About color schemes and algorithms

[Gormatrax]

Been cubing for about a year, CFOP with 2LL, ~25 seconds. One of the major things that is keeping me from improving is the fact that i do not have an intuitive 'feel' for the color scheme. That means that if you give me a situation like "front color X, bottom color Y, what color is right side" it would take me a great deal of time to figure it out mentally, thus hindering me from having more efficient crosses and F2L.

How can i learn the color scheme most efficiently? Did you learn it intuitively, just by solving over time, or did you need to set out to specifically learn the scheme?

Another question, in the same spirit. I see really fast cubers such as Zemdegs know his algorithms by heart and can also describe his moves via notation on the fly when for ex. solving the cross. I, for one,do not know any of my algorithms in notation form, just by visual cues and muscle memory.

Is it important to have a feel for the notation? If so, how can i develop it?

 

[greentgoatgal]

Following. I'm at about the same place as you (avg 25 using CFOP) and have the same issues with color orientation.

I honestly don't think knowing the actual moves matters. Muscle memory has been fine for me so far.

 

[shadowslice e]

I think when you become colour neutral (totally or partially), you don't necessarily have to be consciously aware of the colour scheme beyond green/blue, yellow/white, red/orange opposite (at least I'm not) and just subconsciously process. It's more focused on just matching up pairs for CFOP and building blocks for Roux etc.

With regards to notation and algorithms, I'm pretty sure that most solvers wold not be able to write out their algorithms off the top of their heads without doing the moves on the cube.

Also, it may well just be me (though I suspect probably not) but even after 2 years of solving, averaging 9s with roux, 13s with CFOP etc, I still stuggle immensely with reconstructions (I can read off a scramble easily but I can't do it the other way very well) so how people like brest do it for others is some sort of wizardary for me.

 

[Zoggy_Cuber]

I too could not recite off half of my algorithms. I think that as long as it is in your muscle memory, that is all you need. I find that when I first learn the algorithm, I memorize the notation and go by that, but one I execute it more it gradually turns more and more to muscle memory.

As for the colour scheme dilemma, I highly recommend the Coracle corner lookahead trainer. I had a similar struggle and after a few runs through, I found that I knew my colour scheme much better!

Link here: http://cube.crider.co.uk/coracle.html