Trick Tip: Style
Style is a term that is constantly in fingerboarding. Just look at some YouTube videos and you will see how widespread the concept of style is. So what exactly is style? I don't know if style can be summed up in a sentence, but to me style is HOW someone fingerboards. This includes their overall technique. Many fingerboarders believe a person shouldn't change their style. I disagree as I myself have changed the way I fingerboard multiple times. While a forced style can look ugly, a fine-tuned style can look beautiful.
Here is my own evolution of the way I fingerboard (A little self-promotion lol):
Here's my early years 1999 until 2003.
Two years ago:
A video from earlier this year:
One of my recent videos:
As you can tell, I was much less concerned about how clean the trick I performed was up until recently. When I started fingerboarding, the American online community focused on trick difficulty and was not really focused on style. Back then, I had a raw, sloppy style. Later, I focused on "finger-tipping" my landings. "Finger-tipping" is where you land on the very tips of your fingers, rather than on the pads of your fingers, so that your fingers are more vertical then horizontal.
Recently, there are a few things that I have been working on which I feel can improve my fingerboarding. One technique that I have done relatively recently is curl my ring and pinky fingers. I feel that this is an improvement for me because they do not get in the way when I do switch tricks. When I first started learning nollie tricks, I used to use my ring finger to help pop and flip the board. While I got rid of this habit after a lot of practice, I still decided to prevent this from occurring by curling my finger.
Furthermore, until recently all I cared about was landing the trick I wanted to do. I wasn't focused on how the trick actually looked. Now, I visualize how I want the trick to look. This really does help me land tricks more consistently as well as cleanly.
Some tips for improving your style:
1) Do what feels comfortable
2) Don't need to do what everyone else is doing (Uniqueness is its own style)
4) Visualize the trick
5) Practice with the purpose of getting the trick as clean as possible
6) Have fun!
A professional Golfer, for example Tiger Woods, is constantly tweaking and adjusting his own techniques to further better his own game. Likewise, I believe that a fingerboarder is doing the same thing when they practice. You don't have to be conscious about your technique. Remember, there's only one right way to fingerboard, and it has nothing to do with style. HAVING FUN!!! :D
Here is my own evolution of the way I fingerboard (A little self-promotion lol):
Here's my early years 1999 until 2003.
Two years ago:
A video from earlier this year:
One of my recent videos:
As you can tell, I was much less concerned about how clean the trick I performed was up until recently. When I started fingerboarding, the American online community focused on trick difficulty and was not really focused on style. Back then, I had a raw, sloppy style. Later, I focused on "finger-tipping" my landings. "Finger-tipping" is where you land on the very tips of your fingers, rather than on the pads of your fingers, so that your fingers are more vertical then horizontal.
Recently, there are a few things that I have been working on which I feel can improve my fingerboarding. One technique that I have done relatively recently is curl my ring and pinky fingers. I feel that this is an improvement for me because they do not get in the way when I do switch tricks. When I first started learning nollie tricks, I used to use my ring finger to help pop and flip the board. While I got rid of this habit after a lot of practice, I still decided to prevent this from occurring by curling my finger.
Furthermore, until recently all I cared about was landing the trick I wanted to do. I wasn't focused on how the trick actually looked. Now, I visualize how I want the trick to look. This really does help me land tricks more consistently as well as cleanly.
Some tips for improving your style:
1) Do what feels comfortable
2) Don't need to do what everyone else is doing (Uniqueness is its own style)
4) Visualize the trick
5) Practice with the purpose of getting the trick as clean as possible
6) Have fun!
A professional Golfer, for example Tiger Woods, is constantly tweaking and adjusting his own techniques to further better his own game. Likewise, I believe that a fingerboarder is doing the same thing when they practice. You don't have to be conscious about your technique. Remember, there's only one right way to fingerboard, and it has nothing to do with style. HAVING FUN!!! :D
posted by Chris Daniels at
12:34 PM
4 Comments:
"One technique that I have done relatively recently is curl my ring and pinky fingers. I feel that this is an improvement for me because they do not get in the way when I do switch tricks. When I first started learning nollie tricks, I used to use my ring finger to help pop and flip the board. While I got rid of this habit after a lot of practice, I still decided to prevent this from occurring by curling my finger."
Finnally!! Thank YOU!!!
No problem :)
By no means should people feel compelled to curl their fingers, it's something I just decided to do because it made things easier once I got adjusted to it.
Don't purposely tuck though unless it feels right, it looks fake to me.
How do you curl your fingers ?
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