Hi, first of all, I want to make things clear, I do not have an extended knowledge of yo-yoing, I do alot of lurking on the web and try and listen to people who actually know things from experience.
I thought I’d compile these ideas into a “how to begin” guide. Many experienced yo-yo players might find it incomplete or even some points as inaccurate, of course I will do my best not to talk about things I don’t know. Feel free to add/correct any point you would find appropriate.
Now let’s get started shall we
1st. The yo-yo
My advice here, as a beginner, would be to actually buy not one, but at least two different yo-yos. When learning, you might find yourself uncomfortable to practice some tricks on one particular yo-yo, having another yo-yo to practice with will -at times- allow you to “unlock” new tricks easier, also, it will give you an idea about how different yo-yos can be.
So which one should you get ?
- Adjustable response yo-yos are really good for beginners because they let you experiment both responsive and unresponsive play without having to buy lots of yo yos. I’d advise you to prefer systems without staburst, you will have enough work trying to do the tricks without having the small tooth eat up your string and slowing down the yo yo because it’s not perfectly right.
I know the Yo-Yo factory Velocity (V3, which doesn’t have these starbursts) is very well balanced and will allow you to experiment with string tricks without having to worry about it stopping in the middle of a trick. It will allow very good spin times so you can work your way up from beginner to advanced, but you will probably buy some other yo yos on the way there anyways. It’s lighter than average too, so if you happen to shoot it to your forehead it won’t hurt as much as a full weight metal yo yo. And you WILL shoot it at something, let it be the furniture, your girlfriend (avoid by all means), yourself, all of the above…
Many people advise the Yomega Brain, which is indeed very nice. It has a clutch system that will make the yo-yo come back to your hand if it’s slowing down. This is very good as a challenge for beginners since it’ll help you to throw better and faster spinning sleepers. Of course, you can disengage the clutch system, making it a very well balanced and easy to throw yo-yo. It’s a responsive yo yo so you can just tug it when you’re done, it’ll be back in your hand. It’s a very nice yo yo because it’s cheap and very well built and balanced, you can practice your tricks on it, then when you feel ready, switch to a more advanced yo yo and work on your precision.
VERY IMPORTANT: when you order your first yo yo, make sure you order at least ten or twenty extra string (experiment or see strings guides), depending on how you practice and what your yo yo is, you can use up as much as 1 string for 2 days even when beginning, advanced/expert players can wear it even faster than that, so you want to have a good collection of spare strings, they’re cheap so go for it
DO NOT: Do not buy advanced plastic yo yos, most of them will not return to your hand as you tug, they’re called “non-responsive” yo-yos, and they require a specific set of techniques to get them back in your hand, techniques you will not able to perform before at least a few good days of practice, maybe more.
Also do not go ahead and buy a metal yo yo, for the same reason, plus, as it will surely hit something at some point (most likely the floor), it’s weight/shape will make it hit very hard and break whatever it hits (see above paragraph for examples, again, avoid the girlfriend, due to unpleasant and durable consequences on your life’s quality, leading to potentially durable difficulties to satisfy physiological needs)
2nd. How to play, general guidelines for beginners
Ok, now that you’re all set, let’s get started on the actual play. If you’re reading this, you probably already know about the famous André Boulay tutorials, just scroll this page up and click on “learn” word in the menu, you will get to this page where you can find detailed tutorial videos about every trick “in the book”, so far, I’ve never found better tutorials, they probably taught a billion people how to throw a sleeper and how mach 5 is like an “optical illusion” 
But in the tutorials, while it sometimes looks very easy, it can take you days just to get to the beginning of a trick, don’t stick to learning one single trick at a time when the learning curve starts to get deeper.
Yo-Yo is very rewarding, while it will take you days or weeks to master a trick, you will still see tangible progress at each session, it will still be fun. Of course, forget about showing off your skills for the next few weeks, but I can tell you, you can be very impressive to your friends doing a “brain twister”, and these things are fairly easy to execute for a beginner. If you have kids, they’ll love it (make sure they stay reasonably far away when you practice tho, you definately don’t want to hurt your kid)
Yo-Yo is very relaxing, it helped some people to quit smoking, just make sure you’re having fun.
DO NOT: Start to work on tricks higher than your own level, basic tricks will help you doing intermediate, intermediate will help you with advanced etc… it’s like a video game when you have to earn experience and level up in order to go and end up beating the final boss, if you go right away from the beginning to the final boss, you get owned. Yo yo is a grind, now you can make it a pleasant lasting grind, or a boring and discouraging one if you want to skip the steps. Very talented and skilled people could do it, but they’re most likely not watching the tutorials and I know they’re very rare, we are not like this, nor you or I so let’s grind shall we?
DO NOT: lose patience, if you’re not having fun, take a break, it’s a toy and it’s supposed to be fun, not stressing, so if it does get you stressed (it relaxes me, but I’m a very peaceful person in general) take a break, whenever you feel like you’re not having fun, take a break. Work is boring and you’re forced to do it, but at least you get paid for. If a trick seems “impossible” to perform, go back and practice the ones you already know, it’ll calm you down and make you improve on the basics, you can be able to land a trick, even 100% of the time, but that doesn’t mean you master it nor learned all the things it can teach you, get back to the basics at time, it’s fun, enjoyable, stress free and it’ll teach you more than you can imagine
no matter who you are or where you’re from, no matter if you’re a juggler or a trucker, if you’re 8 or 73 years old, practice makes better, this is the truth about anything and for anyone, practice makes better
random tips:
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be relaxed, physically and mentally (if you practice yoga or martial arts, it’ll help you big time, maybe it’s time to pick up sports?)
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try to stay aligned, your body, the string(s), the yo-yo, throw as straight as possible, no mystery here, practice makes better
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some yo yos are easier than others, but if you can’t do a trick, don’t blame the yo yo, you can get an easier yo yo, but in the end, you want to be able to perform the trick on ANY yo yo. if you feel you’re getting slowed by your yo yo, just get another one, it’s down to personal affinity so don’t make a big deal out of it, if you don’t feel your yo yo, just buy another one, they’re cheap enough, specially beginner ones, it’s a toy and it’s supposed to be fun, so if you want another yo yo, go for it
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try and meet other players, for some people who live in certain areas, it can be difficult, maybe get a friend go along for the yo yo practice, or teach the neighbour’s kid. It’s fine doing it alone, but it’s much better when you have someone else to share it with
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I find it better to play with some music on, so part of my brain is focusing on the rythm and music while my body is somewhat on “auto pilot” learning and repeating the tricks, I guess some people might watch TV (keep at good distance from TV) etc…
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have fun
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really, it’s MUCH easier than what it looks like and you will be throwing impressive tricks within a month of practice
