Big cube BLD progression

[Cubenovice]

It would indeed not speed up the fast solver

But from emolovers post it seems like it could help him.

 

[Mike Hughey]

Yes 25 minutes for edges, but centers and corners only took me 5 minutes. It took me so long to figure out where the piece went. I think I should put a cube in front of me for reference. Can you do that? I saw Mike doing it.

Wow, I didn't even think about that. I was simply holding my 3x3x3 when I had to do 4BLD, and I was going to put it in my pocket, but my glasses were already there, so I put it on the table because I didn't have anywhere better to put it. I definitely wasn't looking at it for reference - that would be slow.

It takes a while to get used to seeing where the edges go. It took me several months to get where it was automatic. Now, however, it's really automatic, which unfortunately means I can't handle a cube that doesn't have my color scheme.

With regard to the original post, I've solved 2x2x2, 3x3x3, 4x4x4, 5x5x5, 6x6x6, 7x7x7, 8x8x8, megaminx, pyraminx, square-1, clock, skewb, UFO BLD so far. (I can't think of any others right now, but I may be forgetting something.) My gigaminx hasn't gotten here yet. I got successful solves on most of these within my first 3 attempts, but 6x6x6 took 4 tries, 8x8x8 took 14 tries, and I'm not sure about megaminx, but it took a lot of tries too.

 

[cmhardw]

For anyone attempting bigger BLD I would suggest to invest time now in a good memory method. It doesn't have to be terribly elaborate, but visual is often hard for those just learning bigger BLD. There are people who do very well with visual on the bigger cubes and get fast solves, but I feel that this can be intimidating to someone just starting out. Read up on Journey methods, sentence methods, letter pair methods and see if any of that sounds good to you.

The bigger the cube, the more you have to memorize. So start smaller (4BLD) and work up one cube size at a time (then 5BLD, then 6BLD, etc.).

 

[HEART]

Are there any special ways some of you big BLDers practice memo besides cubing? I know ollie has memorized decks of cards, is there anything else?

 

[A Leman]

Are there any special ways some of you big BLDers practice memo besides cubing? I know ollie has memorized decks of cards, is there anything else?

you can use the principles of the method of loci for lots of things. you could memo cards,numbers,parts of books,Vocabulary,random letters,the periodic table,presidents,monarchs,capitals,quotes,to-do lists,anatomy,phone numbers and more. Just about everything you memorize will help improve you memory skills. I have found this http://www.dave-reed.com/Nifty/randSeq.html useful to practice letterpairs where cubing is inappropriate. It can also do numbers if you are interested.

 

[Ickathu]

I think I'm gonna switch my 4x4 edge lettering scheme from an Eric Limeback's 3x3 variant to that, but based on setup moves. So If I memo A, I would do the same thing (r2) that I would do for A on a 3x3 (M2), instead of having to do my 3x3 equivalent of B as A. Does that seem like a good way to letter it? How long will it take to switch, cause I've only done 4 attempts.

U layer for example:
Old:
x A B x
H x x C
G x x D
x F E x

New:
x B A x
G x x D
H x x C
x E F x

Does that make sense?

 

[HEART]

I use daniel sheppards letter scheme. Works well and isn't to hard to pick up. It's a pretty different system from eric's, but it's intuitive enough to just use.

 

[Ickathu]

Link?

 

[HEART]

There ya go. Check the description

 

[Cubenovice]

Are there any special ways some of you big BLDers practice memo besides cubing? I know ollie has memorized decks of cards, is there anything else?

And this is where my initial fear about this thread comes true

Now we're getting into big bld discussion and that is a different thread.
It would be good if all the info relating to the actual solvings stays in one thread.

 

[Mikel]

I think I'm gonna switch my 4x4 edge lettering scheme from an Eric Limeback's 3x3 variant to that, but based on setup moves. So If I memo A, I would do the same thing (r2) that I would do for A on a 3x3 (M2), instead of having to do my 3x3 equivalent of B as A. Does that seem like a good way to letter it? How long will it take to switch, cause I've only done 4 attempts.

U layer for example:
Old:
x A B x
H x x C
G x x D
x F E x

New:
x B A x
G x x D
H x x C
x E F x

Does that make sense?

I use your "new" lettering scheme, but I picked that scheme when I started 4BLD because it is the same as what my 3x3 BLD was.

 

[bobthegiraffemonkey]

I use your "new" lettering scheme, but I picked that scheme when I started 4BLD because it is the same as what my 3x3 BLD was.

I did this too, I never looked up a letter scheme for wings, I just adapted one from my 3x3 edges in the natural way so I wouldn't get confused. X centres follow corner letters, + centres follow edges, and I'm still debating how to do obliques but they will follow one or the other (so far I've made them use my corner letters).

 

[HEART]

What where your first few 4BLD times? Most of my 4BLD times are around 17 minutes, my initial goal is to get to 10 minutes

 

[Ickathu]

What where your first few 4BLD times? Most of my 4BLD times are around 17 minutes, my initial goal is to get to 10 minutes

36, 42, 32, 28, and imma try another in just a minute.

 

[HEART]

Wow, then my 4BLD times are fairly good for someone who's just started, yet still hasn't gotten a success at this rate my 5BLD whenever i attempt it should be 0 minutes.

Are comes or U2 faster for centers? I want to use the fastest method possible for centers right now, i'm going to hold off on comm edges in big cubes.

 

[JasonK]

Wow, then my 4BLD times are fairly good for someone who's just started, yet still hasn't gotten a success at this rate my 5BLD whenever i attempt it should be 0 minutes.

Are comes or U2 faster for centers? I want to use the fastest method possible for centers right now, i'm going to hold off on comm edges in big cubes.

I've been similar I guess, I still don't have a success but my first timed attempt was 17 mins, and they range between 11 and 15 now.

If you can do them comfortably, comms are always going to be faster because of how many moves you save. U2 would be faster if you're having to think for ages about how to do the comm.

 

[ben1996123]

2x2, 3x3, 4x4 centers, stupideasystuff like floppycube, clock.

 

[CHJ]

5BLD, i wont go any further unless it becomes official. As for 4 and 5 im about 8 minutes and 26 minutes

 

[Mikel]

What where your first few 4BLD times? Most of my 4BLD times are around 17 minutes, my initial goal is to get to 10 minutes

First one was ~38 minutes. My best success now is 14:41, but I could probably get around 11-12. I usually just do 5x5 BLD instead.

 

[DrKorbin]

What where your first few 4BLD times? Most of my 4BLD times are around 17 minutes, my initial goal is to get to 10 minutes

45 minutes. Now I'm reading that other's first times were 17-20-25 minutes, and it surprises me :confused: