# Beginner 3a yoyos **URL:** \ **Category:** Looking for Help/Recommendation\ **Created:** [September 14, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/beginner-3a-yoyos/29895 "2011-09-14T00:10:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dks1023](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@dks1023](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/dks1023)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/beginner-3a-yoyos/29895/1 "2011-09-14T00:10:38Z")
I am interested in starting 3a. I tried 3a with a yuuksta in one hand and a dv888 in the other. I am actually pretty good at 3a, but i don’t feel ready for unresponsive 3a play. I am looking at a pair of kicksides because of the adjustable gab, but i am looking for help. If you have any suggestions on which yoyos i should get, please help me out. I am hoping for no more than $35 for the pair. Please help. ---
**Author:** ![anonyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@anonyo](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/anonyo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 6:44am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/beginner-3a-yoyos/29895/2 "2011-09-14T06:44:57Z")
> [@dks1023](#): > > I am interested in starting 3a. I tried 3a with a yuuksta in one hand and a dv888 in the other. I am actually pretty good at 3a, but i don’t feel ready for unresponsive 3a play. I am looking at a pair of kicksides because of the adjustable gab, but i am looking for help. If you have any suggestions on which yoyos i should get, please help me out. I am hoping for no more than $35 for the pair. Please help. I’ve been talking a lot to Crosswhite. We’ll see how well his advice pans out, but I expect some fun results. Keeping it on 3A, one of my goals is 1A and 5A play, some 4A, and enough 2A and 3A to do suffiicent tricks for demonstration purposes. Right now I’m purchasing stuff like mad, some of which I won’t get to until maybe months from now. But it will be there when I am ready for it, which is my point. Regarding 3A, you can get a pair of Shinwoo Techno2’s for $20 for the pair. Plastic, ball bearing axle, and hits your budget. You can always upgrade later, right? That’s what I ordered. Right, I could use any 1A throw but I am a bit stuck in certain ways. When I do demos and stuff, I want certain items to be my “go to” for certain things. These will be my go-to 3A throws. Well, unless I hate them, in which case, I’ll hope my kids enjoy them and let them use them. But so far, I enjoy everything I throw a whole lot, so once I can get my left hand into throwing, I’m set! ---
**Author:** ![pickle24](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/pickle24/32/483_2.png) [@pickle24](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/pickle24)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 10:34am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/beginner-3a-yoyos/29895/3 "2011-09-14T10:34:01Z")
Why can’t you do unresponsive? I can’t really think of any responsive yoyo’s that are particularly good for 3a. If it’s a matter of binding, you can just bind them one at a time instead of using the whip bind. But if you don’t feel your ready to do unresponsive 3a, perhaps it might be beneficial to stick with one a for a little longer till you get more comfortable with it. ---
**Author:** ![anonyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@anonyo](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/anonyo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/beginner-3a-yoyos/29895/4 "2011-09-14T18:22:25Z")
> [@M²](#): > > Why can’t you do unresponsive? I can’t really think of any responsive yoyo’s that are particularly good for 3a. If it’s a matter of binding, you can just bind them one at a time instead of using the whip bind. But if you don’t feel your ready to do unresponsive 3a, perhaps it might be beneficial to stick with one a for a little longer till you get more comfortable with it. I missed that point. Yeah, if you’re not into unresponsive play, 3A is gonna be dangerous. Wear a helmet. And a cup. And gloves. And maybe a chestpad. 3A really needs unresponsive yoyos. I’m no expert, I’m a noob, but I can bind and getting better every day. Not ready for 3A yet. I have a hard enough time with the later intermediate tricks! But I have goals and the throws I select for 3A will be waiting for me when I become ready. ---
**Author:** ![dynikus](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/dynikus/32/812_2.png) [@dynikus](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/dynikus)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/beginner-3a-yoyos/29895/5 "2011-09-14T22:53:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Drew Tetz > THE 3A MEGAPOST STRIKES BACK. > > Note: most all of Drew’s vid links noted in the text below can now be found at: [http://yo-yo.org/drewtetz/](http://yo-yo.org/drewtetz/) > > If there are other dead links, we don’t know where to point you. > > Before I post that, though, specific answers to your questions… > Learning with your left hand? Don’t worry about long sleepers, just start working on tricks that you know with your right hand. Don’t go straight to trying spirit bomb or anything like that, but learn braintwister, mach-5, etc., and it’ll sort itself out relatively quickly… it’s more figuring out how things work when they’re flipped than correcting the throw, but the throw will come with it. > > Unbalanced yo-yos work just fine, really. Don’t let an unmatched pair stop you from starting, 'cause you can do almost all of the tricks with mismatched yo-yos. > > Dark Magics rule for 3A. They rule very hard. HGs are also very nice, for a slimmer price tag, but you may prefer just getting another copy of your 1A favorite. > > What follows is the 3A megapost. Godspeed, you 3A player! > > I’ve compiled a big list of 3A resources and I do my best to keep it circulated on all the boards as best I can, so here it is. > > Here’s a list of all of the 3A things I can think of. > > Tim’s site, got some good tricks and tips: > [http://www.yo-yo.org/simyo/](http://www.yo-yo.org/simyo/) > > AL’s site, which is kinda small but has Rick’s clip… which is invaluable. > [http://yoyodude.com/triplea/](http://yoyodude.com/triplea/) > > Masaya’s site, which is basically the best thing ever. > [http://aaaresthouse.nobody.jp/index.html](http://aaaresthouse.nobody.jp/index.html) > > McBride’s AAA section… old, but still the definitive source: > [http://www.theglasslab.com/AAA/subindex.html](http://www.theglasslab.com/AAA/subindex.html) > > The Worlds compulsory list: > [http://worldyoyocontest.com/2005worlds/3atricks.php](http://worldyoyocontest.com/2005worlds/3atricks.php) > > Always a source for freestyles: > [http://yo-yo.jp/video.htm](http://yo-yo.jp/video.htm) > > YET!'s AAA how-to clip: > [http://www.yo-yo.org/yama@18/AAAHOWTO.mpg](http://www.yo-yo.org/yama@18/AAAHOWTO.mpg) > > Masaya’s 3A how-to clip: > [http://www.yo-yo.org/masaya/clip/3ar-clip01.mpg](http://www.yo-yo.org/masaya/clip/3ar-clip01.mpg) > > Some of my videos featuring 3A, in order of being made: > [http://www.planetdrew.com/drewmovies...aa/aaamini.mp4](http://www.planetdrew.com/drewmovies...aa/aaamini.mp4) > [http://www.planetdrew.com/drewmovies...aaa/3a0205.mp4](http://www.planetdrew.com/drewmovies...aaa/3a0205.mp4) > [http://www.planetdrew.com/drewmovies/yoyo/aaa/neat.mp4](http://www.planetdrew.com/drewmovies/yoyo/aaa/neat.mp4) and > [http://www.planetdrew.com/drewmovies/yoyo/neat2.mp4](http://www.planetdrew.com/drewmovies/yoyo/neat2.mp4) > [http://www.planetdrew.com/drewmovies/yoyo/uniter.mp4](http://www.planetdrew.com/drewmovies/yoyo/uniter.mp4) > > Shima’s clip: [http://13th.yoyojam.jp/video/](http://13th.yoyojam.jp/video/) > > How to do Velvet Rolls, as written up on KWOS: [http://kwos.bacon.com/onstring/on...elvetrolls.html](http://kwos.bacon.com/onstring/on...elvetrolls.html) > > A little bit of information regarding string shortening: > The shorter your string is, the faster you’ll be able to go. However, shorter string makes it harder to do complex string formations and after a certain length you don’t get enough spin in your throws. I personally recommend taking off 4-5 inches for a start and then messing around to find what you like the best. I personally just shorten to the bottom of my belt buckle, but there’s a lot of variation. For example, I did the majority of my learning (and 4 or 5 videos) on completely unshortened string and Yuki Tanami (2005 Japan Nats Champion) uses really really short string. > > I wrote a little thing a while back that I was gonna put on a website I never got around to making. It’s about AAA fundamentals and some other stuff. > > "The most important thing you’ll need to start 2-handed yo-yoing is… two yo-yos. Whoo! If you had already figured that out, go bake yourself some cookies or something. Anyways, the two yo-yos don’t need to be the same kind of yo-yo; it helps if they are, 'cause then they’re balanced for rolls and weight and they’ll spin for about the same amount of time, etc. etc., but don’t let different yos stop you. And if you really want a pair of yo-yos that are the same, pick up a pair of Freehand2s, they’re cheap and work well. > > So, now you’ve got a yo-yo tied to each finger. Good! Remember how when you were just starting out yo-yoing the string would cut into your middle finger and it would burn and ache until you got a callous two months later? Well, unless you’re a 2A player, you’ll be getting that all over again with your other hand’s finger. Just think of it as the badge of a two-handed yo-yo player… but I digress. Your weaker hand is weaker than your stronger hand (go figure) and doesn’t have the muscle memory that your strong hand has, but since you should know all the basic principles of yoing you’ll be OK. A lot of people (read: everybody) have trouble when they start out because their weaker hand’s throw is so bad. Don’t worry about that, it’ll smooth out over time and with practice, but something that might help a lot is relearning tricks on your weak hand. Don’t try and relearn every move in your repertoire, but try and get at least the mounts and frontstyle tricks down: it’ll help you pick things up a lot faster. Seriously, just try doing mach-5 with your weak hand. A little weird, eh? Don’t worry, you’ll get used to this sort of thing. > > You’ve gotten that down? Good. Now, onto the actual 3A tricks! > > Start by throwing both yo-yos straight forward. Then get them both back to their respective hands. Double binds can be really ugly and time consuming when you’re starting out, so playing at at least tug response might be a good idea. You’ll want to figure out what kind of throw works best for you - I throw my left hand yo first and then my right hand yo, because that way I can re-throw the left hand (weaker hand) yo if it turns out that my first throw was crappy… rethrowing wastes a bit of time, but it’s better than having your yo stop spinning midtrick. Some people throw both yo-yos at the same time, but those throws are a bit more difficult when you’re just beginning, so whatever. > > Yes, this is all really elementary stuff, and sorry if it’s boring, but trust me: it’ll help. > > Sidestyle throws are the same thing, although it should be noted that sidestyle throws spin away from each other so keep that in mind for suicides and other technical tricks you might come up with, and also remember that you’ll be throwing straight down more often than double breakaways. Unless you’re doing double trapeze or something like that. but you know what I mean. > > It’s safe to assume that you’re bored to tears with this section, so let’s move on, shall we? Probably the easiest house (that’s a AAA buzzword meaning “class of tricks”) to start with is Assisted House because pretty much all it is is 1A tricks with a yo in place of one of your free hand. If you haven’t checked out all the tricks on the Worlds Compulsory Tricklist, it’s about time that you do. House Kink, House Velvet, and Magnum Rolls all offer good “easy” tricks to learn and have harder variations that you can move into. Frontstyle stuff, as a general rule, has easier beginning moves. Shotgun House also reportedly has some pretty good beginner moves, but I can’t do any of them, so I’ll just tell you to go learn them from my esteemed colleague Tim Simco. > > …that’s as far as I got with it. Hope all this helps. > > EDIT: I put my new 3A vid up in the trick vid section. go look at that, too. if you want. Just in case you need some kind of a reference thing for furute 3a learning purposes. For a lot of 3a, I would definitely go with unresponsive. just relearn a few tricks you can do right handed with your left hand. you’ll be able to bind in no time. ---
**Author:** ![samyoyos](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/forums.yoyoexpert.com/samyoyos/32/605_2.png) [@samyoyos](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/u/samyoyos)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/beginner-3a-yoyos/29895/6 "2011-09-16T00:50:06Z")
I am a 3a player myself and for a beginner thing to learn on I would reccomend something cheap like JKs if you want metals. You should really consider phenomizms. A tip for 3a is do not worry about scuffs or dings it will happen in 3a.