Hi, welcome to the Forum! I don’t think I am qualified enough to be a tutor, but I have been thinking a lot about this in the last few months. After seeing your post, I asked myself ‘what’s the best advice I could give?’ and started writing down everything I have learned so far.
This is not to be seen as a strict guideline or rule set, rather some points I have found to be helpful for myself.
Learning and Practicing:
- Keep the string centered.
- Keep the string taut.
- Use intentional movements.
- Practice tricks slowly at first until you can do them consistently.
- Practice tricks for smoothness before speed.
- Practice speed third, after you’ve got the trick smooth.
After practicing a trick for some time, it is advisable to take a break from it and practice the tricks you already know some more. Your brain will process the new trick in the background, and you might find some progress the next time you return to it.
Record and watch yourself throwing to better analyze your style and mistakes.
Creating Tricks:
The basis for creating tricks is the realization that every trick, no matter how long or complex, is just a series of smaller string formations and movements linked together. While learning more tricks, you will find that combinations of formations and movements (elements) that you have previously learned in another trick will start reoccurring. You can then use the unlocked elements to construct a new trick.
Some people like to start creating a new trick based on one they already know, but you can also experiment freely with what you can do with the string and movements.
Developing style:
If you want to play like a specific player, you must analyze his style thoroughly. This means you not only have to learn his tricks and performance by mimicking. You must really get into his mindset and think about why he did a specific thing, what his thought process was when creating the trick or performance.
By doing all this, you will develop your own style over time. The tricks you perform frequently and the players you enjoy watching will be the biggest influences on that. You can, of course, steer this development in a direction you prefer by analyzing yourself as previously explained.
The Most Important Advice:
This is a lot of information, so reading, understanding, and applying everything will take quite some time. That’s why the most important aspect of healthy progress is maintaining the fun.
You should not pressure yourself too hard or compare yourself to others in a non-competitive way. Take some time to just relax and throw, perform tricks you love, and enjoy the vibe or even take a day off. Remember that there can still be progress from not throwing when you sesh again.
You should also check out the “trick a week” thread where we learn a cool new trick every week together as a community. This is a really good way to build up your element arsenal in no time.
https://forums.yoyoexpert.com/t/trick-a-week-2024-17-fashism/