I have troubles getting my Charge right. I can do a Sonic pretty smoothly so I cant figure out why the charge is way harder.

Using only your ring finger:
1. Bring the pen upleft at a 45 degree angle.
2. Then bring the pen downright at a 45 degree angle.
And repeat 1 and 2

Start it off like a sonic, but use your thumb, but instead of releasing it to jump over to the next finger try and use that momentum to keep it going in a circular motion. Here's a tutorial about the charge http://www.pentrix.com/pentix/tricks/Charge23Normal.html

xz64, what do you mean by 45 degrees? With respect to what?



Well, the way I see the Charge 23 is that you can't really use thumb pressure to do this. It IS somewhat like a Sonic, but for some reason, in spite of me learning Sonic first, I couldn't really apply a whole lot of what I learned to this trick, other than where to hold the pen in my fingers.


Hold the pen between 2 and 3. Now bend both fingers. The pen should be slanted like this \ (Done this way cause you're a lefty). Because it's in this slanted position, once you unfold your fingers, this will naturally make the pen go in a circular motion. When you unfold, the pen will make almost a half circle, from 10:00 to 3:00 counterclockwise. And that's only unfolding the fingers.

Keep doing that until you feel comfortable. The pen may keep flying out of your fingers so keep practicing to get the right grip on the pen. This took me a while to get used to.

Now, to keep the pen moving after it made the first half circle, you will want to move finger 3 backwards. I read that finger 2 shouldn't be moved at all, but I think that's a little too rigid. When finger 3 moves backwards, finger 2 moves VERY SLIGHTLY forward. Now when you do this, this allows the pen to complete the circle. However, it completes the second half VERY QUICKLY, so you will want to move finger 3 forward, and finger 2 backwards slightly. All of this is happening quickly so you may want to break it down step by step, or you could take the "go all out" approach and just keep doing it until you get it.

So the effect you get with the fingers is fingers 2 and 3 are moving backwards and forwards, almost resembling "walking." And yes, finger 3 should appear to be moving the most, because that's exactly what it's doing. Finger 2 should also be moving but it doesn't appear that way.


Hope this helps. ;)


Some tips for getting fingers 2 and 3 to do what it should, hold the pen between 2 and 3, straight. Now make it so the pen is moving up and down, like a wiper. I didn't really do this exercise but it should help with the movement of the fingers as well as grip. The wiping range shouldn't be large at all. Very small wiper movements are what you're looking for.

45 degrees meant keep pushing the pen diagonally back and forth but I forgot to mention the circular motion

my charge can go on for ages, but one thing is this.

after doing it for a while, the pen starts to slip further and further up my fingers. thus after a while, what i'm left with is a charge being done right at the metal tip of the pen. lol i've tried everything to remedy this, but it's mainly because i grip the pen too lightly (sometimes it just flies off halfway).

charge is one of the hardest tricks..begin doing only a charge then..try to link one to the other.. it wil come only with time.. easy man .. not simple at the beginning for everyone

lol my problem is way weirder...
i know how to do 12 and 23 charge BUT reverse
and i cant do the clockwise version =(
and when i try to move my ring finger my middle finger just
automatically moves making it almost impossible for
me to learn charge the clockwise way
any tips to help me?

maybe u should just hold the middle finger and move the index, i tried doing that helped me a little

How I learnt the reverse is with heavy hand motion. I just relax my fingers and let the pen swing around between, and my fingers just follow in the motion of the pen. In a way, its the pen thats controlling the way you move your fingers, but slowly your fingers should be able to adapt to the particular movement, and then you can cut down on hand movement and let your fingers do the work.

The bottom finger pushes out in up for 1/2 a rotation then in and down for the other 1/2.

Getting a smooth Charge takes practice and experimentation with how much or how little pressure you use with your fingers.

Also, see the Wiki page for a tutorial and video.

that out and in thing seems to help a little bit. thanks

sonic is your friend

IMO sonic is the best trick, since it is a good trick on its own, easier to understand than charge, easier to master than fingerpass, more variable than TA.

i learned charge 34, 23 by sonics purely

i never sat down and actaully siad,

i think im going to learn charge now

it just magiccally comes to you after you get sonic rise down

and down i mean like thumbless, smooth, fast, with little finger motion

your index finger should move slightly during charge 12, but your middle finger should have more motion.

when the pen is held at it's end, the finger movements should increase, both middle and index fingers.

For Charge Normal, the Index finger shouldn't have to move too much.

If you are doing Charge Reverse (as in the Devil Sonic Reverse) you would be moving your Index finger rather than your Middle finger.

Wow its been a week and i cant even get it to do a fill rotation. i dont know if im doing it wrong because all the tutorials are all weird and i cant understand them. im a really really fast learner, ive mastered all the fundamental tricks and a few others within a week i just cant get the charge to work. Can anyone give me a mini tutorial please or link me to a really really good one? thnx
-phixion

Start learning by using a whole lot of wrist motion. After you can kinda fake it like that work on decreasing the wrist motion.

If you can't be me specific with your problem I can't tell you much more.

yeah that helped but without the wrist motion how do i start the charge? i know how to hold it but do i use my thumb or my ring finger to start it?

How I start a charge...

Hold the pen between 23 with fingers bent so the pen in parallel with my hand and at about a 45degree angel from the horizontal. My 3 finger is slightly more bent that my 2 to get the angel. Then to start I gently flick my fingers straight.

That brings me to the first half of the charge. From there I push up and in with 3 to continue the charge. Then after another half charge I push back 3 a little bit, while still applying a small amount of upward pressure. From there the continuous gentle pushes and the pens momentum keep it going.

Does the charge use any wrist motion at all?

A proper charge doesn't but it's not a huge problem if you use some while learning the trick.

I think the easiest way to learn the charge, is to learn thumbless sonic and then do it without folding the middlefinger, so it dont jump to 12. then it will circulear mak the movement and u just repeat thad...



-Simån

i find it helps to think of it as a push and pull. in case of 23, you push with middle and pull with ring. at first it will be pretty blatant, but eventually you'll be smooth as butter

I've been stuck on the charge for a while now too. I don't understand how it works, does it actually spin around a finger? I'm at a total loss on this trick. I'll go read the tutorials again maybe I missed something.

it does not spin around any finger but between fingers in clockwise(normal) or anticlockwise(reverse)

Well, I'm sorta new to pen spinning, but I think I got charge (or atleast reverse charge) down, I might be some help....

Well, at first, I began learning the charge at the tip of the pencil, I also started with 1 and 2, they just seemed stronger. Anyways, start with the pencil parralel to both the ground and you, the heavier side of the pen towards the inside of your body. Have 2 on top of the pen and 1 on bottem, and have them spaced out relaxed. Now, gently push down with 2, and the pen should begin to spin. Let it spin back to the original spot and you should basically done a charge.

You begin to move towards the center of the pen, and sooner or later, you'll be able to twist your hand so it will be done vertically.

Now, this is reverse charge 1-2, so....

Decent video
http://turtlespin.rbhscsf.org/videos/tricks/charge.avi

Also a nice video, but his numbering isn't the same as ours so...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=N5KABYFCvGg

If it helps any, think of 2 as a sorta stiff worm, that flexes up and down....

If I'm completely wrong, please, please spare mercy and be nice?

Here's a whole mess of Charge advice for everyone to loook through at once.
This was compiled from a few Charge Help threads, the Charge advice was kept while the off-topic stuff was cut out.

Omg... I think I actually got it. (The concept.) It's amazing. I am just learning, that it all has to be done in order, and that it needs dexirity. As soon as you complete half a circle, bend your ring and continue another half a circle. I think this is right... :boing:

should charge spin in a large circle or in a small circle?
which one would be easier?

Larger circles for sure. If you want to make small circles you have to fight the pen a lot more, where as with large circles the pen will rotate against your fingers with little extra effort.
Personally I just push/pull the pen and let it rotate as wide as it wants. Make sure your fingers are always relaxed as possible.

Hmm. Smaller vs. Larger. Which moves faster? And which looks more appealing?

Larger looks much more appealling.

And when i was first learning the charge, my friend told me to think of it as just moving your ring finger (nothing else) back and forth.
:2p2h:

Yes this is very true. It be perfect, you cannot move your middle finger.

Ive tried for days and i just cant get the charge...At all.
Im using a crappy pen...WHSmith 'Ink Eradicator', but its the best i can find.

Ive mastered the TA, Fingerpass (Left and right hands)...But i just cant get the charge...Ive looked at all the tutorials and slowed the videos but i just cant get it. Any help?

Of course there's help. First of all, when you do the charge, for me, there is like a hold on the pen as it goes behind my middle finger. I use the ring to get rid of it, and from that, it should do another rotation. Hope it helps!

The main problem for me is, whenever i do the initial rotation (T->) The pen either flys out of my hand, or, just sits there.

I just cant seem to get the perfect amount of push :| Maybe i dont quite understand the actual movements envolved in the trick :S

It's more of a 'flick' then a push.

Put the end of the pen in your thumb flap and curl your 2 and 3 fingers up. Then extend your 2 and 3 fingers to flick the pen out of your thumb flap.

Practice with one rotation at a time first, and then try getting more and more.

Hope I helped
:lol:

Is there any technique to erm...Catching it?
When ever i do the charge it just seems to roll around 2 and i cant seem to know how to...Catch it?

In all the charge videos ive watched there is a strange movement of the pen (Sort of like this /\/\/\/\/\/\) but still around their fingers....Is the pen actually meant to leave your fingers at all during the charge?

No, the pen stays in between 2 fingers, it just kind of...wobbles. :) You hold the pen in the middle, move the bottom finger, and make each side of the pen make cone shaped paths in the air.

Edit: there's a step-by-step at psconclave for you to follow and a video.

Ahhhhhhhh thank you very much sketching (I remember you from the old forums :)) Thats cleared the shady area for me :)

EDIT: Nope still cant get it :| None of the tutorials seem to explain how to do it (FOR ME) :( All i can seem to do is to get the pen to move from side to side :|