• Welcome to the Speedsolving.com, home of the web's largest puzzle community!
    You are currently viewing our forum as a guest which gives you limited access to join discussions and access our other features.

    Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community of 40,000+ people from around the world today!

    If you are already a member, simply login to hide this message and begin participating in the community!

[Member Intro] I was told I should introduce myself.

FrankF

Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Messages
9
My name is Frank, I'm a 58 year old American college instructor, and I want to be able to reliably solve the 3x3 cube in less than one minute. I have no desire to compete. I originally learned how to solve the 3x3 about 40 years ago without instructions over a period of three months with my (then) roommate before instructions on how to solve the cube were widely available (and certainly they weren't included with our cubes). I did many things poorly, for example I would start f2l without starting with a cross first, do many cube rotations, and gripped the solved part of the cube so that I wouldn't mess up the solved part -- but was able to reliably solve the cube in less than 5 minutes.

I recently bought a speed cube (RS3M2020), and was amazed at how much better it turned than Rubik's brand or other generic cubes available in the 80's. I've been trying to unlearn some of my bad habits and just practicing for about a month has gotten me to the 2:30 average. If there is a strategic guide to getting better, telling me what to learn in what order -- I'd love to read that. Being older, I'm more interested in studying than if I were younger. On the other hand, I'm imagining that there should be something analogous to practicing scales on the piano that will help me quite a bit, because I'm not even that fast/good doing (URU'R').

I imagine that some of my renewed interest is related to my lack of social activities because of the COVID virus.

I like to play Single Player Vanilla Survival Minecraft, Cities: Skylines, and Bloons TD5. The other puzzle that I like is Sudoku. I also enjoy watching Only Connect on Youtube.
 

BenChristman1

Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2019
Messages
3,505
Location
The Land of 11,842 Lakes
WCA
2019CHRI11
SS Competition Results
Welcome! (I love this intro, there’s so much stuff to comment on.)
I originally learned how to solve the 3x3 about 40 years ago without instructions over a period of three months with my (then) roommate before instructions on how to solve the cube were widely available (and certainly they weren't included with our cubes).
That’s some amazing persistence! Most people would just give up after a few hours (at the most), and never pick up the cube again.
I recently bought a speed cube (RS3M2020), and was amazed at how much better it turned than Rubik's brand or other generic cubes available in the 80's.
Yes, there are a lot of really fast speedcubers who use the RS3M 2020, you shouldn’t have an issue with that cube!
If there is a strategic guide to getting better, telling me what to learn in what order -- I'd love to read that. Being older, I'm more interested in studying than if I were younger.
As @Skewb_Cube said, @Zubin Park’s guide is a great resource that has helped me a lot!
On the other hand, I'm imagining that there should be something analogous to practicing scales on the piano that will help me quite a bit, because I'm not even that fast/good doing (URU'R').
I know that cubing has made me a faster typist, and vice versa, so it should be similar for the piano.
 

PetraPine

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2020
Messages
705
Location
Somewhere i guess.
YouTube
Visit Channel
My name is Frank, I'm a 58 year old American college instructor, and I want to be able to reliably solve the 3x3 cube in less than one minute. I have no desire to compete. I originally learned how to solve the 3x3 about 40 years ago without instructions over a period of three months with my (then) roommate before instructions on how to solve the cube were widely available (and certainly they weren't included with our cubes). I did many things poorly, for example I would start f2l without starting with a cross first, do many cube rotations, and gripped the solved part of the cube so that I wouldn't mess up the solved part -- but was able to reliably solve the cube in less than 5 minutes.

I recently bought a speed cube (RS3M2020), and was amazed at how much better it turned than Rubik's brand or other generic cubes available in the 80's. I've been trying to unlearn some of my bad habits and just practicing for about a month has gotten me to the 2:30 average. If there is a strategic guide to getting better, telling me what to learn in what order -- I'd love to read that. Being older, I'm more interested in studying than if I were younger. On the other hand, I'm imagining that there should be something analogous to practicing scales on the piano that will help me quite a bit, because I'm not even that fast/good doing (URU'R').

I imagine that some of my renewed interest is related to my lack of social activities because of the COVID virus.

I like to play Single Player Vanilla Survival Minecraft, Cities: Skylines, and Bloons TD5. The other puzzle that I like is Sudoku. I also enjoy watching Only Connect on Youtube.
look up PCMS on the wiki and try learning it!
it really reminds me of the method you started with and would probably be a good method to start out with (=
 

FrankF

Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Messages
9
That’s some amazing persistence! Most people would just give up after a few hours (at the most), and never pick up the cube again.
I know that cubing has made me a faster typist, and vice versa, so it should be similar for the piano.
I don't think I'd have stuck to it if I'd been by myself. But each stage we'd be teaching each other -- I clearly remember when he (not I) figured out that the cube was 12 edges, eight corners, 6 centers, and not 36 faces. That was about a week after we got the cubes. Less clearly I remember when I figured out that you needed to create algorithms that would move the pieces that were still mixed up, but leave your solved pieces in place.

I think I may have been unclear in my piano analogy -- I wasn't saying that practicing piano scales would make me a better cubist, but that just as practicing piano scales make you a better pianist, I'm imagining that there are cubing scales like exercises (of which the most simple is probably (RUR'U")*6 that will help you get better at turning faster.
 

FrankF

Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Messages
9
look up PCMS on the wiki and try learning it!
it really reminds me of the method you started with and would probably be a good method to start out with (=
Well, I've looked it up, and I'll keep it in mind if I hit a wall with CFOP which seems to be a natural progression from the beginners method that I'm currently using.
 

Tabe

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2017
Messages
2,021
Location
Spokane, WA (USA)
WCA
2017TABA02
YouTube
Visit Channel
From another older cuber...welcome, Frank!

You can definitely get a lot faster. I recently got a 12.66. If I can do it, you can too!

To get better, I recommend the tutorials on Cubeskills.com and the tutorials on the Youtube channel "JPerm". Learn CFOP. It's confusing at first but you'll sort it out in no time.

And, if you need personal assistance, give me a holler. I'd be happy to work with you directly.
 

FrankF

Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Messages
9
Solid game list :) Have you tried Civ?
I've probably played more Civ than any of the games I've listed, but not in the last year or two -- CivII and CivV tons, CivVI no so much.
 
  • Like
Reactions: qwr

qwr

Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2019
Messages
3,371
YouTube
Visit Channel
If there is a strategic guide to getting better, telling me what to learn in what order -- I'd love to read that. Being older, I'm more interested in studying than if I were younger. On the other hand, I'm imagining that there should be something analogous to practicing scales on the piano that will help me quite a bit, because I'm not even that fast/good doing (URU'R').

I think the conventional advice is to learn 4 look last layer and practice F2L, which is enough to get you to 20-30 seconds. I'm pretty slow but my opinion is that newer cubers focus too much on learning full OLL and PLL which is only marginal timesave compared to mastering efficient F2L which takes a lot more experience.

To practice turn speed you can practice algs over and over to get it into muscle memory. Recognition is very important too for memory. jperm.net has a good flashcard sort of system to practice remembering and executing algs.
 

SpeedyCube

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2020
Messages
104
Location
Planet Earth... I think...
Hi Frank, welcome! For learning a good beginning method, check this out: https://garron.us/cube/solution.pdf

I learned 4LLL using this: https://thomasje.webs.com/4lll-tutorial-2

Two months about I was averaging about 2 minutes. Now my average is about 44 seconds and dropping, using the above to drop my times to under a minute, then focusing on learning full PLL. That’s devoting about 20-30 minutes of practice time a day, then playing with it causally for maybe half an hour additionally. As Tabe said, if I can do it, so can you! :)
 

FrankF

Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2020
Messages
9
Thanks qwr and Speedycube -- I'd not even heard of 4LLL. I think that might be a good step, and Yes, getting better at the F2L will be very important.

Is Daisy & Cross better than solving the White Cross on top and then flipping the cube?
 

PetraPine

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2020
Messages
705
Location
Somewhere i guess.
YouTube
Visit Channel
Thanks qwr and Speedycube -- I'd not even heard of 4LLL. I think that might be a good step, and Yes, getting better at the F2L will be very important.

Is Daisy & Cross better than solving the White Cross on top and then flipping the cube?
solving white cross without having to do daisy or flipping the cube is best,
but for now just doing white cross and flipping is probably better.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2020
Messages
2,081
Location
On a long train journey, Smashin' PBs one a stop
YouTube
Visit Channel
Is Daisy & Cross better than solving the White Cross on top and then flipping the cube?
Well, Daisy with cross on bottom is better but the best thing to do is the regular way how you do cross, but on the bottom. It helps you to find your first corner quicker than cross on top.
BTW, welcome to the forums.
 
Top