels. Your spectators will relax as well, and they will appreciate your magic tricks more, and you will get a big improvement in the feedback from them.

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