Blindsolving Discussion and Help

[samkli]

I use letterpairs which I make into a word when I memorize the cube. Lets say I memorize the word "cat". But then when I´m executing I sometimes forget if I memorized "CAt" or "CaT". What should I do to remember which way I memorized it?

 

[Cubenovice]

Use a list with fixed letetr pair words / images
example
CA is CAlifornia
CT is cat

you can also use some rules for making words up on the fly:
one syllable words: first and last letter CaT
two syllable words: first letter of first and second syllable CacTus
multi syllable: first two letters: CAlifornia or CAuliflower

using rules allows you to decode the letters in case of a brainfart

 

[samkli]

Okay, thanks!

 

[Ickathu]

you can also use some rules for making words up on the fly:
one syllable words: first and last letter CaT
two syllable words: first letter of first and second syllable CacTus
multi syllable: first two letters: CAlifornia or CAuliflower

using rules allows you to decode the letters in case of a brainfart

That's brilliant. I'm using that now; I use fixed letter pair images, but always forget what each image stands for because I don't know them all yet.

 

[AbstractAlg]

i do not have any list of words, on each new solve i figure out the letter-pair words on spot, w/o any rules (one syllable are form of...etc.) but somehow i manage to memo edges in around 15-20 secs, and i am not pro. practice, make your self better.

 

[Zane_C]

When I plan to get serious with 3BLD, would it be best to learn letter pair images together with the algorithms for 3style? That way I can associate an image with an algorithm right away and won't have to get used to that.

I think you should learn the letter pairs first, that way you can still use letter pairs for cases you haven't yet speed optimised. Once you've learnt the 3style algs after the letter pair list, it won't take long before you're able to instantly associate a letter pair with the corresponding alg.

 

[emolover]

How does one go about memorising 4x4 edges? There is 48 stickers and I don't see how you would do it.

Would it be like: GaVb WaLa?

 

[Cool Frog]

How does one go about memorising 4x4 edges? There is 48 stickers and I don't see how you would do it.

Would it be like: GaVb WaLa?

same as 3x3 edges, however you just go through all the orientations.
(you would use all the letters at least one if no edges where solved)

 

[Kyle™]

How does one go about memorising 4x4 edges? There is 48 stickers and I don't see how you would do it.

Would it be like: GaVb WaLa?

Let's say your memorization for 3x3x3 is UF = A, FU = B.
Now on 4x4x4 you memo UFr as A, and UFl as B. You memorize the same as 3x3x3, except your lettering scheme doesn't cover every sticker; only the piece as a whole.

 

[Riley]

How does one go about memorising 4x4 edges? There is 48 stickers and I don't see how you would do it.

Would it be like: GaVb WaLa?

Each edge on a 4x4 only has 1 solved place, they can't be flipped. so there's only 24 edges you can shoot to. (23 w/o counting buffer) Daniel Sheppard's tutorial really helped me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHx00ab2bp4 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wM6Bj-On-Y&feature=related @ 7:28 Hope I helped.

 

[STOCKY7]

3x3 BLD memorisation and solving Q's

What is the easiest and memorisation method that could still get a good fast time the corners??????
i use m2 old pochman for edges where i shoot the buffer piece. is this a good method to use??????

i did a 50 minute fail solve :fp of which 37 mins were memorisation. I want to get under 2 mins for whole things. Any TIPS and TRICKS??????

 

[Riley]

For 3BLD, I have a really bad habit of putting my fingers on the edges that I've memo'd to make sure I've memo'd them all. I do the same with corners. It takes up at least 30 seconds... (I average 2:50) So my question is how do you make sure that you have memorized everything? Do you just assume you have? Or does how much you've memo'd seems like enough? Thanks.

 

[Zane_C]

For 3BLD, I have a really bad habit of putting my fingers on the edges that I've memo'd to make sure I've memo'd them all. I do the same with corners. It takes up at least 30 seconds... (I average 2:50) So my question is how do you make sure that you have memorized everything? Do you just assume you have? Or does how much you've memo'd seems like enough? Thanks.

If you use a system that allows you to count the edges as you memorise, it can be quite easy to tell if you've cycled all the edges. If there are no solved pieces and no cycle breaks, there will always be 11 targets. For every cycle break, you require an additional target. For every solved piece, you require 1 less target. (Example: 1 solved piece + 1 cycle break = 11 targets necessary)

It may seem very algorithmic, but if you're able to keep track of the number of targets, it will eventually feel very natural without calculations.

 

[Mike Hughey]

For 3BLD, I have a really bad habit of putting my fingers on the edges that I've memo'd to make sure I've memo'd them all. I do the same with corners. It takes up at least 30 seconds... (I average 2:50) So my question is how do you make sure that you have memorized everything? Do you just assume you have? Or does how much you've memo'd seems like enough? Thanks.

I still use fingers for both edges and corners, and on a good solve, I memorize in less than 30 seconds. And I really don't think the fingers have much to do with slowing me down at this point, either - I spend most of that 30 seconds going over the memo on edges a couple of times to get it to stick. I really don't believe using fingers slows you down at all with memorizing, if you've practiced it a while. I highly recommend using fingers on 3x3x3; it really helps increase accuracy. I wouldn't change what you're doing if I were you - just practice more!

The tricks Zane and Sahid are advocating work fine for telling you if you're missing edges, but fingers are nice because they quickly show you which edges. Perhaps these young guys are good at remembering which ones they haven't used, but I often have big problems when I can't find the missing pieces. This kills me on 4x4x4 and bigger BLD with wings; I still haven't figured out how to effectively use fingers on wings.

 

[A Leman]

What is the easiest and memorisation method that could still get a good fast time the corners??????
i use m2 old pochman for edges where i shoot the buffer piece. is this a good method to use??????

i did a 50 minute fail solve :fp of which 37 mins were memorisation. I want to get under 2 mins for whole things. Any TIPS and TRICKS??????

I have never needed 37 minutes for memorization, but there are many ways you can quickly get faster. The most important thing to do is to get a faster/better memorization method.
I would suggest using letters to form images,to create sentences, of to use letter pair sylables.You could look into letter pairs but they are much more difficult and could deter you from blindsolving.
Here is an example of each using the following letters: mjwhed
Using a letter journey the objects i would see would be: money every where, a jaguar, waffles, a helicopter, eggs, and finally a door
A sentence could be: me jogging while heather eats doughnuts.
sentences can be inconsistant because some memo's are suprisingly hard to translate, but like visual memo, some people have a knack for it.
a Letter pair image example would be: [Michael Jordon on a White Horse]then [ED from (ed,ed and eddie)]
a letter pair sylable example would be: mage, whah, ed

The easiest to learn and use would probably be the first and last example.
M2 and old pochman are okay because they use letter pairs, but since the are not 3 cycle methods they can be confusing.
I personally use turbo/comms for both both corners and edges and believe that is the best execution method to start cutting times with, but i also have a very strong sense of respect for M2.Old pochmann seems to take way too many move and is very inefficent.

As for tips and tricks, try to become very comfortable with your lettering scheme and practice. when solvers are not comfortable with thier lettering scheme, they spend most of a solve counting stickers which is very bad.Also, after you get into the sub-8 range, occasionally try to memorize and solve at a faster pace than you are comfortable with. This will help you to get accustomed to the faster pace and can help you become less nervous in a regular solve.

 

[Carson]

So, I am finally attempting to tackle 4BLD... but haven't gotten very far yet. I am attempting to use commutators for edges, but they are really confusing me. I am using Chris's tutorial, but it seems to be over my head. I have stumbled on a few r2 resources for 4bld that make sense to me, and I believe I could effectively use this. I am sure that commutators are more efficient than r2, but I'm not sure by how much. Can anyone comment briefly on how much faster/more efficient commutators are, and perhaps provide some insight into the the difference in difficulty between the two methods?

 

[Mike Hughey]

So, I am finally attempting to tackle 4BLD... but haven't gotten very far yet. I am attempting to use commutators for edges, but they are really confusing me. I am using Chris's tutorial, but it seems to be over my head. I have stumbled on a few r2 resources for 4bld that make sense to me, and I believe I could effectively use this. I am sure that commutators are more efficient than r2, but I'm not sure by how much. Can anyone comment briefly on how much faster/more efficient commutators are, and perhaps provide some insight into the the difference in difficulty between the two methods?

r2 is essentially commutators, but you only solve one piece at a time instead of two. Do you know M2? r2 is just the original form of M2; Stefan invented r2 first and then extended it to the 3x3x3 in the form of M2. I was never able to understand M2 until I learned r2; once I really understood r2, then I was able to make the jump over to M2.

Anyway, the efficiency of r2 vs. BH commutators for wings is about the same as the efficiency of M2 vs. BH commutators for 3x3x3 edges. For someone my speed, I would say r2 is no more than 30 seconds or so slower than full BH wings for a full set of wings, and that obviously only affects execution. So I would say that unless you're hoping to be world-class, you'll barely notice the difference.

I used Chris's commutators first for many months, and then suddenly I decided to try r2. I learned it in a weekend, and I was faster almost immediately. And it was more reliable. I'm happy I eventually switched to BH - I think it's more fun, and it is a little faster - but r2 is really a quite good method, and it's pretty easy to grasp. As with M2, the only real problem with r2 is learning the ugly solutions for handling bad edges.

 

[Carson]

Thanks Mike, that is basically what I was looking for. I use M2+OP for 3x3 so I don't think r2 will too bad to learn.

 

[Mike Hughey]

Thanks Mike, that is basically what I was looking for. I use M2+OP for 3x3 so I don't think r2 will too bad to learn.

If you already use M2 for 3x3x3, you'll probably find r2 is ridiculously easy to learn. Just realize it essentially is M2 and you should find that you practically already know it.

 

[kinch2002]

I learnt r2 before M2. M2 was then totally obvious and I literally didn't have to learn anything to be able to use it for 3bld. Depending on what techniques you use on your M-slice pieces on 3x3, you might not have to learn anything extra for r2 apart from parity (which you might already know the wide-turn version of from 5x5 edge pairing). As for comparisons with commutators, I can't comment on how much faster it could be, but I still use r2 and I'm fairly fast and am sure that I would improve further if I practised again.