I can officially juggle four balls.

[Snugglesnort]

So just to make everyone still trying to juggle three balls extremely jealous... I want to announce that I can juggle four balls now. It only took me... a year and a half... or was it two? I don't remember, it wasn't constant practice though.

I really don't want to make people jealous. Just encourage. I couldn't juggle at all three years ago, and had to teach myself with wiffle balls tied up with cut up socks. Not the best rout they are a bit light but on the up side, they are showy.

So if you are juggling, or just starting juggling keep at it. Practice when you can an have fun with it. It shouldn't be work. You will get better!

Also I just want to add that I learned from a pro juggler from Austria that if you can do two rotations of a trick and catch them, then you can officially do the trick. I think I did about ten rotations today with four balls.

[noname]

Which is your dominant hand? Left or Right? I find when trying to learn four, your non-dominant hand takes time to get the rhythm, however, once it "remembers" it, everything becomes much easier. I just can't get five because you have to cross over again. Four is two separate columns, but five is all over the place

[Snugglesnort]

I am left handed, and it is definitly dominate in juggling. Getting my right hand in line is often the hardest part of the trick. I have started messing with five balls, but it is a lot to keep track of and at that speed and heigth they go all over the place. I was told at the Seoul Juggling club to try and juggle four crossing over with a space in the rythm where the fifth ball fits. You might try that. I am also working on three in one hand which I have done a couple of times for one full rotation but it is sporadic at best.

The up shot of all this is that my three ball juggling seems so much easier!

[azzy]

OK, so I'm jealous! I can't ever get my left-hand to play nicely with four balls. Practice makes perfect I guess

[tim]

Congratulations. I'm always trying to get more solid on four. Five I'm lucky if I can do one set successfully. Most of the time it's catch, catch, drop, drop, hey where the hell did THAT one go!

[noname]

Originally Posted by tim

Congratulations. I'm always trying to get more solid on four. Five I'm lucky if I can do one set successfully. Most of the time it's catch, catch, drop, drop, hey where the hell did THAT one go!

Well, I seem to recall in the book Juggling for the Complete Klutz that the most important thing to learn, above anything else, is the "drop." Good advice

[Lolly Plop]

Way to go Snugglesnort! Just a little jealous here. Maybe that's what I should try. If I try with four balls instead of three for a while, maybe I'll get the hang of three balls quicker.

[OkiDoki]

Congrats Snugglesnort! Here some tricks that are usefull as step-ups before starting with actually juggling 5 balls:

The Flash:
JuggleWiki - Three Ball Flash

The 50505
JuggleWiki - Three Ball Snake

I think the 4 ball crossing is still very hard maybe as hard as directly start with 5. The advantage is that you have one less ball but that the rythm is constantly broken makes it also hard in a way that you don't have while doing 5 balls feeling much more fluid and logical.

[Chance Marmalade]

I've seen a few jugglers do four or five balls and my favorite juggling line to date is "I call this trick, five years of my life."

[Snugglesnort]

Those sound good oki. That flash one could be good for clowning by itself. Throw them up all of the sudden and then scratch your head confused and then start juggling again...

I like that like Chance... it's so true.