Learning Magic Tricks and Illusions

One question I am often asked when out performing is ‘How did you learn magic?’ These pages aim to answer that and give some pointers on how you can get started learning how to do magic tricks.

  • [Magical Secrets->]
  • [How I Got Into Magic->]
  • [Books vs. DVDs vs. Web->]
  • [Online Magic Resources->]
  • [Books on Magic->]


(Other common questions I’m asked include ‘Can you make my wife/ husband/ boyfriend/ girlfriend/ partner disappear?’, ‘Are you going to cut me in half?’ or ‘Where’s your rabbit?’. If I had a pound for every time…)

If you want to get into magic, how you go about it depends on what you’re aiming for. Do you want to be an accomplished amateur magician or maybe a pro eventually? Or do you just want an impressive magic trick to show your mates down the pub?

To learn the skillful stuff, all the principles and techniques of magic, takes time - you need to immerse yourself in magic. Watch as much magic on TV as you can, watch instructional videos, read magic books, find stuff on the internet and talk to other magicians (join a club or society).

Of course, you want something you can do straight away. Try looking in your local library for books on magic. A lot of the magic books you will find there will be for beginners. An important thing to remember is not to dismiss magic tricks that are easy to do - it is the presentation that counts. The presentation requires as much practice (maybe more) than the mechanics of the trick. You have to sell the magic.

You can also buy magic tricks, apparatus that do a lot of the work for you. A few words of caution though:

  • Magical effects can be expensive because you pay for the secret as well as the physical item (and sometimes you wonder if the secret is worth it!)
  • Often the advertising blurb will say ’self working’ or ‘requires no skill’ - this is rarely, if ever, true. At the very least it requires skill to present a trick well.
  • After you’ve performed your expensive new trick, what do you do next? Carefully put that deck of cards away and pull out another? Hmmm, that doesn’t look like magic…

Probably the best magical apparatus you can buy are trick coins because they are common objects that people carry with them everywhere. It’s not going to look weird if you take some change out of your pocket and say ‘Hey guys, watch this…’. Classic coin effects such as Coin Unique and Skotch and Soda are available from most magic dealers, easy to do and look great.

Remember, even though they may be easy to do, you still have to practice the routines and presentation until they are perfect before performing them.

Here are a couple of websites that offer advice on getting into magic: