Okay, so I’m working on Skin the Gerbil. I don’t have any difficulty learning it, but the yoyo usually spins out by the time I get to the miss of the double trapeze at the end. Any tips?
Do it faster or practice and make it smoother.
That happens if your being really slow or really sloppy. Or both 
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What yoyo do you have
This trick is a notorious spin killer if you do it the way that lets your layers slide all around. The more you can keep the yoyo from sliding around within the string layers, the less spin you’ll lose.
Not sure that really explains it well, but those who know the trick know the parts I’m talking about. 
Horizontal skin the gerbil is one of the most heavily used tricks in my arsenal and I’m not even sure what your talking about haha 
Seriously? This trick is a well-known spin killer. I find it hard to believe that you’ve always done it perfectly.
Maybe I had trouble with it, I can’t remember, it’s been a while
The yoyo is supposed to slide around the string so I’m not sure what you mean
You can minimize the amount of sliding. The more it slides around (not to mention just having a bunch of layers from time to time) the more you lose spin, especially when you are going against spin direction.
I dunno, man. Maybe we have different string thicknesses and textures, but I’m definitely not the first person to remark on the spin-killing nature of this trick. Don’t make me sound like an alien with its head on backwards or something.
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I use a thicker string so that’s not it. I don’t know, I just don’t see how sliding would reduce spin time that much if it’s not causing the string to snag or anything, I can do multiple repetitions in one throw pretty easily.
I just thought the OP was going really slowly and sloppily since he’s still learning it.
I had the same difficulty a few months ago when I first learned the trick. It didn’t take me too long to figure it out with just practice. I really tried to focus on on keeping everything straight and lined up. Stick with it and it will get easier. I remember thinking I couldn’t get enough spin for the trick. I also have a much stronger throw now too. I find it helpful to start working on a second trick and alternating them to avoid frustration. I learned it on my YYJ Classic so you don’t need a fancy yoyo.
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Try to move the yoyo parallel to the plane in which it spins.
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Do you mind explaining the “making it smoother” part?
Currently, I’m trying to get a strong throw and not do diagonal strings to the yoyo. It’s helped a little but it still wants to spin out after 2/3 in.
In regards to the sliding around, it happens a lot but I don’t know how to stop that.
That beasty little gerbil will turn into a true pet with some training.
Suggestions:
- Throw hard
- Gerbil is a smooth little rodent, once the little guy starts running he never stops, just changes direction.
- Concentrate on string placement on your fingers. I find that I stack the string segments on top of each other. Nice and neat without any space between them.
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This is true for pretty much any trick listed in this site’s tutorial. Just prevent touching the sides/response. All of these will come from practice.
I remember losing all my spin when I was still learning something basic like a double or nothing because I was A) Slow, B) messy with my string layers, and C) not very good. As I said, all of those will come with practice.
What yoyo are you using? I was using my YYJ Classic today and had flash backs of learning that trick. I was much more aware of my technique when using a yoyo that looses spin easily. It was easier to correct my technique with the classic, but more frustrating to learn on. Once I was aware of what I was doing wrong I picked up my Benchmark and got the trick fairly quick. Hope that helps.
Skin the gerbil is definitely not a good trick for horizontal. (Take it from me, I do a ton of horizontal tricks.) But yes, Buggot, try to keep the strings from “sliding around” as GregP is saying. That basically means try to keep the string from snagging in the gap of the yoyo. Don’t move your hands around much when you’re in the double trapeze and parts of the trick that have double wraps.
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Do you mean its not easy to do, or it simply does not look good when done?
Both. And it isn’t good. Not that it’s not hard, it’s just generally not a good idea for horizontals.
What makes you say it’s not good for horizontal? This is my favorite trick to do horizontally and the only problem I ever had was when I just started to do horizontals. It looks pretty cool when done smoothly and quickly. Just my $0.02
Now that I think about it, the quick single dimentional direction changes does make it kind o hasty and awkward. Even swinging the yoyo one extra loop before every string hit can make the trick look much smoother.