THE 10 EASIEST FINGERBOARD TRICKS

The 10 Easiest Fingerboard Tricks

How Long Does It Really Take to Get Them Down?

Fingerboarding looks easy. Two fingers. A tiny skateboard. A few centimetres of movement. Then you pick up a fingerboard and try to ollie. Suddenly, that tiny piece of wood seems to have a mind of its own.

The truth is that learning fingerboard tricks takes coordination, timing and repetition. Some tricks can be learned in an afternoon. Others may take several days or even weeks before they become consistent. And that's completely normal.

The following estimates assume a beginner practising around 15–30 minutes per day, rather than spending hours obsessively repeating the same trick. Everyone learns differently, so treat these times as realistic guidelines rather than deadlines.

1. The Ollie

Realistic learning time: 1–7 days

The ollie is the foundation of almost everything that follows. For a complete beginner, the hardest part isn't understanding the movement — it's getting the fingers to work together. You need to pop the tail, slide the front finger forward and level the board while keeping everything under control.

You might get your first tiny ollie within minutes. A controlled ollie that lands consistently is another story.

• Beginner milestone: Getting the board off the ground.
• Next milestone: Landing 5–10 ollies in a row.
• Don't worry if: Your first ollies are tiny. Height comes with control.

2. Manual

Realistic learning time: 1–3 days

The manual is one of the easiest tricks to understand because there is no complicated pop or flip. Simply shift your weight and balance the board on either the back or front wheels. The difficult part is maintaining that balance.

Start by trying very short manuals. Even holding one for half a second is progress. Eventually you'll start controlling the board rather than simply reacting to it.

• Beginner milestone: Holding a manual for one second.
• Next milestone: Rolling into a manual and exiting cleanly.

3. Nose Manual

Realistic learning time: 1–4 days

The nose manual works on the same principle as a regular manual, but your balance is shifted toward the front of the board. For many beginners, this actually feels slightly more difficult because the board can seem less stable.

Don't try to hold it for five seconds immediately. Aim for a controlled nose balance, even if it lasts only a fraction of a second.

Tip: Keep your movements extremely small. Fingerboarding rewards subtle control.

4. Pop Shuvit

Realistic learning time: 2–7 days

The pop shuvit is usually one of the first tricks that makes a beginner think: "Okay... now this actually feels like skateboarding." The board rotates underneath your fingers while remaining relatively level.

The biggest beginner mistake is trying to throw the board too aggressively. A good shuvit is about controlling the rotation, not launching the board across the room. Start with a small rotation and gradually build toward a clean 180-degree spin.

• Beginner milestone: Completing the rotation.
• Next milestone: Catching it with both fingers in position.

5. Front Shuvit

Realistic learning time: 2–7 days

The frontside version introduces a different rotational movement and may feel strange at first. Your brain already understands the basic concept from the regular shuvit, however, so you aren't starting from zero.

Practice both directions eventually. Being comfortable with frontside and backside rotations will make future combinations much easier.

6. Kickflip

Realistic learning time: 3–14 days

Here's where things start getting serious. The kickflip is often the first trick that requires genuinely precise finger movement. The board needs to pop, rotate around its long axis and return to your fingers.

The first successful kickflip can happen surprisingly quickly. Making it happen on command is another matter. You might land one perfect kickflip and then spend the next 20 minutes wondering where it went. That's normal.

Don't measure progress by landed tricks alone. If your board is flipping correctly but you're missing the catch, you're already getting closer.

7. Heelflip

Realistic learning time: 3–14 days

The heelflip is essentially the kickflip's other side of the family. For some people it's easier. For others, the kickflip comes naturally and the heelflip feels completely unnatural. Your finger positioning, flick direction and timing all change.

The important thing is not to assume that struggling with one means you're bad at fingerboarding. Different tricks suit different people's natural movements.

8. Pop Shuvit + Manual

Realistic learning time: 3–10 days

Now we're combining movements. Pop shuvit into manual is a fantastic beginner combination because it teaches you something extremely important: you don't just need to land tricks — you need to control what happens immediately afterward.

• Pop.
• Rotate.
• Catch.
• Balance.
• Ride away.

This is where fingerboarding starts feeling less like individual tricks and more like actual lines.

9. Ollie North

Realistic learning time: 5–14 days

The Ollie North is a natural progression from the ollie. Instead of keeping both fingers on the board throughout the movement, the front finger leaves the deck before returning. It looks considerably more complicated than it actually is.

The challenge is learning to keep the board underneath you while allowing the front finger to move away. Once you've got a solid ollie, this becomes much more approachable.

10. 180 Ollie

Realistic learning time: 5–14 days

The 180 ollie combines two skills you've already started developing: height and rotation. Instead of simply popping upward, you rotate yourself and the board through 180 degrees before landing.

The biggest breakthrough usually comes when you stop trying to force the rotation and start allowing your fingers to guide it. Once you can consistently ollie and shuvit, the 180 begins to make considerably more sense.

So How Long Will All 10 Take?

For someone completely new to fingerboarding:

• First few tricks: You could potentially learn the basics within the first week.
• All 10 at a basic level: Around 2–4 weeks of regular practice is a realistic target for many beginners.
• All 10 consistently: More realistically, 1–3 months.

And there's an important distinction here. Knowing a trick isn't the same as owning it. Landing a kickflip once doesn't mean you've mastered the kickflip. Being able to perform it 8 out of 10 times, in different positions and at different speeds, is a much better indication that you've actually learned it.

The 30-Minute Rule

You don't need to practise for three hours every day. In fact, endlessly repeating a trick when you're frustrated can make learning harder. Try:

• 10 minutes — warm-up and basic tricks
• 10 minutes — one trick you're learning
• 10 minutes — combinations and tricks you already know

Then stop. Come back tomorrow. Your brain continues processing coordination even when you're not holding the board.

Don't Compare Your Progress

One of the biggest problems with modern fingerboarding is that beginners see someone performing a perfect 20-trick line online and assume they should be able to do the same. You're watching someone's finished product, not their learning process. That person may have spent hundreds of hours developing those movements.

Your first ollie might look terrible. That's fine. Your first kickflip might take 500 attempts. That's fine too. And your first clean line might only contain two tricks. That's still a line.

The Real Secret

There isn't a secret trick. There isn't a special fingerboard that automatically makes you better. And you don't need to buy the most expensive setup available before you can learn. The biggest advantage you can give yourself is simply: consistency.

Fifteen minutes every day will usually take you further than one three-hour session followed by two weeks of doing nothing. Learn one movement. Repeat it. Make it cleaner. Then connect it to another movement. That's how fingerboarders go from their first shaky ollie to proper lines.

Final Thought

Fingerboarding is supposed to be fun. Don't turn your first month into an examination. If it takes you one day to learn an ollie, great. If it takes you two weeks, that's great too. If you spend an entire evening trying to land one kickflip and finally catch it at 11:47 PM, that's probably going to be the trick you remember.

The goal isn't to learn everything as quickly as possible. The goal is to keep wanting to pick up the board tomorrow. Start small. Stay consistent. Celebrate the tiny improvements. The tricks will come. And once they do, you'll realise that the first ten were only the beginning.

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