Hey I see a ton of very experienced and longtime players here. So cool. Had a couple question for you if you have a sec. Are there any specific tricks or types of tricks that can/should be focused on that will help or elevate your whole game? Or a second question, for those of you who have been playing awhile, if you suddenly lost all your muscle memory and skill, what would you do to quickly progress and regain the skill you have now? Last one: what's the biggest waste of time newbie kendama players do that holds them back? Now I know everyone is going to say, "just play a lot and have fun!" <----Yes this. However, I'm still curious. You experienced guys definitely have some great knowledge now that you didn't have when you started, hoping you'd give a little share/taste of that for the newbies.
Yo yooo Ben! I'm a huge fan of OG cup play. I would always almost study old dama videos (Sander/ Yourd edits) attempt the same tricks and or build off them. Pov edits are super helpful because it gives you a nice birds eye of what's going on. Pro tip would be to go back and watch old ladder videos for contests. Peep some old BATB or MKO trick lits and try them all! It's surprising how certain people will hone in quickly on some tricks and never come close to others! I was always clean with ken flips but couldn't do a bird for the life of me. If you haven't played in a while DO NOT try tech tricks or combos that you know you're rusty on. It's frustrating big time. If you wanna get your muscle memory back- do basic cup tricks on repeat (aroundUSA/ aroundEURO). A goofy habit I would always get into would be working kendama into my morning routine before work. (Wake up, wash my face to speed it up, grind out a few cup tricks- maybe do 1 of your go to "bangers" dub UFO or something) and don't get angry! I never understood throwing a kendama.. and if it's not your morning, no biggie. Stay positive and pick it up later! Biggest waste of time for new schoolers IMO is trying to go for taps and juggles immediately. Learn the fundamentals and then build off of it. It will help you build your inventory of tricks, it keeps you polished/ fresh/ familiar with the whole kendama and you'll be a more developed player. AND in games of KEN- it keeps things classic and your friends on their toes. Learn new but build off of the old. There's no rush in learning tricks. Take your time, keep it clean.its better for you and the audience Hope this helps duder! -scag
Thanks man, great advice! I've been super impressed with what you post on snap, been following you for a little bit now. Very inspiring!
How to get good? Practise the tricks you want to learn, a lot. Kendamas takes time, and a mindset to really meditate and hone in one tricks you want. Challenge yourself. To be really good, you'll want to spend a lot of time on fundamentals. Like Bryan said, 'around tricks', cup and spike game, balances, swaps, etc. The more solid the basic tricks, the more you can build off of them easily. Good players can land hard tricks that other players can't repraeat in a game of DAMA. The best players will do that, and then land the hard tricks that the other players set.
Learning anything new will elevate your game. Of course if you start from the fundamentals and move up it will give you a more solid foundation, but that would only matter for the competitive aspect of kendama. You are allowed to do whatever you want with kendama. You don't have to do it the traditional way and do the popular trending tricks. I encourage you to get creative and do some funky stuff! I fell off for a couple years a while ago and don't recall losing much. I know I did but it's like anything, you just have to play and get the feel of certain things back. The biggest waste of time imo is grinding away at a trick over and over, constantly repeating the same mistakes. With that being said, here are my biggest points: 1:Improvement is change. Seems like common sense right? Yet I'm sure a lot of us have found ourselves doing the same exact thing over and over again expecting to get better. 2: Here's how I would recommend learning anything (not only kendama) new. First analyze what it is you gotta do. Break it down and understand the parts that make it a whole. Then, try the first part. If it's not working for you, expiriment with different techniques until you find something that works. Get that down. Then do the same thing for the other parts and put it all together (or put it together in sections if necessary). If it's not working analyze where the issue is and try to make a change to address it. Let me know if this makes any sense lol. My motto is that if you aren't having fun AND progressing somethings not right. Definitely have fun with it, definitely get creative, and definitely step up your game in as many different ways possible. PEACE
Step 1: Get Kendama & Tape Step 2: Tape Ken to hand Step 3: Live as Edward Kendamahand Step 4: PROFIT!
I disagree, sorta. If you're doing the same thing over and over absent-mindedly, then sure you're not going to improve. But sometimes landing a new trick can take an hour of attempts, and if you're in the right mindset for that sort of grind, you will see each attempt get a little bit closer. You have to stay present and focused, it is a very meditative sort of practise. I agree you can break tricks down into simpler parts, I think thats a good way to practise. But dismissing the grind as a way to practise is to miss something that I consider very core to kendama play.
i totally feel you, i think I use the term differently. I only consider it a grind when I'm like repeating the same thing over and over again making the same mistakes (like I said originally) and/or getting frustrated. When I'm learning and getting closer to a trick it doesn't feel like a grind to me. I actually enjoy each moment of the learning process. I only consider it a grind when it's frustrating. You know, like the tricks where you put in hella work for it and then when you finally get it you realize you would have to grind just as hard to get it again. On top of that, there's no growth there. I agree though that the learning process can be meditative. I think my point is really that it always should be. That's what it's all about...
Am I oversimplifying things to think that certain tricks being super honed would help me out across the board? Say like earth turns for instance. If I really grind earth turns to be super consistent, hit them low or high all the time, wouldn't that help with a lot of other tricks? You're training your brain not only for the muscle memory and the feel, but also the hand eye coordination to respond accurately for hole tracking and adjustment as the tama comes around. Make sense? And then one step up would be something like a whirlwind, so you're learning to accurately piece the earth turn (full tama rotation) in addition to ken control and everything leaving your hands. Dunno, just thinking out loud here... Any trick(s) better than those two examples in this regard?
I gained a lot of experience early on in my kendama career by entering video contests, and playing KEN with local kendama friends. When filming an edit, you typically go for some of your most impressive tricks. When you play games of KEN with people that are in the same skill level as you, you really push each other to learn more. That really helped me get better when I first began playing kendama.
This!! 100% have to be in the right mind set, if your grinding away and not progressing at all and just pissing yourself off then you gotta stop, cant just be grinding yourself into a shitty mood. stay stoked, if something isnt working move onto something different and then come back. you called it but literally just have fun. thats the best way to learn and progress and develop your own kinda style.
I agree @Heshisfresh, its also quite obvious when watching an edit whether the player was having fun filming or not. Way nicer to watch someone who is honed in and stoked, than someone who is frustrated but managed to lace
I subscribe to philosophy of "learn by doing." I tend not to break lines apart into pieces but rather just go for the line as a whole until I lace. I also agree with @Heshisfresh and @htimSxelA about being in the right mindset. If I find myself slipping into a negative space I usually try to sit that one out until I can come back with a fresh mindset. (As I type this I am coincidentally thinking about all the times I said "F*ck it" and grinded out a trick until I landed it even though I was pissed the entire time. Not an enjoyable flashback. The journey to lacing a trick should feel just as enjoyable as landing the trick itself)
i like to try and do consistency tricks as much as i can. a good example would give is Spacewalk, just try and do as many as you can in a row without missing. this can be applied to any trick really and the constant practice will make you more honed at the trick over time. also i grind out Speed Trick B every morning and try to do it faster than the day before
Ua guys, this thread is SO helpfull and inspiring to me. I can literally feel the fire! Thanks for the good advise and philosophy!
I like to break up tricks into parts. Like to learn whirlwinds, you first gotta learn the earth turn. Then learn a lofty and slow earth turn. Then I would hold the ball in my off hand and just practice flipping the ken. Then add in the movement with your knees and flipping the ken like you would with the full movement. Then add the ball in last. Recently I've been trying to get better at fast hand stuff. I was having the hardest time with downspike fast hands (ending with hand on the tama). So I started practicing by holding the tama with the ken inverted. Then bobbing up and down using my knees, and the top of the movement I would quickly let go of the tama and grab the ken and then right back to tama. This really helped me get the feel of it first before moving into the full movement. I love analyzing tricks and breaking them down into parts. So many tutorials out there are just like, "here's how to do it!" and they just show you someone doing the trick in slow motion haha. That can help, but I like tangible breakdowns of "learn this first, then learn this, then put it all together"!
well i am not that good at kendama yet but one thing i teach to people who want to get into kendama is to practice creating repetors or loops. grinding a loop instead of single tricks allows you to do a lot of repeats in a short amount of time. when a loop gets consistent and fluent you should stop on each trick and think of what trick can i do from the position i am right now. like this you are able to expand the loop you are practicing. eventually you find a way to put together multiple loops and expand the game even more. when you come up with a new trick practice it in the beginning of the combo, in the middle of the combo and in the end of the combo. also i've heard a saying that i always keep in mind when i'm practicing, which goes: if you want to learn a skill, you must act as you already posses that skill. basicly it means that you shouldn't think that you are not ready for a certain trick. what you should realize is that the earlier you start doing a trick that feels impossible, the sooner you learn it eventually.
This is how I learned lighthouse: walked around my house for two days with the Ken on top of the tama. Then started dropping the Ken onto the tama at a very short height. Then went to pull up. Took me almost a week to learn lighthouse.