Getting into diabolo juggling can seem intimidating at first. After all, there are a lot of different tricks, a lot of them look really impressive and it is not clear which ones you should learn first. There are also 4 parametres you have to combine to perform a trick: the diabolo, the string, the sticks and your body.
Diabolo juggling may seem hard and only for talented people when in fact, you don’t need talent to learn diabolo and it is easier than it looks, and, as in most things, it gets easier with repetition.
1. Beginner Tricks Are Quick And Easy To Master
When you know which tricks to learn first (here is the list) you will improve fast.
I know this is obvious, but it’s really important! You have to master the building blocks first, all of them, even the boring ones.
The good news is once you’ve learned them, you’re set and there’s not a lot of them.
You only must know how to accelerate, correct the alignment when the diabolo is tilting (it takes a while to become second nature, but once you have it, you’re set) and 10 tricks. Then you’ll have the necessary skills to learn any trick you like.
Having the basics under your belt will massively speed up your progress and you won’t have to unlearn any bad habits later on.
It is important to keep in mind that the actual basics of diaboloing are limited and not difficult to master, you usually have to focus on 1 or 2 skills at a time.
For example: the elevator is acceleration+knot, the leg orbit is throw+leg move.
2. The Harder Tricks Build On The Basics
The hardest part in learning more advanced tricks is identifying which tricks you need to learn as prerequisites, this is something I will help with in my tutorials.
For example, to learn to juggle 2 diabolos, the only requirements are :
- learn to throw and catch the diabolo, this is the very first trick everybody learns.
- learn the leg orbit, this is one of the basics and in my opinion one of the first 10 tricks you need to learn
- learn the wrap acceleration, it’s not really a trick but a very useful skill that will take you seconds to learn
- learn the 2 diabolos shuffle
It’s true that by mastering more 1D tricks before starting to learn 2D, it will take you less time to get the shuffle. But it only has to do with your general diabolo level, not because you need to know any more.
As long as you don’t skip a step, you will learn fairly quickly and without getting stuck for months on end (that is until you try to learn 3 low, which is another story).
This step by step approach to learning tricks is a more structured way to learn, but because you’re building on solid foundations, diabolo juggling will be easier and faster to pick up.
If you go this route, you will gradually expand on your trick repertoire and you won’t have to “jump” to a trick beyond your grasp and waste time.
One reason diabolo juggling is easier than you think is that there is a fair amount of tricks that look really cool and hard to do, but in fact are really easy to learn (see this list for example).
Tricks like the high toss, the elevator, the suicide, magic knots, the whip catch, you can learn in your first month.
You can challenge yourself more as your skills develop and learn hard and impressive tricks like the vertax genocide. You can nonetheless create an impressive 5-minute routine, especially for a non-juggling crowd, in a few weeks.
Diabolo is a game of repetition. It’s true that if you pick the tricks you learn wisely the number of repetitions will be much less and you’ll progress faster, but you’ll still have to grind (pun totally intended). But it is worth it, once you know the feeling of landing a trick for the first time after you’ve been working on it for a bit, you won’t mind running after your diabolo after a dropping.
3. If You Get Stuck, You Can Always Find Someone To Help
If you are fortunate enough to have a friend who is a diabolo player, this is the easiest way to learn. Go juggling with them!
If however, you don’t know anyone in real life that plays diabolo, finding someone who does is not too hard.
The first thing to check is your local toy shop, or if you are lucky your local juggling shop, and ask the owner if they know about other diabolo players or juggling meetings in your area.
The second thing to try is to ask if there are any other players in your area in online communities such as reddit or FB. You can also check this map and had yourself on there too!
And if all else fail, find a juggling convention and go there! You can find workshops to attend and most (if not all) diabolo players are willing to share their knowledge even to a total beginner. There is no skill level required. In fact, my only regret, regarding juggling conventions, is that I didn’t go sooner. Two days at a juggling convention can be the equivalent of two months on your own.
A single piece of advice can get you unstuck on a trick you’ve been trying to learn for ages.
It happened to me at a juggling convention, I’ve been struggling with a 2 diabolo trick for months (the knot transfer) and a single comment from another diabolo player unlocked that trick for me. It was like a magic pill, I suddenly got it and mastered the trick literally minutes after.
Having someone to teach you will introduce you to the ins and outs of diabolo in a casual atmosphere, where you can ask questions and have everything explained at your own pace and you will see that diabolo is not that difficult to get into.
Juggling with others will also keep you motivated and will make diabolo even more enjoyable.
If you don’t have feedback IRL, you can always film yourself and ask for pointers on a forum like r/diabolo or compare your form with a video of the trick.
4. There Is A Lot Of Information Available To Help You Improve
If you can’t juggle regularly with a better diabolist than you, or even if you can, you should learn from trick tutorials. You can find a lot of videos on YouTube, there’s also books and DVDs and there is this gem of a website : http://diabolotricks.com/ it looks old and crappy but do not be fooled, the animations are very well made and easy to understand and the step by step explanations are clear. You can learn a lot from it, I know I have.
There is a tremendous number of places to gather information online.
Some simple, beginner sites explain the basics really well. I learned a lot thanks to http://diabolotricks.com/ . If you speak french this site is great too https://www.2diabolos.com/
In addition to information sites, there is a vast number of videos. YouTube is filled with tutorials from beginner tricks to ones I can only dream of performing.
For basic tricks go to https://www.youtube.com/user/MrDiabolosTutorials/
For vertax my favorite channel is diabolo lounge https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFC73O_HahD8ePe7Mdr7t7g
And for everything in between check out https://www.youtube.com/user/richardclement
You can also check out juggling.tv
Watching a number of these videos can show you that diabolo juggling is not too difficult in and of itself. Some of the trick compilation videos will serve as great inspiration!
You will also see how many different tricks and styles exist. Realizing that there are various ways to do things right can help you find your own course with confidence.
In addition to information on the web, there are some quality books and DVDs.
Books might seem to be less useful than online resources, but the right ones can be invaluable. I started with this book which is available in English with the title “The Diabolo From A To Z”. It has a lot of easy to understand images and little text.
I’ve heard good things about Donald Grant’s series of books, but never had the chance to read them.
There are also DVDs such as Diabology, the first DVD devoted to the art of diabolo. This DVD has revolutionized the diabolo world. It contains an instructional DVD and a “freestyle” DVD with videos of tricks by the Mad French Posse. I bought it twice because I lent it to a friend who really liked it so I gifted him a copy.
Another good one is Planet Diabolo, this one contains 3 DVDs : “diabolo is a trip” (movie about diabolo), “diabolo is a skill” (tutorials) and “diabolo is a show” (performances).
You can go from total beginner to fairly advanced player with books and DVDs alone. They will get you started on the right track. They’re not free like the online ressources, but you just have to follow the order of the tricks in the books or DVDs and won’t have to spend time doing this research.
Once you’re finished with the book or DVD, you will have enough knowledge to navigate all the tricks you can learn online.
Final Thoughts
The actual basics you must master to juggle a diabolo are few and all related. Understanding how these work together to “make” a trick is pretty easy once you start applying yourself to it.
Beyond the basics, the harder tricks are built on the beginner tricks.
Diabolo juggling really is a huge skill tree where easier tricks “unlock” harder ones. This skill tree has so many branches that you can never really get stuck, if you find a particular trick hard to learn, there’s always a number of others you can try.
You don’t need talent to be a good diabolo player, you just need to follow the easy road (here is the ultimate guide to diabolo improvement).
If a clumsy, uncoordinated bull in a china shop like me can do it, you definitely can!
