Now what? Can't seem to progress in yoyoing...

General Yo-Yo
1

Hi all!

I’m new to this forum but not new to yoyoing, I have been yoyoing for quite some time now.
But lately I seem to not be able to get any better and that’s certainly not because I’m already good…
I have learnt a lot of tricks to up in the master section and also watched other trick and tutorials.

Now my problem is that I just can’t make up any good tricks on my own, nor can I make a decent looking (not even basic) freestyle. I just seem to be reverting to known tricks when throwing…

It also doesn’t help not knowing someone else that throws and which I can learn from… Belgium is almost a dead place to yoyo (and people just seem to ignore you when playing in public).

Do you guys have any tips?

2

how far are you in terms of yoyoing? for me there was sort of a point where I just stopped looking up tutorials and decided that I would only work on making up my own stuff. it was all really bad at first, but if you get stuck, just try using maneuvers and mounts that you already learned in new ways to get something different. it may the a while, but just practice making up your own tricks and eventually it will work out if you keep at it :slight_smile:

3

I’ve hit the wall in different ways. I just can’t get over certain hurdles.

The advice is the same:
1: Watch videos. That helps me.
2: Practice more. Always a winner.
3: Walk away for a bit. Maybe a day, week or month. Sometimes the break lets you re-approach things from a fresher perspective.

Since you’re trying to make up stuff, let my offer what I’ve learned:
Nothing is more counter-productive to creativity than forcing it. I mean, I can see “I’m gonna see if this will work” kind of forcing, only to find out it simply won’t work, but that’s different because you’re trying to apply creativity, just in a forceful way. This is a contrast to forcing yourself to be creative. So, don’t force things. Let them come naturally or accidentally to you.

Use time to your advantage. The time you put in should equate to more capabilities on the other end. Some of us need way more practice time than others, such as myself. It generally takes me a long time to get stuff down. Just keep practicing. Smooth out what you know. Continue to experiment, never be afraid to try new things. Don’t worry about things like knots and failures. Knots happen, and failures are just ways of learning how stuff worked or didn’t work. MIstakes happen, but did something cool come from that mistake? Practice in front of a mirror, practice in front of a camera and then playback the footage

Whatever you do, if you set your mind to it, complete it. Don’t give up.

1 Like
4

I’m able to do and whut and superman from the ‘master’ section, but also some i just found on the internet.

Where you already able then to do some smooth combos? I see a lot of rolls when players start at a contest, but I can’t seem to come up with them…

5

the secret is that half the stuff in a cool looking combo is totally unnecessary and does absolutely nothing at all. just rolling the yoyo on and off of a string or hopping it back and forth a few times can really fill up a trick and give it a nice look.

other than that, studio42 is pretty much right about everything.

6

I wouldn’t say they aren’t necessary, their purpose is to elongate the combo.

And in most of my combos, I try to make every step a small step in accomplishing something E.G a GT.

But if you are stuck, learn a really long and complicated combo, and explore one concept of that certain combo and make up tricks using that element of the trick.

I hope that makes sense

7

Thanks!

What are these basic trick/mounts than?

8

Do you have examples of such video’s?

9

YouTube is your friend.

Plenty of videos. Zammy’s videos are cool. Augie Fash and Yukki Spencer have good stuff worth viewing. JD’s stuff is a bit dated but still cool. Plenty of other stuff as well, too many to list. Also look for yoyo contest videos. Stuff from MA states is going online. BAC, CalStates, Worlds and plenty of others are already online. YoYoSkills regularly features performance videos of various kinds.

Hopefully your internet connectivity isn’t crappy like mine is and you can watch a video. There is a somewhat new Yukki video that I gave up on because after 6 hours it still wasn’t heading my way(yes, my ISP blows, it’s already cost me a few paying jobs since I can no longer move data with any sort of reliability.)

10

I’m following some of these channels but I have a hard time finding (tutorial) videos with long combos like you suggested.

11

tutorials are overrated. just watch and absorb the tricks, see what combos you like, then take that into consideration next time you are making a trick

12

When you do a trick well enough, you will naturally be able to insert it during a combo.

13

What I do is take different parts of tricks I already and mash them into a new trick.

14

Try to practice the tricks you already know, or take parts from different tricks to make new ones.

15

It’s normal to have lulls in your progression. You got through your ups and downs. Just remember, all it takes is one new tricks or maneuver to make you feel stoked and motivated again. Just look for more tutorial videos. Looking up username Raytsh on YouTube. He’s got tons of relatively easy, super cool looking combos. He’s taught me so many new elements that I am stoked on.

16

I honestly think the best way to make up a trick is to just go do something that seems completely insane. Just keep going to weird mounts and all sort of things, and eventually, you’ll figure out something really cool. As odd and dumb as it sounds, it works. I’ve come up with so many tricks doing that. Also, what I do sometimes is just kind of move my hands in all sorts of rolls and twists, and see what I can do from there or find a cool way to get out of it. As strange as they both sound, you’ll come up a lot of things that you can do. Hope That helps! :smiley:

17

I used to really struggle with this, so let me offer some advice.

learn as many transitions as you can. practice getting from mount “a” to mount “b” in as many ways as you possibly can. watch good yoyoers and learn there transitions, even if they’re unappealing to you. doing this has really helped me. also when making tricks, it’s usually best to not try to make one big combo at once; instead, make a ton of short tricks, and then you can combine those tricks in the order that is most aesthetically pleasing. if you study Yuuki’s yoyoing you’ll notice that his combos are like 10 different short tricks. if you compare his older freestyles to his newer ones, you’ll notice some of the tricks in his combos are the same, even though the combos are different.

also just mess around a lot. get lost in some good music and just try random stuff as you’re practicing. some of that stuff will stick and you’ll start getting new tricks, and those tricks will eventually become combos.

don’t stick to learning one type of tricks. i.e. just because you do tech don’t think you shouldn’t try to learn any ‘jensen-y type yoyoing’ and visca versa. learning as many styles of 1a will definitely help you develop a more well rounded and better looking style.

a great way to get more combos is to take your current combos, cut them in half, and then simply add an intro and an outtro to both sections and wah-lah you now have twice the combos. this is a great thing to do if you need more material for a freestyle.

also, don’t spend your practice sessions doing the same tricks you already know over and over again…new tricks aren’t magically going to form like that. but instead, just try out a LOT random stuff, and like i said some of that stuff will stick.

if all else fails, get inspiration elseware. take a break from yoyoing and go spin some poi or something. every skilltoy I’ve ever gotten into has taught me things that i’ve been able to apply to my yoyoing. my flow has gotten a lot better lately and i believe that’s been due to spinning poi. or else, maybe just taking a break from 1a for a little while and doing a different style will give you more ideas.

breaking down and learning other players combos is also a great way to improve your own yoyoing. yes, it’s boring and tedious as heck, but, I think it is well worth it. when i first was really getting into tech and was having a hard time improving, I learned yuuki spencer’s combo (or part of it) known as ‘soiled panties’ and I came up with a new combo of my own in no time.

hope this helps

1 Like
18

Videos do it for me. But, I don’t really ever take tricks directly from a video. It’s usually some very small detail that gives me an idea for my own combos that I hadn’t considered. Like, early on I was watching a vid and this person got into double or nothing via matrix, but instead of dropping the string and rolling out of it like is traditional, they bounced the yoyo back the way it came into trapeze. So simple, but I had never even thought to do that, and it gave me a new set of options for my own combos.

19

ive noticed i progress in steps. I wont progress for a week maybe 2. then for like 3 days i learn all sorts of new tricks and combos and go nuts, then spend the next week perfecting them, then return to not progressive for weeks.

20

I’m still fairly new to the whole making tricks thing. What helped me was just watching videos of people whose styles I liked, learning the elements/tricks I like that they do the most and start building upon it until I come up with something more original.

What also really helped me was remembering that you can pause youtube videos and use the left and right keys to move it frame by frame. I’m really bad at being able to focus on a lot of the hand movements for some reason. ::slight_smile: