Obsessed with How to Do Magic Tricks

That's me.  Like just about everyone else who has tried to learn how to do magic tricks, my fascination began when I was little.

There was a friend of the family that used to come over to visit my parents.  He would pull coins out of my ears, "take" my nose, and a host of other tricks that used to boggle my mind.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  I mean, the coin was coming out of my ear.  That could only be magic.

As I got older, the realization that those magic tricks weren't actually magic set in.  Nevertheless, I wanted to learn some tricks of my own.


Types of Magic Tricks

There are several types of magic tricks that are performed.  Each type has its own characteristics and methods.  Among these are street magic, close-up magic, and mentalism.

Street Magic
Street Magic is performed, as the name suggests, on the street.  The audience consists primarily of random passers-by who would stop to watch you perform.  The tricks may consist of anything from small card tricks to elaborate David Blaine/Criss Angel illusions.

Close-Up Magic
Close-up magic is categorized by tricks that allow the audience to be close to the performing magician.  These tricks are often performed using cards, coins, or other props.  The close proximity adds to the audience's astonishment and allows the magician to interact with them more directly.

Mentalism
Mentalism gets its name from the idea that the magician will use his or her abilities to convince the audience that they possess extraordinary mental abilities such as telepathy or telekinesis.


Learning How to Do Magic Tricks

For me, learning how to do magic tricks has more to do with surprising people than anything else.  I want to be able to make people feel the same way I did as a child when I saw a card disappear before my eyes.  That amazement was a great feeling and being able to deliver that to others is extremely rewarding.

The two most important things that have helped me to develop my skills are learning material on how to do magic tricks and practice.  My suggestion would be to practice a single trick until you are able to build muscle memory.  Muscle memory is a bit of a misnomer because your muscle aren't actually remembering anything.  What happens when you perform a certain action repeatedly is your body starts to adapt and the nerves sending signals from your brain to your muscles for that particular movement become more efficient.  With enough practice, you will be able to perform that action almost without conscious thought.  Developing this level of proficiency will make your performances become more natural and harder for your audience to deduce.

As you become better at magic tricks you read about, you will begin see the correlations.  Eventually, you will learn how to do magic tricks yourself and develop your own repertoire of secret methods.

How to Do Magic Tricks Video

Below is a video showing how to do magic tricks.  These are great, simple tricks for beginners.  At nearly 10 minutes long, it has several tricks with explanations for you.  This is a great place to start if you are a beginner.

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