It really depends on how much you want to become a magician? I ran a short poll over on our Facebook page, Magicians Advice Podcast Facebook to figure out what other magicians had to say. The best answer they had was “There is no definable length of time to becoming a magician”. There definitely is a quick way to learn to become a magician. I’ll explain more below.
Quick Guide.
1. Learn to be entertaining.
2. Understand how to practice efficiently.
3. Take magic lessons.
4. Find the best resources to learn from.
5. Ask questions.
Learn To Be Entertaining.
Easier said than done. Most people wanting to get into magic already know deep down they want to entertain. That’s part of the joy of learning to become a magician. How, I hear you ask? Well, you can take lessons in comedy or story telling. I often hear magicians say their performance style is just an extended version of themselves and I’d have to agree. You need to look at who you are and own it. If you already have that cheeky chappy style, then you well away.
Understand how to practice efficiently.
They say practice makes perfect. I’d take it on a stage further. “Perfect Practice Makes Permanent”. This is where you can save a lot of time, a shortcut to becoming a magician. If you can set out a practice routine that helps you learn faster and is always the same, you will have a format to learn faster and become better. To become a magician in reality, you only need five excellent tricks. When creating a magic set you should include these elements, Fire, Liquid, metal and money to peep people’s interests. I’ve written a blog on practice that will explain how to structure your time correctly to learn faster. Ultimately, Perfect Practice Makes Permanent.
Take magic lessons.
There are many ways to take magic lessons, by lessons I don’t mean find a teacher, although that is probably going to be the fastest way to becoming a magician. You can also attend lectures online over zoom, join a magic club or watch streaming downloads and finally read books (reading books will not be the fastest way to learn) there are plenty of ways to learn magic. The one thing I would avoid is learning from YouTube, unless you know the magician is a professional. The problem with YouTube is you don’t know if the person/magician teaching has it correct. It’s always better to find a professional magician to learn the learning journey will be faster in the long run, reducing your time to becoming a magician.
Find the best resources to learn from.
Most professional magicians learn from magic books, they take old ideas and then reinvent them with their own unique twist. For us, we are trying to become a magician in the shortest time possible. We want to learn from the best. My suggestion would be to learn from steaming downloads. This is the best resource and the most accessible downloads have been available for over ten years, so there are plenty of professional magicians to learn from. Check out a few here.
Ask questions.
It’s important to learn fast and ask good questions this is going to speed up your learning process. But where do you ask questions? We have a Facebook Group called the Magicians Advice Facebook Group you can post all your questions there with other nine hundred members there are plenty of active member who will happily point you in the right direction. Or you can post in places like Reddit or Quora.com. If you want an instant answer, jump on a Facebook group for magicians.
Take what you already know.
Use what you already know. Do you have other skills that you can combine with magic? Have you studied music like Shim Lin? Does that area of your life already have a discipline to help you learn faster and become better? Are you a data analyst, can you create practice work schedules? Do you work in a café, can you perform for customers? There is no faster way to learn magic then to perform in front of them. Think about what you already know, mix it up to become a better magician over all.
Learning sleight of hand the fast way.
Ok, the title is misleading. I think you can learn it fast, but will it fool your audience? The best thing to do here is to pick a routine you like, properly something to do with cards as they are the easiest to learn sleight of hand with and the fastest over all. Study what moves you need to master, set a daily plain to practice the moves and master them. The best thing about learning to become a magician is you can practice anywhere. You need not attend classes. Most magicians are self taught, so there is no reason you can’t be.
Pick Five Magic Tricks.
The fastest way to becoming a magician is to pick five solid magic tricks.
1. Card trick
2. Coin Trick
3. Mind reading Trick
4. Packet trick
5. Rope Trick
You need to have some kind of structure set if you are thinking about performing close up magic. Five strong magic tricks will work well at most events.
Have a style.
Think about who you want to be? Who influenced you to becoming a magician? What was their style like? Did you see someone on YouTube or Britain’s Got Talent or Americans Got Talent? What did you like about them? Was it how they looked or presented their effect? Do you see yourself as a mind reader like Derren Brown or Colin Cloud? Or more of a street performer like Dynamo or David Blaine? Try on different hats, see what feels right. Ask yourself, how do I look? There is a danger here for mind readers to look like Derren Brown if you in your teens or early twenties don’t dress like a refined gentleman.
As yourself who do you want to become? If you set the groundwork now, this will help you become a much better magician in a faster, more positive way.
That’s my round up of how to long it takes to become a magician. In reality, you can become a magician in no time at all, but to become a master magician it takes a lifetime of detection and practice to become a true magician in every sense of the word. For me the journey continues, magic has been with me for over twenty years and I still enjoy it as much as I did when I first found it. I am dedicated to magic as it’s taken me too many wonderful places and I’ve met so many amazing people. Magic has opened many doors for me and will continue to do so into the future. If you put in the effort in, you too can become a true professional magician, but that’s down to you and your dedication..
If you have questions please reach out to me on Facebook or over email, always happy to help.
Thanks for reading.
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