How fast did you progress? + noob question

General Yo-Yo
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Hey everyone, I’ve been yoyoing for about three weeks now and I’m just curious: how long did it take for you guys to learn tricks? I just want to know where I stand in terms of practice vs. results, i.e. am I stupid, normal or… genius?!

I’ve got the hang of trapeze and bro, plastic whip, boingy-boing, mach 5, wormhole etc. simpler tricks (read: successful most of the time). However, tricks like double or nothing, 1.5 mount are still impossible for me (read: succeed like 1 out of a million tries and only out of luck). Either I need to change something about the way I practise, or I’m fine and just need more time with my yoyo.

Thanks in advance for any input!

p.s. I seem incredibly susceptible to string burn??? I feel lame but I absolutely NEED to be wearing my glove on my NTH. If not, even repeated trapeze and bro hurts. I’m using non-brand 50/50 string and was wondering if it’s because they suck, or I just have ridiculously useless skin. Either way, I plan to just finish this 10-pack and get some proper YSSL strings in the future.

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50/50 is a harsher string for sure.

I can’t really figure out your progress. :wink: boingy-boing is a trick that takes some people years to figure out, yet you’ve learned it before double-or-nothing. 1.5 mount is a bit tricky, but Double-or-Nothing is usually one of the earliest tricks/mounts a person learns!

I’d say you’re doing well if you can boing, plastic whip, and mach 5 already. :slight_smile:

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Thanks Greg!

I’m not that smooth with boingy yet, but I hit enough reps to count it as “got the hang of it” :stuck_out_tongue: I think I’m a lot slower with all the sideways tricks cos I don’t get to do them slowly, whereas for all the front style tricks I can more or less take my time with landing the yoyo in the right way.

I was paranoid about getting 100% poly strings since I read that they can melt with friction… but I probably never have to worry about that right? I’m throwing a ONEstar and have a Shutter on its way.

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I am currently being held back by the fact I can’t tie knots. Something I’ve never been good at…

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Ok, I’ll preface this by saying that it took me about 5 months to really start being able to do side mount stuff in general. Before I could actually get my breakaway, I was throwing a regular throw down and the. Popping it up onto the trapeze using the same technique for a front flip mount.

It seems to me like you are doing pretty well compared to my learning curve. You’ll find (if you’re anything like me) that at some points you will sort of plateau and not be able to get past a certain trick for a while. When that happens, all I can tell you is to keep practicing the trick no matter how many times you miss it.

And knots…just keep steady hands.

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some people progress really quickly with the basics and then stall out and get frustrated when they come to more challenging stuff. others have trouble learning anyone else’s material but come up with the most creative tricks around. a lot of times we progress with plateaus, learning a ton in a short time and then having a tough climb to the next developmental level. there’s no finish line, thank god.

the bottom line: don’t get caught in the trap of comparing your development timeline to anyone else’s. if you’re engaged, having fun, learning some stuff and feeling cool about it, you’re doing awesome.

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I am around year 4 or 5 and I still am not that good. But I have more knowledge and smoothness than a person at 1 year doing crazy mania stuff.

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The more you play the better your callous will get. After a while, you’ll get immune to string burns(for the most part). I wouldn’t recommend getting any premium string until you’ve been yoyoing for a longer time. Get a 100 pack of 100% polyester string. Once you’ve burned through 1 or 2 100 packs, then you can start thinking about special string. By all means try some out before buying to make sure you actually care. I personally don’t find much difference between one string and the next.

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I wasn’t having fun or progressing in 1A, but in 2A I learn tricks almost instantly.

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Bind in first few days of serious yoyoing
up to Matrix then progress was slow. Still is slow. As says the signature.

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First week of yo-yoing mastered all of the beginner tricks here except for UFO and pop the clutch (still can’t do them).

Second week of yo-yoing I mastered all mounts and proper dismounts (except for wrist mount dismounts): trapeze, trapeze + brother, double or nothing, front, split bottom, Houdini, kamikaze/mach 5 mounts

Third week, polished my accuracy with the mounts and added wrist mount.
Fourth week, I blazed through the intermediate section (except for stop and go and sidewinder, still can’t do them). I learned some Advanced level stuff like matrix and cold fusion and most importantly suicides

Fifth week onwards…I kinda slowed down in yo-yoing not playing for more than 20 minutes as day because I got really busy and tired. Tecnically, week five started last week for me because I haven’t even touched my yoyo for the past half year but I’ve been yo-yoing since April. Right now, I have added most of the advanced sections to my arsenal. I’m working on hook and GT laceration but I just couldn’t do 'em.

I got my only metal (Prodigy) on the 4th week. Also, I upgraded right away to slim kitty strings right after the first week. I know I needed a softer string + I realized that slimmer strings will make less contact with the walls. Now that I’m doing slack, laceration, and whips I’m finding myself leaning toward fat/normal strings.

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edit: is it normal to reply everyone in one post or do people prefer individual replies on these forums? I did 'em all at one go since it seemed tidier ???

I wonder if I should try practising sideways stuff in that step by step way (swing into double or nothing manually reaaaally slowly)… I’d be able to get more familiar with where everything lands, but then I’d be missing that element of familiarity with the string movement when it’s actually swinging full speed from a breakaway. Hmm. Yes I’ve had mini-plateaus already! I took forever figuring out how to do split-bottom mount. It can only get worse lol. 1.5 mount seems ridiculous to me and much harder than eli hops/boingy/etc.

and I hope this doesn’t sound dumb but are knots some sort of trick or knots as in tying a knot for the slipknot?

Thanks ed! That was a really good point. Makes tons of sense and helps explain my really weird progress too lol. Enjoying the process is indeed where the fun’s at. My roommate is super encouraging since she doesn’t yoyo and so everything I do looks cool to her ;D

I’d probably still think you were a god if I saw you play, despite what you say :slight_smile: Currently my tricks are smooth like an old car stuck in mud.

Thanks philip! Wearing gloves means I won’t get a chance to grow callouses though… yet without a glove the string actually literally cuts my skin. Or is that meant to happen in the callous making process? The main reason I planned to get YSSL/other well-known strings was because I had the impression that regular non-brand strings were much lower quality, hence my easily getting cut. That and I’m using rougher 50/50 out of an irrational fear of 100% poly melting.

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You’re so systematic! I should probably try that too; it would make later tricks much easier to pick up. When I started out, I went and memorised the movements for several tricks so I could jump around tricks and not get discouraged. I was quite slow learning split-bottom mount and it was really helpful to be able to toy around with other tricks when I got burnt out.

How does metal feel? Everyone on the forums makes metal vs. plastic sound like ferrari vs. honda :stuck_out_tongue: I’m really excited for my Shutter, and am hoping it’ll be a good companion from noob to pro. I keep a tab open on my browser where it’s just a picture of a Shutter to keep me strong as I weather the weekend (it delivers monday)… I’m reaching the point of obsession, clearly.

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The way I got the 1.5 mount down was doing it with that step by step. Same with double nothing. I just started doing it quicker and smoother until I was throwing it all at the same time. Not sure if it would work for you, but it did wonders for me. I did this with a lot of tricks actually.

And I meant about the slip knots. A reply to the second post.

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1st-2nd month I was hitting Cold fusion and the matrix. Around ~6 months I was hitting Grandma kimmitt sandwich 70% of the time.

Nowadays I make up my own stuff, master level and expert 2 stuff doesn’t really attract me or suit my style.

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I learned the bind ans basic tricks Monday, Tuesday I had mastered all the yoyoexpert tricks, Wednesday I learned Rancid Milk, I finally hit a proper Hook 4.0 on Thursday, Friday I finally hit all my tricks in real horizontal, Saturday I could do the whole Hiroyuki Suzuki WYYC 2005 freestyle behind the back, and Sunday I started to think I should upgrade from my Fireball.

Not improved much since though…

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That’s good to know, I’ll definitely try practising that way and see if there’s a breakthrough!

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I was actually in shock and awe until I got to Saturday, then I realised something was up xD

Next week you should try blindfolding yourself! :smiley:

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Disclaimer:Oh man that was a long ramble…I apologize LOL
I can actually really relate to this post because I like comparing myself LOL just for developmental purposes.

I only started yo-yoing 3 weeks ago so this might be kinda rough

Third day into yo-yoing i thought I wouldn’t be able to do anything but throw the yoyo down and catch it after.
Fourth day I dedicated an hour to catching the trapeze which was really just making my throw straight . Days after that it just became super consistent.

One week in I had started trying to figure out getting into mounts in a less noobish fashion and I dedicated a few days to learning the flashy front mount and split bottom mount

2 or maybe 1 1/2 Weeks In

I got an unresponsive yoyo Magic yoyo n12(Binds were life) and I decided to skip over certain tricks like UFO/PopTheClutch/Boingy Bong ( I hate this trick with a passion)

UFO I tried many times but I kinda smacked myself.

Pop The Clutch was irrelevant I don’t even know

Certain tricks that were for responsive yoyo’s didn’t really interest me

At that point I was like forget side mount stuff so I learned everything I could from a front mount
Brain Twister, Barrel Rolls, Front Flips, Back Flips, Mach 5, Rip chord, any other front mounty stuff, Picture Tricks but I didn’t spend a lot of time on Boingy-Boing cause god knows that trick was made by Satan.
Then focused on decent side mount stuff and practicing catching the string

It’s my third week right about now and in the last few days or so
I got Matrix, Buddhas Revenge, McBridge Roller Coaster and Cold Fusion (In that order) down to a consistency.
I also try to skin the gerbil now and then but I’m limit myself and I don’t have enough skill to pull it off with my particular yoyo( Maybe it’s my string IDK)

How I motivate myself is getting through this ridiculous trick list LOL and rewarding myself with a yoyo at the end of every tier.

I’m a quick visual learner and I really need to analyze certain movements like finger positioning , otherwise I won’t get the trick at all. I don’t know but I like making my tricks smooth before I move on to the next one. it’s not like I’m rushing through the trick list but I find that having a trick to learn while trying to smooth out the previous ones make it more fun especially if you get frustrated.

Well we’re at the same time span so I hope to hear from you soon maybe this will motivate ya to try to beat me

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Who gets the credit for creating Boingy-Boing? Does anyone know?