Horizontal throw and finger spin

So i’ve been trying to do a finger spin.When i try to throw it horizontally it immediately loses it’s spin and dies instantly.And when i try to land it, it bounces off of my finger.Yes i cushion it and it still does that.My yo-yo is Replay Pro.

When you throw it horizontally throw it as hard as you can like a hard sleeper.

The replay pro is going to be very difficult to learn horizontal finger spins on. It is possible, but difficult

Agreed. The Horizon is suppose to be about the best horizontal finger spin yoyo tricks. Also, the other Yoyo Tricks web site recently made a great tutorial on finger spins. Out of respect for Andre I won’t post the URL here. They, however, specifically mentioned that something with flat end caps like the Replay would make the trick really difficult.

MegaDud, I feel your pain.

Fingerspins are one of those tricks that I have wanted to do since purchasing my first yoyo.

I started focusing on fingerspins recently (working on them mainly with my Horizion), and like you the Yoyo quickly bounces off of my finger, and I go comically chasing after it.

I’ve been making progress, slowly, now I can frequently get it to spin on my finger for half-a-second before it flies off out of control.

So… I’m practicing…practicing…practicing…practicing… and will continue to do so.
The only (admittedly weak) advise I can offer is stick in the ear-buds and get ready to spend lots of time practicing this one…

If anybody else has any insights or tips I’d like to hear it, because (although I’m not having any spin-speed issues) I’m going through the same control issues MegaDud is describing.

(I know I know, practice…practice…practice…practice…) LOL

I can understand how you feel. That was me when I first started and I was learning with a Shutter. My best advice to you is to make sure that your fingernail is pointing up and your finger is relaxed. Relaxed is the one of the biggest things since sometimes you subconsciously tense your finger. Try to keep your finger in the middle. Don’t force it, otherwise it will just fly off of your finger. Just glide it to the middle. Be patient too. Apparently, the Horizon is hard to learn it on but good when you get the hang of it. Haven’t got a Horizon, but I will eventually. I’ve been able to pull off a good finger spin with a Vanguard though. It’s easy to learn on an Elysian.

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Practice and master all kinds of grinds before moving to horizontal or, definitely practice both at the same time. The shutter is an amazing throw to start with. Better than the horizon imo just bc it has the cup [noticed while trying pull-starts]. You can “cheat” and use two fingers but I honestly think it’s damn near impossible with the replypros… but it has been done lol gooduck though!

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Horizon is not as intuitive for fingerspins as you would think, either. Still takes a lot of finesse and care.

The easiest finger-spin yoyo I’ve used is the Eternal Throw Elysian. This was followed by the M.O.V.E. by C3, which still requires some care. Horizon I only landed a “will spin until the spin dies” perfectly-centered fingerspin on it a couple times before I ended up giving it away (not out of spite… GREAT yoyo; just one of my less expensive ones that I could afford to give to a beginner!).

Honestly, a slightly off-axis fingerspin that can move to horizontal axis naturally (not directly on the throw) is where it’s at for me anyhow. 2sickyoyos Knight is great for this.

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I was told also to focus on a relaxed finger and a very strong throw. Also, it helped me to try landing at the highest point. (The rim) and the yo-yo will balance out on its own. The YYF Atlas is what I learn it on. Good luck, and be patient.

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I’m learning finger spins right now and feeling encouraged with some progress. A couple things I’m gonna note here for discussion, though some things already said by others above. Three things in the above video with Ethan Wong that are helping me right now…

  1. Strong throw. He throws strong enough to need to do a pinwheel before letting the yoyo drop down. And of course, also notice the direction he throws in order to make the binds easier (throwing across the body).

  2. Catch it softly and bring it up to eye level. Cushion the yoyo landing on your finger by bringing the catching hand down slightly as the yoyo comes down onto the finger. Bringing the yoyo up to eye level immediately after catching it for the finger spin improved my spin time right away. Not sure why, but maybe it is because it makes it easy to see how the yoyo is wobbling and make adjustments.

  3. Catch it at the high point. Notice how Ethan shows that he isn’t catching the yoyo in the center, he is catching it at the high point (however the yoyo happens to be angled) and then the yoyo angle corrects itself a bit as it spins on its own.

So far I’m consistently getting a couple seconds of spin time but I need to control it better to get the bind happening.

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…+…

  1. slightly angled catching finger (as mentioned, keep it “soft”, not straight and tensed). I don’t have much fingernail, but the spins seem to work best when they land on the tip of my finger where it is the most flat - and this means keeping my finger slightly bent.

Thank you all for the (great) tips and advise.

I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one that has had these issues while trying to learn this trick.

I’m especially surprised to hear Shutter > Horizon for learning finger spins.
I’ll switch immediately.

I’ll also look at those other YoYos. The Atlas had already caught my eye…

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Can we just keep this going to try and stay inspired to get good at finger spins?

So in the hopes to help others, I’m just gonna update my progress…

Maybe it’s important to state that I’m using a Valkyrie to learn finger spins on. Really the main important things about that are lots of rim weight and a flat cup (but see below about the flat cup part…)

Things that are still helping with my finger spins: strong throw, landing the yoyo gently, landing the yoyo at the highest point in the cup with the yoyo tilted off-axis and not completely horizontal, not trying to spin the yoyo in the center of the cup, raising the yoyo up to eye level after it is in the finger spin… and then for the bind: whipping into the gap with the TH coming very close to the yoyo during the whipping motion - this ensures enough string in the gap to start the bind.

Once I realized that the finger spin doesn’t need to be caught in the center as a proof of concept I thought it would be fun to try to finger spin and bind on a Peak. Success! But don’t ask me to do this consistently (not yet at least). Basically, the point is that the finger spin is mostly happening for me on the edge of the cup, not in the center.

2 more things that are improving my spin time today: I let my finger nails get a little longer than usual. And maybe more dramatically, my finger spin time improved immediately when I tried using my middle finger instead of the index finger - I think that it is easier for me to keep my middle finger “soft” so that it absorbs the wobble of the yoyo while it is spinning.

Hope these notes might be able to help someone. Cheers.

I personally use my middle finger almost always when I fingerspin. I’m not sure why… Just seems to work better I guess…

OK, so I haven’t had tons of time to practice lately… But the time I have spent throwing has been practicing this spin. I’m seeing encouraging progress. I’m not hitting it reliably yet, but fairly often I’m landing it on my fingertip and it can spin for quite some time.

Just from the process of learning other tricks, I figure I’ll have this down OK in a couple weeks. So far I’ve only been able to let the spin die on my finger, time for me to get the whip bind down.

I know the following points were mentioned in the above posts but I thought I would reiterate what I have found to be helpful for me so that it may help somebody else learning this trick in the future.

First I have varied the yo-yo I use. The shutter is excellent if I’m able to land my finger inside the inner cup. If I catch the outside edge of the shutter, it flies around wildly. My Rave is excellent for landing horizontal finger spins, it is very forgiving. I have a handful of other yo-yos, but they were not as effective for me. It’s worth noting that I’m sure they’re perfectly capable, it’s my inexperience that is currently the problem. However, to anybody else that’s just starting horizontal finger spins, these two yo-yos have been good for learning, for me.

Second point, we hear this so often I think unconsciously we tend to ignore or dismis it, but especially in this case it’s worth taking to heart. You need a really strong throw, I mean, like as hard as you can throw it. With a strong throw the yo-yo seems to immediately stabilize and center itself, versus waffling around.

Thank you everybody for the tips, and experiences. They have all been helpful.

Beezy, MegaDud, how is it going for you guys?

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Just landed it, and executed a perfect whip bind for the first time ever.

My wife started laughing at me from across the room when I started cheering.

Now to do the same thing a second time… LOL

Hahah, awesome! My wife is always amused by yoyo success whoops as well. :wink:

Yeah! Congrats :slight_smile:

And thanks for the updates too. It helps to know what is/isn’t working. From what you say, the yoyo does make a difference.

A couple more thoughts…

Since I’m using a Valkyrie, which has a flat cup, it works best to finger spin at a bit of an angle. Once the yoyo goes completely horizontal it tends to wobble when trying to center itself on my finger. I assume something like the C3YoyoDesign M.O.V.E. and YYF Horizon get the stable and long-spinning finger spins since they center the finger in a cup that has a slight conical shape. I don’t know if it’s possible to get a perfect fingerspin on something with a flat cup…

Otherwise, the finger spins have been working for me but the bind has needed help to get consistent. Here’s what is working more for me for a consistent bind:

  • letting the string movement dictate when I pop the yoyo up into the finger spin…basically, waiting a moment to make sure the string will dangle on the inside of my catching arm when I catch the finger spin so then the string won’t start tangling up in the yoyo
  • elevating the yoyo to eye level as it is in finger spin
  • pinching the string between my throwhand thumb and index finger
  • holding my throwhand so the string dangles down in front of me and lining up the point where my throwhand pinches the string and the gap of the spinning yoyo
  • EDIT: also closing the fingers on my finger spin hand except for the spinning finger (of course!) so that way the string doesn’t get tangled on the finger spin hand during the whip for the bind - this tip probably seems obvious but I kept whipping the string for the bind and my thumb or other finger would interfere.
  • then, from throw hand facing down (and string dangling down), whipping in one smooth and strong motion where my throw hand turns right-side up and whips the string in a circular motion into the gap, with hand coming relatively close to the yoyo

so basically, paying extra attention to string position while setting up the bind has really helped. I’m hitting half my finger spin binds now.

Good luck everyone!

Beezy, MegaDud, how are the horizontal spins going for you guys?

My earlier prediction that I’d have this trick locked in a few weeks… well *cough, not so much. LOL
I’m popping up into a good finger-spin about 80%-90% of the time.
I’m hitting the whip-bind now about 20%-25% of the time.

Although progress is slower than I’d like, I’m steadily getting better… it’s just a matter of time.

I picked up a Skyva for $20. It’s awesome… well worth it IMHO. The finger spins are super-stable.
Got an Atlas off of BST as well. It’s on its way…

So Beezy, MegaDud,, how is your progress going?

Oh… and Beezy, a Valkyrie… you lucky son of a…

I’m just learning this trick, so this thread has been helpful. I am trying to learn this on the yoyos I bought at worlds, a C3 Railgun, Duncan barracuda, and duncan bimetal. I think the railgun has been easiest for me, though all three yoyos can do the trick.

I’ve been using a glove because I keep my nails clipped, and so far have only had it spin for two or three seconds before going out of control. I’ll try the raising non throw hand part as I practice. Thanks for the info in this thread.