Horizontal throw and finger spin

Thank you all for the (great) tips and advise.

I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one that has had these issues while trying to learn this trick.

I’m especially surprised to hear Shutter > Horizon for learning finger spins.
I’ll switch immediately.

I’ll also look at those other YoYos. The Atlas had already caught my eye…

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Can we just keep this going to try and stay inspired to get good at finger spins?

So in the hopes to help others, I’m just gonna update my progress…

Maybe it’s important to state that I’m using a Valkyrie to learn finger spins on. Really the main important things about that are lots of rim weight and a flat cup (but see below about the flat cup part…)

Things that are still helping with my finger spins: strong throw, landing the yoyo gently, landing the yoyo at the highest point in the cup with the yoyo tilted off-axis and not completely horizontal, not trying to spin the yoyo in the center of the cup, raising the yoyo up to eye level after it is in the finger spin… and then for the bind: whipping into the gap with the TH coming very close to the yoyo during the whipping motion - this ensures enough string in the gap to start the bind.

Once I realized that the finger spin doesn’t need to be caught in the center as a proof of concept I thought it would be fun to try to finger spin and bind on a Peak. Success! But don’t ask me to do this consistently (not yet at least). Basically, the point is that the finger spin is mostly happening for me on the edge of the cup, not in the center.

2 more things that are improving my spin time today: I let my finger nails get a little longer than usual. And maybe more dramatically, my finger spin time improved immediately when I tried using my middle finger instead of the index finger - I think that it is easier for me to keep my middle finger “soft” so that it absorbs the wobble of the yoyo while it is spinning.

Hope these notes might be able to help someone. Cheers.

I personally use my middle finger almost always when I fingerspin. I’m not sure why… Just seems to work better I guess…

OK, so I haven’t had tons of time to practice lately… But the time I have spent throwing has been practicing this spin. I’m seeing encouraging progress. I’m not hitting it reliably yet, but fairly often I’m landing it on my fingertip and it can spin for quite some time.

Just from the process of learning other tricks, I figure I’ll have this down OK in a couple weeks. So far I’ve only been able to let the spin die on my finger, time for me to get the whip bind down.

I know the following points were mentioned in the above posts but I thought I would reiterate what I have found to be helpful for me so that it may help somebody else learning this trick in the future.

First I have varied the yo-yo I use. The shutter is excellent if I’m able to land my finger inside the inner cup. If I catch the outside edge of the shutter, it flies around wildly. My Rave is excellent for landing horizontal finger spins, it is very forgiving. I have a handful of other yo-yos, but they were not as effective for me. It’s worth noting that I’m sure they’re perfectly capable, it’s my inexperience that is currently the problem. However, to anybody else that’s just starting horizontal finger spins, these two yo-yos have been good for learning, for me.

Second point, we hear this so often I think unconsciously we tend to ignore or dismis it, but especially in this case it’s worth taking to heart. You need a really strong throw, I mean, like as hard as you can throw it. With a strong throw the yo-yo seems to immediately stabilize and center itself, versus waffling around.

Thank you everybody for the tips, and experiences. They have all been helpful.

Beezy, MegaDud, how is it going for you guys?

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Just landed it, and executed a perfect whip bind for the first time ever.

My wife started laughing at me from across the room when I started cheering.

Now to do the same thing a second time… LOL

Hahah, awesome! My wife is always amused by yoyo success whoops as well. :wink:

Yeah! Congrats :slight_smile:

And thanks for the updates too. It helps to know what is/isn’t working. From what you say, the yoyo does make a difference.

A couple more thoughts…

Since I’m using a Valkyrie, which has a flat cup, it works best to finger spin at a bit of an angle. Once the yoyo goes completely horizontal it tends to wobble when trying to center itself on my finger. I assume something like the C3YoyoDesign M.O.V.E. and YYF Horizon get the stable and long-spinning finger spins since they center the finger in a cup that has a slight conical shape. I don’t know if it’s possible to get a perfect fingerspin on something with a flat cup…

Otherwise, the finger spins have been working for me but the bind has needed help to get consistent. Here’s what is working more for me for a consistent bind:

  • letting the string movement dictate when I pop the yoyo up into the finger spin…basically, waiting a moment to make sure the string will dangle on the inside of my catching arm when I catch the finger spin so then the string won’t start tangling up in the yoyo
  • elevating the yoyo to eye level as it is in finger spin
  • pinching the string between my throwhand thumb and index finger
  • holding my throwhand so the string dangles down in front of me and lining up the point where my throwhand pinches the string and the gap of the spinning yoyo
  • EDIT: also closing the fingers on my finger spin hand except for the spinning finger (of course!) so that way the string doesn’t get tangled on the finger spin hand during the whip for the bind - this tip probably seems obvious but I kept whipping the string for the bind and my thumb or other finger would interfere.
  • then, from throw hand facing down (and string dangling down), whipping in one smooth and strong motion where my throw hand turns right-side up and whips the string in a circular motion into the gap, with hand coming relatively close to the yoyo

so basically, paying extra attention to string position while setting up the bind has really helped. I’m hitting half my finger spin binds now.

Good luck everyone!

Beezy, MegaDud, how are the horizontal spins going for you guys?

My earlier prediction that I’d have this trick locked in a few weeks… well *cough, not so much. LOL
I’m popping up into a good finger-spin about 80%-90% of the time.
I’m hitting the whip-bind now about 20%-25% of the time.

Although progress is slower than I’d like, I’m steadily getting better… it’s just a matter of time.

I picked up a Skyva for $20. It’s awesome… well worth it IMHO. The finger spins are super-stable.
Got an Atlas off of BST as well. It’s on its way…

So Beezy, MegaDud,, how is your progress going?

Oh… and Beezy, a Valkyrie… you lucky son of a…

I’m just learning this trick, so this thread has been helpful. I am trying to learn this on the yoyos I bought at worlds, a C3 Railgun, Duncan barracuda, and duncan bimetal. I think the railgun has been easiest for me, though all three yoyos can do the trick.

I’ve been using a glove because I keep my nails clipped, and so far have only had it spin for two or three seconds before going out of control. I’ll try the raising non throw hand part as I practice. Thanks for the info in this thread.

Some yoyos just don’t spin very long so 3-4 seconds might be as long as those yoyos can go for before they die out, especially if you’re wearing a glove. You might not be doing anything wrong yourself.

This is what you need:

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Adhuck, Glad to hear the thread is somewhat helpful.

I’ve finally (just) got this trick down myself. So whatever questions you have,… please don’t hesitate to ask. I’m not an expert… but I have just gone through the learning process your in the middle of right now.

I expected to have this trick down in a week or two… It ended up taking me about a month and a half. But it’s WORTH it.

As previously mentioned the Yoyo you use is a large factor.
I don’t know if the Skyva is on your to-buy list but as Garrett pointed out it’s a finger-spin dream. (for just $20)

My favorite throw characteristics are wide-side opening with steep walls that converge on a small center (like the nightmare, firrox, skyva) I still have some problems with Wide-shallow sides like the the horizon… but I’m slowly getting better on that. The Shutter is good… but you have to nail that center cup.

Throw hard, and keep the TH and string away from your NTH to prevent string-grab chaos.

Attaining the fingerspin seemed impossible at first, but with (a lot of) practice, you’ll get the rhythm and motion and it starts to feel second nature.

For me, it’s a lot like the trapeze and double or nothing. These seemed impossible when I started out, but now I throw them without thinking or even looking. Popping the fingerspin up feels a lot like that…

Good luck.
Let us know how your progress is coming!
And again… if you have any questions, we’re here :slight_smile:

I’m getting better spins with the barracuda. Now it’s a matter of getting my hands in the right position so that the string does wrap around my finger.How does one deal with the tension. It seems like all it takes is one bad finger spin and the tension of the string becomes tight.

The short answer is that when you throw down (hard) to set up for a finger-spin, aim to have the yoyo at an extreme tilt, but not spin horizontally.

This is explained in some detail in a tutorial on YouTube (from another Yoyo company). Out of respect to YYE I won’t link it here. But search YouTube for “How to do Finger Spins” and it will be the first return. (13m.39s.).

This way the string tension is not being messed-up the entire time the YoYo is spinning during this trick, but rather it will be barely affected at all. ( I also had the same issue when I started…this fixed the problem.)

Separate note: Prior to learning finger spins, to wind up my YoYo, I used to roll it off of my hand and bind. I forced myself to correctly snap-start the YoYo while I was learning this trick… now I’m a snap-start expert :slight_smile: Whenever possible I recommend learning complimentary new binds or winds in conjunction with difficult tricks like this. It amplifies the perceived-progress and helps prevent frustration or boredom. Just my .02

I hope this answers your question… if it does not, please let us know.

That seems to be working. When it’s doing a UFO, the yoyo is grabbing the string so it seems a lot harder, if impossible to regain control of it while trying to land it on the finger.

I am getting more spin time now. Even with my nails cut short I am getting better spins than when I first started back in the beginning of the month. I can also get the yoyo to return by positioning my throw hand over the yoyo while its spinning on my non-throw hand. I’m not consistent at getting it to return, but the trick seems to work.

I still haven’t figured out how to end the trick by throwing a whip/laceration bind during the finger spin. I wonder if I need to switch to a more stable yoyo to perform that trick because all the yoyos I have feature a flat recessed cup design on the sides. None of my yoyos have a concave cup design.

When you do the whip bind, moving your throw hand very close to the yoyo as you whip helps guide the string into the gap. Not sure if you also know this but after the string is guided into the gap you probably need to pull your throw hand back in order to engage the response system.

Adhuck Sounds like you’re dialing in to it. :slight_smile: Congratz!

My progression was much the same, where my main challenge (initially) was to hit the finger-spin reliably. Then after I had (mostly) gotten that down, the whip bind was my next challenge. Then that finally locked into place second.

(Now I’m trying to do the vertical-tornado-bind on demand. I can do it occasionally, but sometimes the Yoyo streaks back to my throw-hand too quickly… I think I’ll need to get a better feel for the Yoyo’s spin speed…)

I do agree with Andy569’s, comment.

Also, I agree with your assessment of the shallow-cup Yoyo being more difficult than others. (The Skyva is a low-cost finger spin dream… just an option)

Also also, If you are using a shallow-cup Yoyo I’ve found personally their spin will be more stable when they are tilted during the horizontal finger-spin. (Rather than spinning on a perfectly horizontal plane). Then they will not spin so wildly. Hopefully that may help.

With the sidewinder tornado bind it’s all about timing, you can really always do the bind no matter how fast the yoyo is spinning you just need to know when to raise your throw hand up.

If you do it too early it’ll reject and won’t bind, if you do it too late it’ll snag and bind back to your hand. The perfect timing for me is to raise your hand up just before the string loop makes a complete rotation into the gap if that makes sense

It makes perfect sense andy569 , thanks! I’ll look for that.

So I am able to land the spin on my finger but the string wraps around my spin finger and just jacks it all up. I’m thinking I need to kee my TH further away so there isn’t slack. Any suggestions??