Simple Switch, described as one of the most difficult flourishes in all of card magic, is taught in Paul Harris's Art of Astonishment Vol. 3. In it, he states how difficult and demanding learning the move is, and how it might take you 8 months to learn how to do, (though that statement might be sarcastic). Nevertheless, in Mysterious Stranger by David Blaine (who is far from sarcastic in his writing), he says that he practiced almost 8 hours a day for three weeks in order to learn the move. All of this was what kept me away from siting down and learning the move myself, but about a week ago i decided to beging learning Instant Replay (half of Simple Switch). Though I still havent mastered the move, i can perform it correctly 80 percent of the time. Anyways, two days ago before i went to bed i tried Simple Switch a few times and was surprised to say the least when i actually did it right! Of cource i havent mastered the flourish yet, but i have already performed it many times for my friends at school who were very impressed.
Anyway, my question is, how many of you have learned or mastered Simple Switch, (or Instant Replay), and how difficult did you find it? Also, can you remember how long it took you to learn the move or master it if u have? I am just really surprised that the flourish is so much easier than its hype makes it to be. (dont get me wrong, i dont think it is really easy, its just not as difficult as i imagined it to be). Im 14, far from professional, and this is my first post, so dont come down too hard on me for this post since it is a bit stupid.

ER-
What does this change do / accomplish? Is is the change Blaine did when he riffled thru a deck and asked you (the audience) to remember a card. Then he pulls a card and says "this isn't it" He then kind of "snaps" the card with hisother hand, an instantly it becomes the glimpsed card. It's really a great thing to see, but i'm just guessing that's what you're talking about. Could you describe what takes place and where for example, this sleight could be used? (in "On The Pass" (video), Richard Kaufman states, with no sarcasism, that it would take "about a year" to begin to understand the Classic Pass and all of it's possibilities / mechanics. (paaraphrase). I found it more like 3-4 months, but I'll admit that maybe I don't know what he really meant. Plus I'd been doing a Herrmann pass for about a year before. Maybe it was Paul Harris' Canadian humour at work with his "8 months" statement? Thanks in advance for a response, Al (ballsnall)

That is the Snap Change by Ed Marlo. It originally appeared in Marlo's Magazine, Vol. 2. That's very difficult to find, however, so I suggest that, if you wish to learn it, you should pick up Jeff McBride's Art of Card Manipulation, Vol. 1.

The Classic Pass will take years to master for most. It is very difficult, and even once you have the mechanics down, it can take a very long time to make it undetectable.

Instant Replay is a flourish where you flick a card from the deck to your other hand. Simple Switch is a flourish where, as you are launching one card from the deck to your hand, your other hand is launching its card to the deck. This causes the two cards to switch places. For a slow motion video clip of Simple Switch, see the demo video here.

Both flourishes can be found in The Art of Astonishment, Vol. 3 by Paul Harris, pp. 115, 119.

ive been doing instant replay for almost 2 months now and i almost mastered it , it takes a lot of pratice and time.

instant replay is the simple part!

doing it with both hands, at same time and catching them both is hard :O

ER,

Way to go! I wish I was able to pick up this flourish as quickly as you have. To answer your questions, I spent about 2 months mastering Instant Replay (and I refrained from even attempting the Simple Switch until I was confident enough in my ability to do Instant Replay flawlessly). Then came the real challenge...flipping 2 cards in the air, coming within fractions of an inch of eachother, both landing in opposite hands, face down as they were at the beginning (aka The Simple Switch). I first nailed the switch about a month into practicing it (but I was far from nailing it when I wanted to...it was almost a fluke). But regardless, I couldn't describe the feeling I got when I first hit the move (it was great). I spent the next 3 months feverishly attempting Simple Switch after Simple Switch. I practiced whenever I could (although I don't think I practiced 8 hours a day as Blaine says he did). Some of my drills included hitting the switch cleanly 10 times in a row (and if I screwed up, I'd start all over again). Finally, after about 6 months of practice (including the 2 months for Instant Replay), I could nail the move about 9 times out of 10 on average. So that comment that Harris said about taking 6 months of your life to learn this move definitely did not seem sarcastic to me (it was an accurate depiction of the time line of practice). Approximately 7 months after I first took on this flourish, I can now do Instant Replay and The Simple Switch with my eyes closed (literally). Have I mastered it? I think so, although I don't think I can nail it absolutely 100% of the time (because I'm not perfect). But I can nail it over 90% of the time now and can hit it consistently when performing it for others. To say the least, I take great pride in the fact that I can do this breathtaking flourish (as I'm not very good at flourishes in general). I found The Simple Switch to be quite challenging (and I thought of it as virtually impossible when I first started). But I guess practice indeed makes perfect. And it's all worth it in the end.

JayPea-
I am far from having mastered the move, i was just really surprised that i had sucessfully done it with only a few days of practice. But i now have an insane urge to do Instant Replay every time i pick up a deck, so i have gotten pretty good at that, close to mastering even. (its weird, every time i learn a new flourish, i seem to just do that move over and over again whenever im holding a deck without thinking.) Simple Switch is hard, but i think i might be able to master it in like a month or two if i stick to it. I'm just confused about how i did it like five times after liek a day, and u had to practice for a month (i dont mean that as an offence or anything, im just saying.) O well, maybe somepeople just pick cerain things up faster, or maybe young people really do learn faster. Thanks for ur imput.

heyall,
im new to the scene, and really, seeing simple switch was practically what got me started. im still working on instant replay though, and having quite a bit of trouble with instant replay. i hold the deck in my left hand, and im about 90% when flipping from my right hand onto the deck, but i can't get anything going when attempting to flip from the deck to my free hand. im still saving up for the AoA series, but until then, does anyone have any pointers on flipping from the deck? many thanks,
-SKIBO