Knowing Multiple Methods: Does it help?

enigmahack

enigmahack

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I know full Fridrich (57 OLL, 21 PLL, intuitive F2L with some exceptions) and I average just under 20 seconds. I know I have huge room for improvement overall... But I think while I'm practicing, it wouldn't hurt to KEEP learning algs. I know some, I don't have an issue with knowing more. I figure the human brain can do amazing things, so instead of just practice over and over the same solves... I want to make things fresh and interesting WHILE I practice the parts I suck at.

So... Here's my question. I'm going to start learning COLL with the intention of eventually learning ZB or ZZ stuff. I'm a very fast learner, but I'm still pretty slow to execute. (I've been speedcubing off and on for 2 years or so, and I'm only *NOW* averaging sub-20) The question is: For those of you who have learned or been using multiple methods - do you find it helps?

I know my recognition is slow, which is part of why I want to practice other methods. Maybe learning recognition for alternate methods will help me practice that area and help overall.

I mean, I guess I'm approaching it more like a "corporate" solution: Throw money at it until the issue goes away.

Well, in this case, I'm throwing algs at it, see what happens.

I suppose I'm curious to see if anyone else has noticed a change?

Any or all feedback or opinions are completely welcome :)
 
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actually, I know about 7 or 8 different methods and I htink it's pretty useful. because if I miss a step in an algorithm a lot of times, I don't need to restart the whole step, I can salvage it with one of the algs I know from a different method.
 
I myself am in the process of switching methods. (hehehehe)
I think it helps.

Also, congrats to waffle for 1000 post~! :D
 
Oh yeah - I totally forgot to bring up that it would be super useful for 2x2 as well... and then maybe eventually expanding to Ortega but my main focus is 3x3 right now.

Oh, and Waffle - Congrats too on your 1000'th post :)

As a side note - I'm not totally changing my method yet, I'm mostly thinking about knowing multiple methods... Though to be honest it would make sense to totally switch for the time being until I'm used to the new method, and then be fluent in both.
 
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It could help a little when it comes to 3x3, but I don't think it would help you very much.

However, 2x2 is a whole different story.

If you "master" Ortega, Guimond, and CLL, you'll be a beast. ;)
 
Hey - thanks Anthony.

Funny enough, I can see Ortega, Guimond potentially being a help, again mostly with recognition but I don't see any reason that it's not possible :)

I'll work on CLL for now, but I was looking at Guimond and started memorizing algs for it - I can see it being a possibility lol
 
I can do multiple methods, I just don't have the algorithms memorized. I usually use Fridrich and I know Petrus (not very fast with it), and I can do Roux, ZZ and ZB (also very slowly) if I have cheat-sheets in front of me. Well, I guess anyone can do ZB with a cheatsheet but whatever... I'm nto sure if it helps, but I do find it fun to learn new methods. I'm currently trying to learn Waterman, as well as practicing X-cross for Fridrich.
 
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enigmahack said:
So... Here's my question. I'm going to start learning COLL with the intention of eventually learning ZB or ZZ stuff. I'm a very fast learner, but I'm still pretty slow to execute. (I've been speedcubing off and on for 2 years or so, and I'm only *NOW* averaging sub-20) The question is: For those of you who have learned or been using multiple methods - do you find it helps?
Click to expand...

I think that you should learn some 'non-intuitive' f2l algorithms for now, such as the f2l special cases from speedcubing.com (it's under the algorithms section), and you should look at multislotting
here:
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/absolutemind/f2l-angl.htm

If you want to learn some more LL methods (or methods that influence the LL), I suggest looking at COLL, ELL, Winter Variation, ZBF2L (a few cases have particularly easy recognition and are worth it imo, particularly if you know COLL), and last but definitely not least, MGLS.

You should also play with other solving methods, such as ZZ, Roux, or Petrus.
One site that I found really helpful with ZZ was:
http://cube.crider.co.uk/
I actually got faster at Fridrich from practicing ZZ for a couple of days.

Regarding 2x2 (though I think others mentioned it, not you), i think you should learn ortega, guimond and then CLL. However, other methods such as SS or OFOTA have more algorithms than CLL but are just as fast or faster. Imo, EG is the best method, but since it requires learning CLL, and then learning 2 more algs for each CLL cases (for each permutation on bottom), it's a lot to take in.
 
lol well going from beginner to difficult

1) beginners method
2) A different beginners method? I don't know if it even has a name. my teacher taught it to me. basically you solve a layer, the solve the rest of the corners. then instead of putting edges from the top layer into the middle layer, you put edges into the top layer from the middle layer. then you position and orient the middle layer edges.
3) Keyhole method
4) A method I branched off my teachers method where you solve two peices at a time instead of just one while solving the opposite layer.
5) Petrus
6) I know the steps of Roux method but I don't know all the algs.
7) Friedrich

I use Friedrich, but sometimes a case comes up that I know and I can maybe avoid a difficult Pll or Oll using a different alg from a different method.
 
Learning new methods helps me,as it introduces some new concepts, or old concepts in new angles, that overall improve my speedcubing. Even though I don't use them, I've learned Fridrich, ZZ, and Petrus. That brought my time down by about 5 seconds. :)

I'm currently learning Pochmann blind solving.
 
If you're interested in using COLL or some other LL system with pre-oriented LL edges, using ZZ you quickly learn how to insert F2L blocks preserving EO. When I've messed up EOLine :o during a normal ZZ solve, instead of simply going back to the EOLine phase, I'll try to fix the bad edges I've got using some alternative (Fridrich-style) way of inserting blocks. I'm sure trying ZZ for a while will give you a good instinct for orienting edges and will certainly help you to understand VH, ZB or just simple edge control. It may also help you in finding ways to avoid F2L cube rotations ;)
 
I think knowing multiple methods helps. Petrus helped me with Roux, which helped me with Fridrich F2L. I would learn as many as you can.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice... I was thinking that it can't hurt to know multiple methods, but at the same time how relative is it to getting faster.

Seemingly, some of the best speed cubers seem to know parts of other methods, or are actively working on multiple methods.

I feel comfortable right now with my F2L (In terms of solving, not in terms of speed, but that's simply practicing for now) and while I practice that, I'll just start adding algs to my alg repitoire :)

Interesting stuff!
 
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