[Help Thread] Beginners Method Discussion thread

[Truncator]

A lucky CFOP user can do the whole f***ing cube in 64 moves (okay, very lucky)

That's not lucky at all. According to the Wiki, the average number of moves is 56.

 

[CuBeOrDiE]

So I just watched my Beginner's method tutorial and decided that it is garbage, and I am embarrassed that I have it on my channel. Yes its better than many other tuts I saw already, but still not even close to what it could be.

My question is this: is there a good Beginner's method tutorial on YouTube? Did someone find one that you would consider very good? Which one is it? What are the best ones out there?

I think if there should be one cubing tutorial on YouTube that is to be flawless, it should be the Beginner's Method tutorial. And I am willing to spend a lot of time remaking my Beginner's method tuts to absolute perfection, if there isn't something very good already (with both good educational approach, and the correct method taught).

My second question is: Can we all even agree on the best beginner's method? I think there are some qualities it must possess:
1. It should be easy to learn, and involve algorithms that are few in numbers, or very easy to learn
2. It should be possible to get good times with it
3. It should be easy to transfer from it to Fridrich

What other points do you think we could add to that? Is there a webpage that you think has a very good method? Even if the presentation is crappy? I think so far the best method is the one on Joels page, at

http://solvethecube.110mb.com/index.php?location=simple_solution
Even though there are small parts that I would change in it. For example orientation of edges should use f R U R' U' f' for the adjacent edge flip, since thats so similar to the opposite edge flip F R U R' U' F', and therefore MUCH easier to learn. And Why are the SUNE and ANTI-SUNE images rotated so that the correctly oriented corner is not at the same spot always??? I know I'm extremely picky

I just think we should absolutely nail down the Beginner's method, if anything, and I wanted to hear other peoples thoughts. Recap:
Two questions really:
1. are there good videos already?
2. what is the best beginner's method, regardless of whether or not someone taught it before, and can we absolutely agree on that.

[edit]
3. one more thing: what do you think is the best format for the tutorial? One single large video, like my 30 minute BLD solving tutorial? A series of 3 10 minute videos? Or a series of 7-8 videos, one for every step?

I know that I'm not answering the question, but I think your tutorial is great. I recommend it to anyone whom I don't have time to finish teaching the beginner's method. And you can't really just show someone how to do it. If they want to solve the cube, they will learn. If not, they're just not commiting.

HOWEVER...

1-yes
2 and 3- Fridrich transfer is great, but unless you learn keyhole your times won't be that good. Come to think of it... someone should teach keyhole as a beginner's method. It really isn't that hard.

two questions:
1-no
2-keyhole?

edit:
Probably to break it up into steps, maybe 6 or 7 minute long parts.

 

[Sa967St]

@yboy403 and CuBeOrDiE:

badmephisto already re-made his tutorial. link

 

[CuBeOrDiE]

i look like a fool

 

[waffle=ijm]

i look like a fool

with your pants on the ground.

 

[CubesOfTheWorld]

Well, I actually just used rubik's.com. It can get u down to 1 minute, then u gotta start learning fridrich(advanced)

 

[iasimp1997]

Well, I actually just used rubik's.com. It can get u down to 1 minute, then u gotta start learning fridrich(advanced)

You realize this thread is about a year old?

This goes to everyone posting here.

 

[yboy403]

A lucky CFOP user can do the whole f***ing cube in 64 moves (okay, very lucky)

That's not lucky at all. According to the Wiki, the average number of moves is 56.

Kwl. You learn something new every day. Link?

 

[iSpinz]

A lucky CFOP user can do the whole f***ing cube in 64 moves (okay, very lucky)

That's not lucky at all. According to the Wiki, the average number of moves is 56.

Kwl. You learn something new every day. Link?

http://www.speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/General_Information#Solutions

Paragraph 3, line 3, of solutions.

Solutions follow a series of steps and include a set of algorithms for solving each step. An algorithm, also known as a process or an operator, is a series of twists that accomplishes a particular goal. For instance, one algorithm might switch the locations of three corner pieces, while leaving the rest of the pieces in place. Basic solutions require learning as few as four or five algorithms but are generally inefficient, needing around 100 twists on average to solve an entire Cube. In comparison, Fridrich's advanced solution requires learning roughly 120 algorithms but allows the Cube to be solved in only 55 moves on average. A different kind of solution developed by Ryan Heise<ref>Ryan Heise's method</ref> uses no algorithms but rather teaches a set of underlying principles that can be used to solve in fewer than 40 moves. A number of complete solutions can also be found in any of the books listed in the bibliography, and most can be used to solve any Cube in under five minutes.

 

[johnnyBuz]

Want to improve from Beginner Method (Time/Moves)

Hey guys,

So in October I learned the beginner method over the course of 2 weeks or so (neglected college studies, hah). After learning the method, I would consistently solve in the 1 minute 40 second - 2 minute range.

Personal best was around 1 minute 30 seconds but always between those outliers, never over 2 minutes thankfully.

I started trying to learn some of the SUNEs but never really followed up with it and kind of lost interest.

Anyway, now that I just finished college, I would like to improve my time + method of solving (fewer moves).

I just solved it from random 3x and here is how it looked.

Solve 1:
First layer - 38 moves
Second layer - 33 moves (71 total)
Third layer - 73 moves (144 total)

Solve 2:
First layer - 47 moves
Second layer - 40 moves (87 total)
Third layer - 77 moves (164 total)

Solve 3:
First layer - 36 moves
Second layer - 36 moves (72 total) [had top face at 80 moves]
Third layer - 68 moves (148 total)

I'll try to get some video up of my solves in the near future. What would the best course of action be right now? Improving my 3rd layer solve before moving on to a F2L or something?

Like, at 80 moves on the 3rd solve I had the top face but didn't know what to do with it. Also, I use R-L-D-R to orient my corners on the 3rd layer which is extremely slow and move-intensive so I think getting a better 3rd layer method would improve my times the greatest.

Then I'll look into the first two layers. Getting the cross on 1st layer takes about 17 moves for me right now as well.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

johnny

 

[dimwmuni]

Learn F2L, it will help you lower your times a lot once you get good at it.
Then after that learn 2-look OLL and PLL.

 

[Edward]

Right now, you're at a time where your times will drop like a rock (until you're sub 1 min). I'd say just keep practising, and along the way, if you feel comfortable about moving on to a new method, do it.

Your move-count will naturally decrease, along with your turning speed, as you get faster.

 

[beingforitself]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I'm averaging mid-20s right now, and this is my take:

It all depends on where you want to end up in the next few months or years. Given that you are only averaging around 1:50, you can just practice your current method more (think like 2 or 3 hours a day at least) until you are around a 1:15 or 1:30 average.

At that point, if you want to push below 50 seconds or a minute, you will probably need to learn 2 look OLL and 2 look PLL (also called 4 look last layer) for your third layer, which ensures that the third layer is always solved in a maximum of 4 algorithms (or around 35 moves total depending on which algs you have). It entails memorizing 15 different algorithms (9 for the first part, 6 for the second part). A good site for learning them is http://badmephisto.com/ (just click on either "OLL" or "PLL"). If you don't like any of the algorithms he gives you can find alternates that do the same thing on the speedsolving wiki.

Then I would suggest learning F2L (intuitively, without algorithms), which is tricky to get used to and will temporarily slow down your times, but when mastered will lower your total move count for the first two layers to around 30-35 moves (depending on how sly you are about it). Badmephisto's site is also good for F2L. This (plus a lot of practice) should push you down to an average in the 30s or 40s.

After that, if you want to push down to the 20s or high teens, you will probably need to learn full PLL (12 more algorithms), which cuts out one step and brings the total move count for the last layer down to something like 25 (again, depending on which algs you use).

Oh yeah, regarding your whole enterprise, if you have long-term goals of averaging 30 seconds or less, I highly highly highly recommend getting a DIY cube that you can adjust the inner screw tension in, making the sides extremely easy to turn, then learning to use fingertricks, most importantly using only your index fingers to turn the U layer. Badmephisto uses most all of the "standard" fingertricks in his videos, so just copy them. If your cube is too stiff to turn the U layer easily with only your index finger, get a DIY now. There are dozens of different companies of varying quality that sell them, but I am lazy so I just got one from rubiks.com

The reason I add this is because I made the mistake of practicing into the low 40s on a shitty storebought cube with no fingertricks (i.e., turning every side with one of my hands), and it was a real pain to basically relearn all of my algs and relearn how to "properly" turn the cube (my average shot back up to like 1:10 or something for a while). I feel like I might even be sub-20 by now if I had just started out turning properly on a loose DIY.

Hope this helps, good luck with your cubing.

 

[beingforitself]

Oh yeah, and 17 moves for the cross is way way way way too much. Even if you are starting from the same color every time, the most moves you should really ever use is 8 or 9, and the average move count for your cross should be 7ish (or 6ish if you are color neutral).

 

[johnnyBuz]

Thanks for the help guys.

Well with the cross, I solve one edge at a time when instead I should be looking to solve the entire cross as a whole, correct?

Is this something I should learn intuitively or watch a vid that teaches better cross methods.

Like if an edge piece is showing the wrong color, I use: U F U' R to align it while preserving other edge pieces. Is there a better way?

 

[Olji]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY_FbpdNRCQ

badmephisto's advanced cross tutorial should help you to get in the right way of thinking

 

[johnnyBuz]

So I just did 5 timed solves and I guess I'm just a little bit faster than I assumed.

I was using http://www.online-stopwatch.com/ to time myself and I tried to glance at the clock after each layer.

Times were - 1:42, 1:30, 1:21, 1:41, 1:44 for an average of 1:35.6

I'm using my clumsy store-bought cube which locks up on me multiple times throughout each solve.

I'de say I was in the 25-30 second range for layer 1, 50-60 second range for layer 2 and then 1:30-1:40 second range for the 3rd layer.

I solve layer 3 aligning edges first then corner pieces and I use: R U R' U' to solve corner pieces which is taking forever (up to 6x that alg. for each corner). I could knock 20 seconds off easily with a better 3rd layer method me thinks.

But my cube sucks too I really need a DIY because this clumsy thing I want to break. It's real sluggish.

 

[JeffDelucia]

So I just did 5 timed solves and I guess I'm just a little bit faster than I assumed.

I was using http://www.online-stopwatch.com/ to time myself and I tried to glance at the clock after each layer.

Times were - 1:42, 1:30, 1:21, 1:41, 1:44 for an average of 1:35.6

I'm using my clumsy store-bought cube which locks up on me multiple times throughout each solve.

I'de say I was in the 25-30 second range for layer 1, 50-60 second range for layer 2 and then 1:30-1:40 second range for the 3rd layer.

I solve layer 3 aligning edges first then corner pieces and I use: R U R' U' to solve corner pieces which is taking forever. I could knock 20 seconds off easily with a better 3rd layer method me thinks.

But my cube sucks too I really need a DIY because this clumsy thing I want to break. It's real sluggish.

For timing solves a lot of people like www.mzrg.com/qqtimer Also is your cube lubricated because that can make a big difference.

 

[Olji]

try to learn 2look Oll, that will decrease the time of your corner orientation, also you could try to sand your cube a little (i think that should reduce lockups, but im a noob at the modding part though ) you should get a diy when you know you're going somewhat serious in cubing, at least that's my opinion...

 

[cyoubx]

The next step for me was actually 4-look (?) OLL (Fish method), and quasi-two look PLL (corners then edges, so only two algorithms).