When you play, do you already have the combos in mind, or does it flow together spontaneously?
Or a combination of both?
There’s more than one road to a destination, I understand that.
My index card system has been productive, I have a small arsenal of moves (and tricks both longer and shorter), but the problem is deciding on how to piece it together spontaneously. It’s my next level, I’m fairly certain.
Repeaters have an advantage, while performing, it gives you a few seconds to think where you want to go next! What do you think?
Where is the line between memorization and free form play? I’m trying to get an idea of how some of you advanced players approach what seems to be effortless long flowing combos.
I also suspect if I could spend some time with good players, I’d get insight. I do this in a vacuum, like many of my hobbies, I learn from the school of youtube.
It just crossed my mind that knowing a whole bunch of dance steps doesn’t make one a dancer. I hope this makes sense.
I will preface this comment with the statement that I don’t believe I am anywhere near an advanced player; however, these are some thoughts that may help.
I think making tricks that share a common theme/ momentum help to make it all flow and mesh together well giving this endless combo look. It is also important to make sure that one trick ends where the other begins or there is a comparable style transition between the two.
I feel like free play comes from a long line of memorization of concepts that allows one to more easily build and mess around with similar tricks. That being said, I don’t really know if there is a definite line between the two. With continuous trick innovation, there is endless “new” concepts to learn. Because of this I quit watching tutorials a couple years ago unless there was a trick that really struck me as “I have to learn this!” If I am constantly trying to learn everyone else’s combos and watching other people’s videos, whatever I make is going to be exactly like those. I will admit the tricks I make look like something a first day yoyoer does but I have fun attempting I really liked the last scales podcast that went over the topic of trick creativity/ innovation a bit (definitely worth a listen!).
Very long, off topic post short: do your own tricks, but watch others to learn the basic concepts that look interesting to you. This will help to get you to your free play mode by learning better ways to flow the tricks together.
I was going to draw a parallel to music improvisation. In music, it is very important to listen to a wide variety of genres and styles to build a solid vocabulary to work with while expressing yourself. That vocabulary combined with a high degree of technical skill is what allows me to flow when I get into the zone. So, I hope I just did a poor job of illuminating the three foundation of a jam.
I really liked the last scales podcast that went over the topic of trick creativity/ innovation a bit (definitely worth a listen!).