Blindsolving Discussion and Help

[Ramo]

I use audio for corners and images for edges. How can I come up with images sooner and ones that stick? Should I use Audio for edges and Images for corners?

 

[Zane_C]

I use audio for corners and images for edges. How can I come up with images sooner and ones that stick? Should I use Audio for edges and Images for corners?

If you are having delays with deriving the images from the pairs, then you need to simply get more familiar with them. Perhaps you should try going through all the letter pairs and taking notes of the pairs that cause a particularly long delay. Write these pairs down and revise them everyday until they're very fluent. But as always, lots of practice will do an effective job at familiarising yourself with all the pairs.

As for making the images stick, this is difficult to answer because the usual ways of making images more vivid (ie. use of gore, sounds, emotion) require time. With a 3x3 BLD solve, you want to memorise fast and not waste time on little things like this. With lots of practice, you can get very quick at incorporating these vivid aspects into images. As you use images more and more your images will probably start to stick better. Also, as you get faster you will have less time between memorising the edges and solving them, and therefore find it easier to retain the images.

You may as well try using audio for edges and images for the corners, see if that works better for you.

 

[Riley]

A question for fast 4BLD and 5BLD people. How much do you review your memo? (or do you not review at all?)

 

[DrKorbin]

A question for fast 4BLD and 5BLD people. How much do you review your memo? (or do you not review at all?)

I do. I try to review it once, but if I feel I memorized it badly I review some parts twice

 

[Username]

Are commutators or U2 better for +-centers/obliques?

 

[Ollie]

Are commutators or U2 better for +-centers/obliques?

Commutators, due to the high move count in U2. Commutators are really not hard on big cube centers, though

 

[Username]

My memo for Multi/BigBLD is really bad. Roman rooms/Journey doesn't seem to work for me. I'm unable to find a good journey, and I can't picture things in my head. Are there any alternate methods that are good? Or can you give me tips for Journey/Roman Rooms?

 

[Ollie]

My memo for Multi/BigBLD is really bad. Roman rooms/Journey doesn't seem to work for me. I'm unable to find a good journey, and I can't picture things in my head. Are there any alternate methods that are good? Or can you give me tips for Journey/Roman Rooms?

I felt the same for a while, until I experimented with different routes and combining the two. I was using a pub in my home town for quite some time (I know a lot of people that work there and the layout extremely well so lots of different things to make associations with) but now I use my old school and it's become somewhat of a memory palace (so I use a set route from my school hall, down through the corridors into certain classrooms etc) which combines Journey and Roman Rooms. If I feel bored of what I'm memorizing I'll just try new classrooms or go outsides onto the school field or one of the labs (or whatever) and mix it up, seems to work well for Multi.

Another thing that helped increase my recall was memorizing in the first person. So for the majority of the time I will, inside my routes, actually interact with the imagery myself. For example RN BX FR could be RuNning after a BoX of FRench baguettes, so I would imagine myself running after these baguettes (and maybe imagine the smell of the bread wafting towards me as I run after it - incorporate all the senses.)

Also play around with visual and audio. If you have a smartphone there's a crazy memory trainer app with a game within it called GridGrind which has improved my visual memory considerably.

PS my 500th post, you're welcome

 

[Username]

I felt the same for a while, until I experimented with different routes and combining the two. I was using a pub in my home town for quite some time (I know a lot of people that work there and the layout extremely well so lots of different things to make associations with) but now I use my old school and it's become somewhat of a memory palace (so I use a set route from my school hall, down through the corridors into certain classrooms etc) which combines Journey and Roman Rooms. If I feel bored of what I'm memorizing I'll just try new classrooms or go outsides onto the school field or one of the labs (or whatever) and mix it up, seems to work well for Multi.

Another thing that helped increase my recall was memorizing in the first person. So for the majority of the time I will, inside my routes, actually interact with the imagery myself. For example RN BX FR could be RuNning after a BoX of FRench baguettes, so I would imagine myself running after these baguettes (and maybe imagine the smell of the bread wafting towards me as I run after it - incorporate all the senses.)

Also play around with visual and audio. If you have a smartphone there's a crazy memory trainer app with a game within it called GridGrind which has improved my visual memory considerably.

PS my 500th post, you're welcome

Thanks! I don't use X in my letter scheme. I think i might change my lettering a bit. Q doesn't work for me, X seems to be better. IS it stupid to place X where Q is? My lettering would be ABC...OPXRS...UVWY

 

[Ollie]

Thanks! I don't use X in my letter scheme. I think i might change my lettering a bit. Q doesn't work for me, X seems to be better. IS it stupid to place X where Q is? My lettering would be ABC...OPXRS...UVWY

No, as long as you can get to the point where finding the X sticker location is automatic. I have strange quirks in my lettering and I've seen weirder lettering schemes than yours

 

[HEART]

For those of you who use 3-style/comms/bh whatever of those three for 3bld, how long did it take you to notice some improvement from your old method? I've picked up 3-style finally, and will hopefully start getting rid of my bad cases and hopefully edge towards more efficient ones, however I'm still a bit slow with it. (Usually around 20-40 seconds slower, was using old poch+m2)

 

[Noahaha]

For those of you who use 3-style/comms/bh whatever of those three for 3bld, how long did it take you to notice some improvement from your old method? I've picked up 3-style finally, and will hopefully start getting rid of my bad cases and hopefully edge towards more efficient ones, however I'm still a bit slow with it. (Usually around 20-40 seconds slower, was using old poch+m2)

For a very long time I used M2 and OP as a crutch for 3-style, so it made me faster immediately since if I didn't know a cycle well enough I just did it the easy way. That being said, it was very difficult for me to stop using this crutch, and there was still a tiny bit of M2 in my solves even just a month ago. Your approach is worse short term but better long term, so I recommend you stick with it. As to when you'll be faster with 3-style, I can't tell you how soon it will be, but it will happen once you can think ahead and do solves without pausing for more than a second between any pair of cycles.

 

[Username]

Do physical acts help to memorize stuff? I've seen Maskow, Marcell and many others do different things with their arms.

 

[Cubenovice]

Do physical acts help to memorize stuff? I've seen Maskow, Marcell and many others do different things with their arms.

Yes, the more senses you use and the more emotion you put in your memo the better it will stick.

So If you memoing that you're sticking a cube up someone's a** it helpt to make the arm movement that goes with the action.

 

[uniacto]

Yes, the more senses you use and the more emotion you put in your memo the better it will stick.

So If you memoing that you're sticking a cube up someone's a** it helpt to make the arm movement that goes with the action.

it scares me that you use a smiley face at the end of that sentence. ._. but yea, I suppose incorporating as many senses as you can helps

 

[TheOneOnTheLeft]

When memoing edges, and you have to break into a new cycle, how do you know which pieces are free to store the buffer in? Is this just something that you instinctively know when you're super comfortable with your lettering scheme, by going through your memo so far and checking in your head which pieces are solved? I ran into this problem today when I'd memorised how to solve 10 edges, and just had to go back through my memo and put a finger on each solved piece until I could spot the two unsolved edges.

 

[TheNextFeliks]

When memoing edges, and you have to break into a new cycle, how do you know which pieces are free to store the buffer in? Is this just something that you instinctively know when you're super comfortable with your lettering scheme, by going through your memo so far and checking in your head which pieces are solved? I ran into this problem today when I'd memorised how to solve 10 edges, and just had to go back through my memo and put a finger on each solved piece until I could spot the two unsolved edges.

I usually try to look at 4 edges in an order. If I have the letter I go to the next. I do m2 and try to do FR then BR or FL then FL. So if I have the letter for FR I go to the next spot. Finding the two isn't too bad but isn't great.

 

[Riley]

When memoing edges, and you have to break into a new cycle, how do you know which pieces are free to store the buffer in? Is this just something that you instinctively know when you're super comfortable with your lettering scheme, by going through your memo so far and checking in your head which pieces are solved? I ran into this problem today when I'd memorized how to solve 10 edges, and just had to go back through my memo and put a finger on each solved piece until I could spot the two unsolved edges.

I had this problem and it bothered me very much. But from experience, I can tell you that with practice, it will go away, just as you described it basically.

 

[redbeat0222]

I use OP, with some 3 style edge cases. (thinking about switching to M2) what is the buffer for M2.

 

[Riley]

I use OP, with some 3 style edge cases. (thinking about switching to M2) what is the buffer for M2.

The most common buffer for M2 is DF, but a few people use FD, which is basically the same thing, except you base your memo on the F sticker of FD, where as with DF, you would start memorizing based on the D sticker.