Ok guys, i posted my intro and asked about TA but i still cant do it right. Im gonna post my question here in hopes that i get some more responses. I'll spin it and itll spin way up on the top part of my thumb and when i try to catch it i hit the side of my finger. I bend my finger to catch it but i move it too far or something and squish my thumb down with index finger and the pencil either 1. goes flying 2. hits the side of my hand between index and thumb or 3. i catch it but it looks really really ugly. The problem is that if i let it spin low it hits the very very bottom of my index finger and if i dont put it that low it flies off or just spins above my thumb for a split second. I hold my hand straight up so my palm faces to the left. Is this wrong? cause im copying the video pretty much exactly as far as i can see...

Theres a simple response to all of that. You're using too much force to push the pen. This is the main problem people have at this stage. They can't get the trick right, so they think using more force to push the pen will get it right. But instead, you get the pen flying away, which means you're getting more spins then you actually want.

Try to just push the pen SLOWLY with your middle finger and let it just roll around the base of your thumb, not the top. The catching would then come naturally if you're not rushing to catch a fast moving pen.

sicxer i cant even get it to spin all the way around my thumb without holding it with my index while i push with middle then letting go...maybe my middle finger just isnt strong enough?

As you push with the Middle finger, slide it along the underside of the Thumb. That motion should make the pen do most of the work all by itself.

Sorry if im getting annoying :) . Im a little confused how you can push the pen and slide your finger on the underside of ur thumb at the same time.
Edit: forget that i think i got it now

Hold the pen like this:
The tip of the Thumb should be on top of the tip of the Middle finger. The pen will be in between them, the COP is on the inside of the hand.

In this position, the Middle finger will be moving underneath the Thumb during the push. Just move the Middle finger along the Thumb, towards the base of the Thumb.

I don't have access to my camera at the moment, so I can't do a video for you.

Watch kaisen's video, or Kit-Cat's video

Thanks a lot sketching. I can do it pretty well now. Did you learn to do TA yourself? cause that not like kam's video shows u how to do it.

I read ALOT of online tutorials for all of the Fundamentals. Iluvitar.com was a big help, even though some of the trick names are old.

PenSpin Palace also helped, with all of the videos there.

Basically, I just searched for pen spinning websites and read/watched everything I could find.

Well I've been going on over it and I keep dropping my pen, I don't know how to catch it because it either spins to fast, or spins away. T_T And tips?

*EDIT
And I've done it so many times my thumb stopped moving to the side so thats not a problem. ._. :dog: :monkey: :walrus:

http://www.psconclave.com/wiki/Thumbaround

Scroll down to the guide

Video Tutorial
http://www.pentrix.com/videos/video.php?v=...ound_normal.swf

UPSB Tutorial
http://upsb.info/forums/showthread.php?t=46

Have you even caught the pen properly? Even just by a fluke? If you have you just need to practice. That's the way I learned most of the tricks I know, if you can do it just once you should be able to get it with enough practice.

Yeah I've caught it a couple times, now I just needa practise, thanks for all the help.

If you spin too fast, your pen is too heavy... Find a long light pen...

Actually, if you spinning faster than you can catch, it means that the pen is too light, but either way, he already figured it out.

make sure not to move your thumb.

To begin, let's start with holding the pen/pencil:
The Thumb should be straight while the Middle finger is bent and holding the pen/pencil. The Index finger should just be supporting the pen.

When you push using your Middle finger, the path of the finger should run parallel to the side of the Thumb. This motion should almost always make the pen flip up and over the Thumb as the pen doesn't have too many other options of where to go.

As the Middle finger is pushing the pen, the Index finger should get ready to catch the pen. If your Middle finger pushed corectly, the pen should basically travel right where it needs to go. As the pen flips up and over the Thumb, just push the Index and Thumb together with the pen in-between.

the biggest mistake i see newbs doing is not having the center of balance correct.

This was compiled from a few Thumbaround Normal threads. The advice was kept while the off-topic bits were removed.

whenever i do a TA it dosnt go around my thumb, instead it ends up spinning 2 times at the bottom joint of the thumb, this happens sometimes, not all the times

like on top of the joint? thats a thumbspin, somewhat.

@stollz:
You may be holding the pen too close to the COP when you do the push. The COP of he pen be about where your pushing finger is at on the pen. Your Thumb should be closer to the end of the pen, the push should be on or near the COP.

This makes it easier for the pen fall over the Thumb, since most of the pen will be above the Thumb after the push. Gravity should pull the pen back down.

Here's an easy placement for using the Middle finger to push:

1. Look at your pen and find the approximate COP.
2. Hold the pen with your Thumb and Index, they should be holding on about 1/2 way between the COP and the end of the pen.
3. Position your Middle finger on the COP of the pen.
4. Push the pen with your Middle finger, make sure that the Middle finger moves along and underneath the Thumb.

By the time the Middle finger has reached the base of the Thumb, most of the pen will be above the Thumb and ready to fall back down the other side.

ive known how to do the TA for a while i just cant do it CORRECTLY.
just to be clear, the COP is the center of the pen right (we need an abbreviation guides for newbies)

COP

I just gave you advice on how to do it CORRECTLY. <_< If the pen is spinning on the Thumb, the center of gravity is not far enough over your Thumb to pull the pen around it.

alright, i realized my pen was to short. the past 2 hours ive been making a pen mod (rsvp duel cap, just came up with the design from other mods ive been looking at) i got a lot more momentum now and im getting better at it with this pen and can now do a TA reverse, but still no TA

Hey everyone,

I know that this topic is "over-posted" and that the board is filled with these requests for TA help, but I really can't do it!
I've been told that it's one of the fundamentals and it's the easiest trick, but it's really getting me down.

I can do Infinity, Double Infinity, Charge, Sonic, Sonic Variation, Fingerpass combo and an Infinity combo, but it's just that one fundamental that I cannot do.

The pen either flies off or I catch it by pure fluke, and it sometimes goes into a thumbspin instead. I'm told that sometimes I push it too hard, but when I push it more slowly it falls off!

Can anybody give me any advice please? Thanks.

To do ThumbAround Normal, it is helpful to use the right starting position (helps you balance the pen when it spins). Click here to download the Kam´s Full Video package of Pentrix website. At the bottom, there you can see a Tutorial for ThumbAround Normal. (Using the video.html).

http://z15.invisionfree.com/UCPSB/index.php?showtopic=6238 here is another tut, thanks to strat for this one :spin:

Thanks for the advice everyone,

The problem is that I'm left handed, and this makes the tutorial harder to follow. I'm always told to mirror the image, but it's just different without using my left.

I've seen Kam's tutorial, and mostly all the tutorials available on UCPSB, Turtlespin and Youtube etc, but it's mostly the same thing they all say: you have to use the right amount of push and you have to position your fingers correctly.

But thanks anyway, everyone, and thanks for the advice.

Ah, not sure if this will help any more than the tutorials but when you push the pen with your middle finger try to position around the COG.

Longer and heavier pens do help when learning it. If you're trying to do it with a short pen then learning TA is going to be significantly more difficult. Since you're still learning it, make sure the pen your using is somewhat balanced as well. Learning to do TA on something like a dr.grip pencil (which imo is very unbalanced) would be stupid hard to learn.

Make sure you are keeping your thumb up, as it is instinct to put the thumb down while doing a TA.

Comment: Putting the thumb down makes a ThumbSpin, and then it wont be a ThumbAround.

If you need a left-handed video, I'm sure there will be one somewhere - all xz64's PSConclave videos were, and I'm sure there are others like him.
Also, alot of spinners can do basic tricks like that with two hands anyway.

All TurtleSpin trick vids are for left-handed and right-handed people. If you find a clip of a right hander and would like to see what it looks like in the left hand just open it in Windows Moive Maker and mirror the vid.

I've mastered the TA using a long pencil, and now I'm incorporating that into a normal pen. I can sometimes do the TA but the catch is clumsy.
How can I perfect the TA?

Thanks everyone for the advice

to master the trick just keep practicing. the key to this trick (in my opinion) and the thing that stopped me from getting it straight away was that the push has to curl around ur thumb u do not push the middle finger straight down. u push the middle finger around the thumb. The trick should be easy if u do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfNWTNE-1t8

Have fun. Hopefully any of your questions are answered in this video.

PS: Please put this video in the sticky thread. Thanks