Sorry not many agreed with me about palming..atleast many agreed pass is too extreme for begginers..only that I don't do a palm..or have never tried..i feel it takes too much guts to just do that.well any way the main thing is a book.it will teach by the level or difficulties..so you will have a good flow. get a book..i recommend royal road..and get ONE DVD..dont waste your money buying lots of those stuff..practice and do all the tricks you learn perfectly..by time you accomplish those you probably will have an idea what to do and how to do..not to mention your skill will improve..and of course try to perform to friends everytime you get a chance..improve your performance..guess that will make you busy and forget the pass for a while..later you can invest on dvds..michael Ammar is the man for me!have a good time

The pass is a method of controlling a card or cards, but it is an advanced technique. It's not necessary for most tricks, yet it seems to be the sleight that is most often used to "prove" oneself to fellow magicians. To me, it is therefore pretty low on my list of priorities to learn. Especially when there are other, easier techniques to achieve the same thing. Learn to double undercut instead.

The books mentioned above are great buys. If you're a visual learner, I recommend Richard Kaufman's "Basic Card Technique" DVD/Video, which I often refer to as "The condensed Daryl". Daryl's Encyclopedia of Card Sleights is...well, encyclopedic in scope, but it's expensive to get the entire set and there's a lot of stuff that you won't ever use. Kaufman's book contains stuff you will use as a beginner in sleight-of-hand magic.

Many people recommend Roberto Giobbi's "Card College" set as essential. They are relatively expensive books, and I've never read them myself.

Learning about the pass and back palming is nice, but you need to know what to do with all of this... While there are quite a few tricks to be done with these two sleights, I think you would do well to get the "card college" series, or at least the first volume to get you started. I these books you will not only learn sleights, but also how to use them in the actual tricks themselves. Lots of people have already recommended other books, like RRTCM, etc..., but personnaly, I prefer card college. More expensive to get, but they amazing sources for card magic.

Have a good day!
Louis

Hi Moose,

I definitely do not recommend learning classic pass and back palming without having a routine to use them in. If I know a difficult move, I know its crucial to have it in a specific routine. Remember, the simplest way is often the best way. If you're looking to do a manipulation act, you might want to check out manipulation cards. Norm Nielsen has excellent ones at http://www.nnmagic.com. As for learning sources, I recommend Jeff McBride’s Card Manipulation series. As for the pass, the effect is that the deck is cut secretly. I know some people who are amateurs and do the pass very well as their control. I also know seasoned professionals who do a Double Undercut to do the same. It’s your style that counts. My philosophy is that you only need one move for a certain action (ei. controlling a card, switching a card) unless your doing it more than once in the set, or the blocking of the trick requires you to use a certain sleight. My advice to you as a young performer: Work as hard as you can to make an impressive 10-15 minute act, and perform it anywhere and everywhere you can. Perform as much as possible, buddy - you'll go far.

Your friend in magic,

Ben Proudfoot

I agree with Ben.

Although the back palm was one of the first things I learned, it hasn't really been a whole lot of use to me. I found after a few weeks that I prefer close-up card magic to stage manipulations (although I do enjoy that as well!). That said, I always like to have some new sleight to work on and hopefully perfect whether or not I'm going to use it on a regular basis.

So, if you want to work on close-up magic, I'd recommend checking into the "Easy to Master Card Miracle" video series by Michael Ammar. If you decide you want to work more on stage manipulations, I'd recommend looking at the Art of Card Manipulation videos by Jeff McBride.

If you want to practice something in the meantime, I'd recommend working on getting your double lift to look completely natural. It is sooo easy to kill an awesome effect by screwing up a "simple" double lift, I'd focus on that before learning anything as complex as a pass. Good luck!

Try ninja 1 from ellusionist.. yeah they might be spendy but he does some good teaching.. If that's not good enough search the web for online magic suppliers.. you will find what your looking for...And take your time when you finally do learn it. Don't read or watch a video and think that you have the mechanics down without practice.. Do it for a friend or infront of a mirror.. g/l