Does learning tricks/modifying existing tricks guarantee that when creating your own combo’s, it makes it easier to do so? Because really quite honestly 65%ish of why I yoyo is so that I can create my own combo’s and to compete in tournaments and stuff. I saw this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmWOiHliP1I and at the very end, it says “9 MONTHS”. I have been yoyoing for 8 and have only made two 10 second ones, and they aren’t the best or anything. Also, I saw this on the www.rethinkyoyo.com website today by accident, and it says “You are free to take any mounts, moves, or concepts from any tricks on this site and change or play around with them. In fact, I would suggest doing so. The more tricks you learn and create and the more you experiment, the better a yoyoer you will become.”. Is this literal and true? Was that Youtube guy just a pure natural god at yoyoing if he can make is own stuff up like that in just 9 months? I understand that everybody learns at their own pace and whatever, but I yoyo hours a day. He might yoyo more that me, but the chances aren’t too great, but possible. So what is the deal? Please, I swear it is hard for me to sleep at night. I need answers. :’( ??? AS LONG AS it is true that I will become better if I learn more tricks and play around with existing tricks, that is good enough for me.
Some people really are just naturally better at certain things and will pick them up way faster. Just go at your own pace. As for learning tricks, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be busting out combos easier but it definitely helps in that it gives you more tools and ways to link one move to the next.
Yuki
I’m sure that doing nothing but yoyoing for 9 months and being interested in yoyoing for 9 months will yield very, very different results.
it depends if learning all the tricks first then the combos there was a kid at the Eldersburg library that did this and his yoyoing is very choppy looking. Also he struggles with keeping a long spin time because he has never learned a need for them until he decided he needed to learn a combo. so as you learn i would say you kind of have to learn combos in order to get better, because otherwise the yoyoing wont be pleasing to the eyes because it doesn’t look smooth. also combos help you learn to create new tricks as well so you can develop your style of yoyoing on your own.
If:
Talent is defined as a natural ability to do something and
desire is defined as the commitment to work and pursue one’s dreams and goals, the following seems to hold true.
Talent always will win over lesser or no talent.
Desire always wins over talent.
Talent and desire meet; it’s hard to beat.
Each skill you learn, each experience you acquire, all those discoveries you make, and your own perspective on what yo-yoing is and what you want it to be, are like tools in a tool box. The more tools you have the better. However, experience is needed in order to know what tool to use for the job. Often times you might not be certain which tool is best for the task. You try this one, meh, that one, better, and then a different tool, got it!
Therefore I agree that the comment you are referring to is valid in many ways. If you gain inspiration from it take it, keep it, and grow, or in your case throw!
As skitrz says, it’s all what you do with it. I don’t know enough about creating yoyo tricks to comment, but I can relate it back to guitar:
You can learn guitar (or any instrument) without learning scales or knowing how to read music. That’s how I learned, and I feel kind of creative at it. My wife learned piano in formal lessons, and has no concept of improvisation. It’s alien to me. 
When you’re self-taught, you often learn other people’s songs. And once I knew a few, I had this little burst where I was like, “Cool, I know these 6 chords now, and if I play them in a different order and for different durations, I’ve written my own song!” But after a while I found myself using the same chords and progressions over and over.
Then somewhere along the way I learned a few of what they call “box patterns”, which are scales laid out in a “box” on the fretboard, spanning no more than 4 frets at a time. You stay within those 4 frets even though you use all 6 strings. When I first learned one, it was like, “Holy crap! I can just play ANY of these notes and I’m still in key… I can SOLO NOW!”
I hit a creative period and felt I was expressing myself musically.
But with box patterns, if you never take it any further, you are in a trap. Every time you try to solo, you find yourself locked into that box, unable (out of habit or lack of knowledge) to escape. Your solos can start to sound the same and your creativity levels off.
Bringing it back to yoyo, I think that learning new tricks are like learning songs. You can “remix” them into something new, but you might find yourself repeating similar combos… and your audience might recognize bits and pieces and not find you very original. Learning new elements are like learning box patterns… now you have even smaller and more unique pieces to work with, and you can do your own thing with them. But then the trap is that your “vocabulary” could end up locked to the elements you are comfortable and familiar with.
I think if you REALLY want to get creative, you have to split your time. If you’re like me and just learn other people’s tricks, you’re not likely to make many of your own. I sure don’t. That’s a bed I’m happy sleeping in, though, and I don’t think you would be. I would think that you will have to not only remix other people’s tricks, but take risks and do potentially silly things and get a lot of knots… do something that you don’t think you’ve seen anyone else do, and see where it takes you. When you make a mistake, see if you can do something different with it. You’re not going to progress at “unique trick creation” by just learning other people’s tricks, I don’t think.
Thanks guys! I love that “Desire beats talent” thing! If that is the case, then I am going to be a 10 time in a row world champion some time. ;D But I am somewhat confused now. Skirtz says new tricks do help, and Greg and Yuki and Abby says otherwise! I am very afraid because I just made a quick 10 second combo in around an hour, and then after that I tried to make another quick combo, and I realized I was using the exact same elements! UGH NO!! Does creativity require practice? I am scared!
Oh yeah and also, just in case this wasn’t implied, I am 100% capable of doing the tricks, just not creating them. Just in case if this means anything.
I personally think basics are key. Foundations on things are your building blocks to becoming great at something. Chess, wrestling, football, music, skateboarding. You learn to ally before you learn to kick flip, just like you learn how to throw a spiral before you learn how to run a play.
I have only been doing this for a few months now and I’m not sure if I’m right, but I think learning the basics has helped me with my foundations such as string positions, which helps with spin times. New tricks help me build on my old tricks, which in turn improves them. Doing skin the gerbil for example helps me mind myself to keep my strings and yoyo relatively in line, so it doesn’t bind up. Same as triple or nothing, helps me gain muscle memory on string length when doing a trick that may only warrant me small amounts of string.
I personally have gone down the list in order here at YYE and am enjoying it. I do play around with combos now because I know basics. I like to try going from a kwijibo, to a suicide, to a skin the gerbil…etc. these are combos that I can do because I have learned some basics. I plan on attacking everything slacks after I learn all the technical tricks here. I think slacks are key to beginning learning new combos and creating your own combos. But to learn them now is too overwhelming for me.
A everyone always says tho…and I’m sure we all get sick of hearing it from time to time is…if your not having fun practicing a trick anymore…take a break from it, and just have fun…
I can’t tell you how many times I just end up doing a walk the dog to like 30 around the worlds just because they feel soooo dang good to do.
I feel like you sometimes when I hear and see people do these sweet amazing tricks and say they have only been doing it for a couple months, I want to do that and wish I had their natural talent. Unlucky for me I have to work to get good, but I know if I keep practicing I will eventually be able to do whatever I want, even though I wish it came as quick to me as it does for some. Plus, who doesn’t want to be a boss showing off your yoyoing skills, I mean it’s cool!
Thanks for this! Somebody who feels my pain! This inspired me a lot to keep yoyoing more. I guess what i’ll do is just learn a few more tricks then hopefully start making my own combo’s, or at least really try, anyways. 
Dude you are taking this a little too literal and I don’t think you should be losing sleep over a simple matter. Everyone is different like you said, one person might create 10 combos in a month and another might create maybe 2 or 3. It varies so don’t sweat it if making combos doesn’t come easy to you. As for if learning tricks makes it easier for making combos, I would say yes because you have more stuff to work with. It’s like if you ask me can I do more with $10 or $50, of course I can do more with $50 because I have more money to work with. Just relax and create combos at your own pace, and for the meantime just learn more yoyo tricks and mess around with them, trust me I’m the worst at making my own tricks, but I still come up with some decent ones that I like from some mounts that I have learned from videos. Just remember have fun.
It helps but don’t guarantee.
I understand, but I am just SO afraid about what Greg said about the box pattern! :-\ I like that 10 and 50 example.
Play more, worry less and practice.
You can trip yourself up with all the anxiety.
Yeah, but the takeaway was MEANT to be, “If you find yourself in the yoyo equivalent of a box pattern, make conscious effort to break out of it.”
It’s easily done. 
The results aren’t always comfortable at first, but you’ll experience the freedom right away.
Ohhhh ok! Wow I feel SO much better now! Ok, I’ll get crackin’ on some more tricks when I get my new Genesis on Friday, because I just traded and now I’m yoyoless 