Z-tutorials presents: How to create a trick/combo step-by-step

Z-tutorials presents: Trick development- How to create a trick or combo by Zammy

For a very long time, people have constantly asked me “How do you come up with awesome tricks?”. Well, I have always had a base way of doing it, a certain process which is not much different than other yoyoers. Well, today I explain to you in a step by step manner how I do this, how I develop my material.

This tutorial will help new yoyoers that have gotten past all the basic, intermediate and master tricks out there. This will help them so they can branch out and do their own thing and develop their style.

I really hope this helps out in the long haul. Please share this so new yoyoers will be able to see this.

I really tried the best I could in terms of trying to say it as plain as possible.

Either way, I’ve never seen anyone really say “HOW” to make a trick or combo. So this is a first. A text tutorial will be typed out in accordance with this video.

The steps included are:

1. Influence

Influence usually starts when you watch your favorite yoyoers doing things that appeal to you or impress you that it makes you wish you could do it. Well, if you can you can “steal/borrow” that idea they are doing, and go about creating your own variation/original trick. Influence is not tied down to just yoyoing, sometimes you can be influenced or inspired to do trick development from things completely unrelated to yoyos, like music or other skill toys. Usually yoyoers will just watch clip videos and freestyles and take out certain elements they like and mutate them into their own ideas.

2. Experimentation

This is the second stage, where the goal is to, as crazy as it sounds, fail. Once to begin to figure out a concept you wish to do…you start to experiment. You start to create your beginning idea. One main idea that people do is to throw and do something completely different, ergo meaning to fail. This allows you to better grasp what you are doing and the concept you are trying to create.

So, every time you throw- try and do something different each time and decide if it fits what you are trying to make.

3. Step by step

Step 2 and step 3 are very similar in trick developement because as you experiment you are also starting to build a step system. As you try to create a trick or combo, you have to have connected points, a point a to point b to point c…thats an example. These are steps. Each step you make follows through from what you did prior…meaning you are experimenting and deciding to do what is next.

Having a basic understanding of what you are trying to create in a step by step manner will allow yourself to further create your design/concept. You can look at each individual step and decide “Where do I go from here”.

There is a difference between a trick and a combo.

Tricks are usually done in as small amount of steps as possible with usually just one idea/concept shown. They are not as complex and usually really flashy and simple.

Combos on the other hand have many numerous steps involved with many different elements/concepts combined in different parts of it. The combined product ends up as a combo due to all the combined elements involved.

In this day and age its kinda hard to tell the difference between a trick or combo.

4. Writing your tricks down

This step is pretty much optional, as not every single yoyoer will write down their ideas. But, if you have a great concept/idea in mind quickly writing down in your notepad as best as you can in a step by step manner. This will allow you to have it physically written down so that way you can backtrack and look at it if you forget. Tons of people forget their ideas, so if they are written you can look at it and memorize it.

This also helps out with step 3 in that you get even more of a understanding of the trick or combo. Understanding exactly what you are doing while experimenting helps develop the overall creativity of a yoyoer. It can unlock different techniques and different styles and different overall development for each individual yoyoer.

5. Analyzing

Almost to the end! This step is basically making you have a glance over at your almost completed trick. Its essentially a review, critically thinking/brainstorming if you think everything is complete, if everything “fits”.

The best tricks and combos often fit in a series of factors like smoothness, appeal, risk, innovation, creativity and others. The best yoyoers out there understand these factors when making their own material.

Also a good trick/combo needs to cover the three “bases”

  • beginning
  • middle
  • end

These bases all have a different approach in some sense. The beginning you need to start out with a strong mount and have good transitions as you approach towards the middle of it. In the middle is where you shine your concept or multiple concepts at like slacks or grinds. The ending you need to finish off with a sort of “send off” where you have a unique dismount, a break or bind. This makes the viewer (another yoyoer) be very impressed and even inspired or making them go “WAHT!?”

6. Finalization

The very last step I believe when it comes to trick development is step 6, finalization. What does this imply? This is a step that makes you personally asks yourself two questions:

“Do I feel satisfied with this trick/combo?”
“Do I feel that this is complete?”

If you do not answer yes to those two questions, then it ultimately means you need to backtrack and do more experimenting, more step by step manners and analyzing it. Some people honestly do the same tricks and merely change them up for their freestyles. Some people actually create individual tricks and combos and move on to something completely new.

Ultimately, it is up to you the yoyoer to decide what to do. Everyone has their own ways of doing things. This is merely a helper/tool for people out there that wonder “Whats next” for yoyoing.

I hope this will help everyone out.

Laterdayz!

~Z

31 Likes

Thank you so much:)

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fun thing I was already at step 2 and there was a bad storm just now and it actually influenced me to yoyo and I created a combo through these tips. thanks zammy!

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Anyone else out there seen this? Would not mind some feedback/Thoughts. I had to put a ton of thought into this so I could get everything in order.

Well I will bite since you asked, and by no means take this as bad because your info is good and it shows you did put a lot of thought and effort into making the video.

And, maybe you can just do a part 2 that covers it a little bit more , but I was kind of hoping to see something along the lines of the process behind thinking through string position and space ( spacial movement between string shapes / formations / wraps - not necessarily string layers in the gap ).

I find myself kind of stuck in the same sort of routine(s) because I just don’t know what can and can’t be done depending on the string formation, usually I just unwind out of it and bind because I am to scared to get a knot or whatever…

I don’t know if that makes sense or not…but hopefully.

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This is THE tutorial i’m looking for. Thank you so much Zammy

Congrats on the sticky :slight_smile: it was really helpful

Thanks a ton! I made a new trick with just a few elements in different places and then added a few of my own! This was very helpful!

Hey, Zammy I was wondering if you could make a video about transitioning from mobious combos to regular string trick combos without binding and rethrowing.

Well done!

Just wanted to throw this in there and say I really hope this has helped people out.

This has been a project I wanted to do for quite sometime. This is how the best yoyoers out there make new material…so with that said I hope it helps your path in yoyo.

~Z

Thanks

Great job! I used this guide to create my new favorite combo “Skin the Green Gerbil in the Matrix” which includes (obviously enough): Matrix into skin the gerbil with a green triangle to dismount-bind. I found it difficult, once I reached the high-advance/expert level of tricks to think of ways to combine in a cohesive way but reading this guide and watching a bunch of different tick vids helped quite a bit. I still can’t land this combo 100% fluidly yet, but as with all tricks, practice makes perfect!

Nice video Zammy! I liked it.
when you make combo, think out of the box as well. with slack and whips, there are endless possibilities (e.g. Eric Koloski). I’m not very good at slack stuff but it looks cool. also try to do both side and front style combos.
keep it up Zammy!

God bless,
Toolmanjr.

PS. My first post! :slight_smile:

wow that was so amazing thanks ;D ;D ;D

You need to become one with the undoing of knots.If you’re not willing to undo knots all the time you’re not thinking like yoyoer should. Be innovative and take risk, it’s a lot more fun.
Personally, I like to think of tricks like making an enormous knot and finding my own stylish way of getting out of it.

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This is some amazing information you throw out. Thank you very much, Z Tutorials aka Zammy