Advice for a newbcuber

[Stezwin]

Hi i have literally just started cubing and memorising the layer by layer solution to solving the cube. Currently all i have is an original 1980's rubik's cube in amazing condition considering its age . As with any newcomer and i apologise in advance if these threads have been posted by numerous newcubers before me, i have a few questions.

First of all what does F2L mean? I have seen various abbreviations used on soloution threads and im just confused by them all as u would like to learn the best soloution for speed and im just getting lost.

Secondly does anybody have any objections against me getting a dayan guhong, i have done alot of research into the best quality,speed etc. Cube to buy and this one seemed to be mentioned quite alot for newcubers.

And finally A little introduction im Steve im 21 and from the united kingdom and cannot wait for all your advice and wisdom

Thanks guys and girls

 

[Stezwin]

Thankyou for clearing this up sahid and thank you for the good luck i also hope you achieve all you want to aswell

 

[JohnLaurain]

Sahid is right, using a speed cube is much better than using a rubik's brand cube. I was using a rubiks brand as my first cube and it gave me bad habits like using my wrist to turn instead of using fingertricks. I hope that we can both reach our goals

 

[BrainOfSweden]

You don't need to hurry getting a speedcube though. Sure, a storebought will eventually give you bad habits before it's really broken in, and some of the storeboughts will never become better than awful. But I think the storebought works great for learning how the cube works tough, unless you want to study corner cutting obviously.
If you want to avoid bad habits asap, then get a good speedcube. Doesn't have to be an expensive one. My Alpha V-F is great, and it costs about 6$. Anything will feel amazing compared to a storebought. If you want the GuHong, go for it

Now, for some learning tips. When you feel that you know the beginners method well, or even earlier if you want to, start with learning F2L, it can be learnt pretty fast, and you don't need to learn any new algorithms. Your times will definitely improve when you get the hang of it, but it will eventually feel slower before you understand it. An efficient cross may also be learnt at about the same time, that's what I did (but my cross sucks ).

When your comfortable with the beginners last layer, start learning 2look PLL. You only need to know 6 algorithms for that, and it can be done very fast compared to the beginners PLL. Then slowly make your way trough all 21 algs.
As for the OLL, take it a little at a time. Theres 57 cases to learn if you want a complete 1look OLL, so take the easy or more common ones first. By learning just a few, you can always do a 2look OLL, which is great.

And for memorizing algs, I start by doing them and reading them at the same time, and I look more and more at the cube and less on the alg. After a while, I will remember it, and can focus on looking at patterns on the cube. I then go faster and faster, and after a while it will stick to my muscle memory. I think that's how most people do it.

There's plenty of Youtube tutorials that will help you understand all this , and it's impossible to say which one'll work for you. But I learnt most things from badmephisto. But there are many styles of cubing, and what I posted above might not help you at all, but it's just a few tips, and I hope I could help. Feel free to ask if there's something that confuses you, which it most likely is, and welcome to the Speedsolving community

 

[Sarahjdes]

Have you considered learning an intuitive method, such as Roux or Petrus? I think you should take a look at those methods which have great potential before learning a bunch of algorithms. Not saying any method is better than another, but you should explore various methods before comiting yourself to one.

 

[Stezwin]

Thanks for all your advice and tips guys with methods im open to try any as im only starting out

 

[benskoning]

I would personally think you should get a sheng-en f1 and learn roux or Petrus

Roux: http://rouxtorial.webs.com/
Petrus: http://lar5.com/cube/

 

[Stezwin]

Thanks for the links benskoning also guys any opinions on the best 2x2 to get?

 

[BrainOfSweden]

I only ever had a LanLan, and I think it was good, but I believe you'll get even better if you pay a little more. Or much more, as for the V-Cube. You should check out the What cube should i get "The Cube Choice Question Thread.

 

[benskoning]

Thanks for the links benskoning also guys any opinions on the best 2x2 to get?

eather a v-cube 2 : http://www.v-cubes.com/prod_info/v-cube2.php
or a lubix wittwo : http://www.lubixcube.com/Lubix_Cube/Purchase.html

 

[thackernerd]

The Witeden type C 2x2 is definitely the best 2x2 right now. It's not very good at first but once you have it or about a week it gets better.

 

[JohnLaurain]

For method, I started out with beginner's (like most people), then I went on to learn how to solve with the Petrus Method (Learned from Lar5.com), then went on to CFOP / Fridrich (same method, different names). Now I feel like trying to get better at Petrus or Roux to help my f2l pairing, so I think you should experiment with a couple of methods.