After you’ve become familiar with skateboarding, let’s learn some easy skateboard tricks.
For most people out there, It’s not a good idea to move from ollies to kickflips right away, even though it seems tempting. So my advice is to learn the basics before you move on to harder tricks.
By doing so, there will be a lot of benefits to you in the long run.
Once you learn the basics, you’ll progress much quicker. While learning new tricks, it keeps you motivated.
Honestly, I don’t understand why so many ‘guides’ skip over the basics altogether.
So, to get you started, below is a quick list of easy skateboard tricks before you move to more advanced tricks for beginners.
Beginners must learn these 4 types of flat-ground tricks
A skateboarder’s goal is to push himself or herself, have fun, and be creative. Since, there is no one skater who has the same style and the same bag of tricks as any other. Therefore, there aren’t that many tricks required for every skateboarder.
However, if you want to become a great all-around skater, you should master a few key tricks.
During my first time skating, I wish someone had told me this: “If you want to progress faster, you need to focus on the fundamentals right away.”
So the question is, When it comes to skateboarding tricks, which is the first one you should learn?
Well, There are really only 12 skateboard tricks that you should learn that encompass most of the advanced tricks. If you can master them in a short period of time, you’ll appear on Thrasher’s Magazine cover sooner or later.
1. Ollie
The Ollie is simply jumping with your board stuck to your feet. Basically, this trick is performed by rolling your front foot along the grip tape towards the nose while snapping your tail.
Every street skateboard trick starts with it. From flip tricks to grinds, from gaps to rails, it covers every aspect of skateboarding.
If you master it faster, you’ll be able to perform more technical tricks and overcome different obstacles in a shorter time period.
2. BS & FS Pop Shove It
In the Backside Pop Shove, the board rotates 180 degrees on its horizontal axis in front of you. Since this trick introduces the scoop that’s found in many more advanced flip tricks, I recommend learning it as soon as possible.
In order to perform a Pop Shove-It, you need to scoop your tail backwards. The best way to learn it is to stand still on grass or on carpet. For the first time, only use your deck without the trucks or wheels to figure out how to use the scoop.
As opposed to a pop shove it, Frontside Pop Shove It is a motion similar to that of a backside shove it. The board should spin behind you as you scoop in front of it. Frontside shoves are more commonly learned later than backside shoves by most riders.
3. FS & BS 180 Ollie
The first skateboard rotation you’ll learn is the frontside and backside 180. The motion is similar to the Ollie, except you want to wind up your shoulders and hips.
By practicing these two tricks, you will be building the coordination between your feet, hips, and shoulders that is required for many more advanced tricks. You can start on a pyramid for less rotation or a kicker for more hang time if you have trouble learning them on flat.
4. Kickflip & Heelflip
Performing the Kickflip involves flicking the toes of your front foot towards the back corner of the nose (right corner for goofy footed, left corner for regular), which causes the board to rotate on its horizontal axis 360°.
The Heelflip is basically the same trick, but in the opposite direction. By flicking toward the top corner of the nose, the heel makes the board spin.
Whether you do a kickflip or a heelflip, the first flip trick is a huge milestone in a skater’s journey. You have to practice for tens of hours before you succeed. It involves hitting your shins, landing primo, and slipping out hundreds of times.
It takes some people days to learn it, while others take years. Be persistent and you will succeed!
Skate Every Obstacle With These 5 Entry Tricks
1. Drop In
Dropping in is the first step into the transition world. When you drop in, you want your board’s tail to be above the coping and your wheels locked against it. You then shift your weight from your back leg to your front one and roll away while placing your front foot on the front bolts.
When you drop in, you can ride the transition from quarter pipe to vert ramp, the motion is the same. At some point, every transition trick involves dropping back into the ramp.
2. Manual
Wheelies, also known as manuals, refer to balancing the skateboard on its two back wheels.
Despite the fact that a “legit” manual involves an ollie, you can learn them safely by lifting your front truck off the ground. Hold it for as long as you can. Inches by inches. Using this trick, you can measure your progress easily, session after session.
A manual also introduces one-leg balance, which is necessary for most ledge, rail, and transition tricks. You will build up your back leg and ankle muscles, which are necessary to perform back leg-heavy tricks such as the Five-O, Tailslide, Smith, Feeble and Bluntslide.
3. Rock to Fakie / Rock & Roll
The Rock is a skateboarding trick that involves putting the front truck over the coping, stalling, and then going back down again.
If you want to drop back into the transition, you can either go backwards, called Rock to Fakie, or pivot back into your regular stance, called Rock & Roll.
My personal experience is that I learned Rock Fakie before Rock & Roll, but I know many people who are more comfortable with Rock & Roll at first. You should try both and choose the one that feels more natural to you.
4. FS 50-50 Grind
Once you’ve mastered Ollies, it’s time to tackle curbs and ledges. A basic trick to start with is the Frontside 50-50 grind. The process involves grinding both trucks onto a curb edge.
This trick involves locking the toe side wheels against the coping. To lock in perfectly, you need to move your hips at an angle of 10°. The front one should follow the back one once you have locked the back one.
5. BS Boardslide
The Backside Boardslide involves sliding onto the rail with your deck centered and your body facing the rail. There is no doubt that this is the easiest and safest rail trick. Therefore, it is the first trick that 99% of riders will learn.
There are a few basics you need to know about boardslides. Ideally, you’ll need a good ollie and a reasonably good frontside 180. Be sure to stay above your board and to bend your knees to avoid slipping. In order to find the right balance point, you must practice it.
Intermediate Tricks to Complete the Basics
1. BS 50-50 Grind
Similarly to the Frontside 50-50 Grind, the Backside 50-50 Grind has the same motion as the Frontside 50-50. It’s just that you’re going towards the curb backside and your toe-side wheel is locked in.
It would be advisable to begin with Axle Stalls on quarter-pipes to gain a better understanding of the balance and lock-in technique. After you’ve mastered those downs, learning how to do it on a ledge shouldn’t take long.
2. Nose Manual
The nose manual, as its name suggests, is performed with the nose. Tricks like this aren’t difficult, but they can be intimidating. Much harder to bail safely than a manual!
Your front foot should be placed in the nose’s pocket, and your back foot should be placed close to the back bolts. Your body weight should be leaning over your front truck while your hips are balancing. Make sure your upper body is straight.
You can also improve your front leg strength and equilibrium by doing nose manuals. It enables many grinds and slides front leg-heavy, such as Nosegrinds, Noseslides, Krooked Grinds, Nose Blunts, etc.
3. Backside Feeble Grind
On flat-bars, beginners almost always start out with the beginner’s grind called the Feeble Grind. Although it seems easier on paper to lock both trucks on the rail, in reality locking both trucks on the rail is a guaranteed slam. This is especially true on round rails.
Grinding involves locking your back truck to the rail heel side while your front truck hangs out. In order to accomplish this trick, you’ll need to pinch the truck properly. In order to do this, you must stand on your back heel with all of your weight on it. If you have your boardslides and 50-50s down, you can learn backside feeble.
Let’s Move To More Advanced Skateboard Tricks
When you first learn to walk, it is a new and exciting experience. You feel the ground beneath your feet, and the sense of accomplishment as you take your first steps.
The same is true when learning to skateboard. Once you have mastered the basic tricks, now you can build on them and progress to more advanced moves.
Well, here are 23 challenging skateboard tricks for beginner that aren’t too difficult to learn, and still make you look good.
1. The Flip On
Let’s start off with something everyone can do. Although you might think this isn’t a trick, my 6-year-old son finds it impressive.
I don’t think that’s a trick! Well, I think so. In order to land premo, you land your feet on your deck while keeping your feet on the wheels. You might want to skip this for now since it’s a bit sketchy. Now let’s talk about some tricks that actually look cool.
2. The Hippie Jump
The hippie jump is a good start before you practice an ollie. You’ll get a sense of what jumping without popping your deck is like. You can start doing this trick by just jumping on your skateboard and working yourself up to it.
Once you feel comfortable, give your deck a push and jump up and down. The next step is to look for a rail that allows you to pass under and over the obstacle with your skateboard.
Be sure to land correctly on your skateboard. Your friend may be able to help you by holding a stick or skateboard for you to jump over if he is nearby. This should be done until you are unable to jump any higher.
Make sure you land on your bolts. Your deck may bounce up and hit your shins if you land too close to your tail or nose.
- Give your board a small push
- Jump up
- Land
- Done, do it again but jump over something to make it a challenge
3. Nosebleed or Nose Stall
In a nose stall, you apply pressure on your nose while leaning backward while facing an obstacle like a curb with an edge. To make it easier to lock your nose on, start on a low obstacle and work your way up. Before rolling up to it, you’ll have to push a bit.
As soon as you run into the curb, lift your deck a little while applying pressure to your tail. You should lean on your forward foot to stay in place. It’s up to you to figure out how to roll off. Once you’ve mastered it, move into taller objects. As you progress, you will eventually be able to do nose slides.
- Roll towards an object with a ledge.
- Gently press your tail.
- lock your noise on the obstacle.
- Lean on your front foot.
- Either gently push your nose, or just lean on your tail and roll back.
4. Caveman
It’s an easy trick, but it looks great. As you’re already familiar with riding and steering, learning the Caveman should be no problem.
You should start by jumping on your skateboard with a little forward movement. You’ll just need to run towards your board and jump on it after a couple of steps back, and you’re ready to learn caveman now.
With your front hand, hold the nose of your skateboard and place your thumb on top of the deck. Jump off the ground using your back foot after running for a few steps. Let go of your skateboard and land on the bolts on the deck.
Congratulations, Your first Caveman has just been completed. Once you master the Caveman, you can get creative with it.
- Use your front hand to hold your nose.
- Make sure your back foot is the one you jump with while running.
- Let go of your board and land on your deck.
5. Nose Pick Up
To do this, take off your back foot while rolling with your front foot. Afterwards, your deck will come up behind you automatically.
Grabbing the skateboard is easy because it stays behind your leg, just move your hand to your back and you should be able to grab it. You can practice this by starting out stationary. You just need to place your front foot on your nose (not over it). Then use your front foot to push down on your nose and let your board rise.
You have made progress, even though it doesn’t seem like much. However, while in the progress, you stay motivated and keep moving forward when you are making progress.
- You’ll need a bit of forward momentum.
- Press your nose with your front foot.
- Grab your board.
6. Ollie Pick Up
This is really easy and great for getting used to popping your deck a little bit. In order to do this, you need to ride in a forward direction and pop your tail a bit. After popping the board, put your back and front feet on the ground.
Try letting go of your deck and see what happens. Then grab it and nail the trick. When you pop it, your board will fly upwards and you can pick it up fairly easily. After grabbing the nose, why not jump back on? That’s called a bomb drop so let’s talk about how to do that trick.
- Pop your tail gently as you ride forward.
- Your feet should be on the ground at the same time.
- Be sure to grab your board afterward.
7. Bomb Drop or Acid Drop
After learning the ollie pick up, it’s time to learn the bomb drop. The basic idea is to grab your nose with your front hand and jump onto your skateboard. As you hold your board, give it a slight swing.
You’ll probably do this naturally since it makes landing the trick easier. It takes a little guts to do the trick, but it’s really easy once you get used to it. Ensure that you land on the bolts, as landing in the middle will probably break your deck. Additionally, Combining this with the ollie pick up is a great idea!
- Confidence is key!
- Take a few steps while holding on to your nose.
- Swing your board a little.
- Land with both feet.
8. Wall Bounce
The trick is really awesome, but it takes a lot of luck to knock it out of the park. There’s no doubt it’s a creative trick that requires some confidence, well, a great deal of confidence, as well as a lot of guts. If you aren’t confident, skip it and work on something else.
Basically, you have to pop your tail a little bit and get your board to jump forward. You will naturally see your deck moving upward with some forward momentum. With great timing, you might land the wheels after they bounce off the wall. To be honest, it looks pretty scary.
- You should roll towards a wall.
- Immediately jump off the board after popping your tail.
- Jump on your board after it bounces back.
9. Firecracker
To do this trick, you need to put a little pressure on your tail and ride off a stairway, but let’s start with curbs first. As soon as you are comfortable doing firecrackers on a curb, you should try to find a 2-step stairway. The key is to start small and work your way up.
When you reach the stairs, bend your knees and press down on your tail (just like when you ride off a curb). In the video, it’s a mental challenge, as the guy says.
Do not think about the stairs, just imagine a manual and ride down them. Don’t lean forward, just lean a little to the back, but not too much. Although it makes a lot of noise, it is actually quite easy to do.
10. Tic Tac
I think this should be a fairly straightforward process. Push using your knees and move your front wheels from side to side to get some speed. The process is horrible, but it’s great to get to know your board better.
Do you think it’s a trick? This is up to you, but it deserves a spot on this list. With these tricks, you’ll learn how to gain speed without pushing.
Although it might not seem like much, But, it can help you correct your balance.
11. Fakie Kick Turn
There’s no need for a video here, it’s so simple that you can just read and follow along. To be sure and to be consistent, I added the video. In order to do this, you simply need to ride backwards and turn 180 degrees. The first thing you should do is move your shoulders and head, then your rest of your body will follow.
You just need to gently push the tail of your board with your back foot when turning around, so your board will follow naturally.
- Get your board rolling in fakie.
- Make sure your head and shoulders are turned, and push your tail gently.
- Whenever you turn your body, your board should follow.
12. Kick Turn on a Ramp
This is a basic trick that is very useful in skateparks. In this case, you can do both frontside and backside, but it’s much easier to begin with the backside. Then, Practice your frontside kick turns once you are comfortable with them. Kick turns on ramps are all about posture, like most tricks.
Lift up your front wheels by applying a bit of pressure to your tail. After you ride up the ramp, turn your head and shoulders a bit, and then your body will follow.
You should not put too much pressure on your tail when you turn. Keep leaning into the ramp when you turn. As a result, your skateboard will move forward without you. Let gravity do its work.
Start slow, don’t try to go all the way up the ramp, but gradually move up. And, Please be careful not to overturn.
- You should move up the ramp.
- Press your tail gently and turn your shoulders.
- Turn your body.
13. Boneless
This is another great trick for beginners. When you learn how to Boneless, the possibilities are endless. To do this, you need to grab the (outer) side of your board near your wheels and jump back on again. Initially, it is a bit scary, and people with bad backs should avoid it.
- Grab the side of your board and step off with your front foot.
- jump up and get back on your board.
14. Rail Stand
You might think this is scary, but it’s really easy. Start by balancing on your board and getting on your deck. After that, try to get into the position of a rail stand.
In order to flip the rail stand, you need to set your feet up so your front foot is pushing down the side. It’s a four-step process:
- To flip it, put some pressure on your feet.
- Upon flipping, your back foot rests on the back wheels. When your board turns you make a transition and over it and step on top of your back wheels.
- You’re almost in the rail stand. You just have to bring your front foot back and assume the rail stand.
- Keep your balance. Now you need to push forward slightly. Your deck will flip over and you should land on top of your board.
15. Biebelheimer
This is a cool way to get on your skateboard. It requires you to throw down your board and jump on top of it. That sounds easy, right? I forgot to mention you need to throw your grip side down, wait for it to flip back and then jump on.
You can practice this without jumping on your board by throwing it down a couple of times. After getting the angle right, try jumping on your board.
- Your thumb should be on the grip side of the board, while the rest of your finger should be on the other side.
- Make sure the grip side of the board hits the ground as you turn the board around and throw it gently forward. Make sure your tail is still on the ground and you throw it down slightly angled.
- Now that the board has bounced back and flipped, time to hop on it.
16. Manual
It is an excellent trick for practicing balance, and you can use it to combine it with other tricks once you master it. Initially, it’s difficult, but it’s a trick you’ll become better and better at. Although you won’t get very far the first time, eventually you’ll get better as you practice.
- Put your front foot just down from your front bolts and place your other foot on the tail.
- Your front knee should be bent a little while you put pressure on the back of your tail. Keep your back knee straight. (while moving).
17. Staple Gun
My old skater friends used to do this at our local mini ramp and I was always amazed by it. The best way to practice this is on a curb. Why didn’t I think of that before?
- Roll towards a curb
- When you’re close, pop an ollie but leave your back foot on the ground (you don’t need to be good at ollies for this).
- Get your board on top of the curb while holding your front foot close to the bolts and leaving your foot at an angle (about 45 degrees).
- You’ll end up in sort of a split and then pull your front leg back.
- Pull up your back foot and place it on your board.
18. Step off Under Flip (Ghost Kickflip)
Neither I nor my friend know the name of this trick, but I heard someone call it the ghost kickflip.
It involves jumping off your skateboard, stepping a few steps, and then flipping your skateboard with your foot under it. This is what I found in a video, but I’m not sure the name is correct. No matter what, it’s a cool trick.
- Your deck should be rolled forward and you should jump off.
- Use your front foot and reach under your deck and flip it.
- jump back on.
19. Mike Vallely Shove It
Now that you know how to do a nollie shove it, it’s time to get creative.
Due to the fact that you’re sliding on the ground, you don’t have to worry about your ankles while doing this trick.
To do that, take a slide, jump off your board, and then jump back on.
Mike Vallely came up with the idea, hence its name.
20. Shove It
The trick is a bit more complex and at the end of the beginner’s spectrum. I mentioned it because it’s one of the first tricks many skateboarders learn. Furthermore, I think the shove should challenge you before you do an ollie.
21. Strawberry Milkshake
This should not be confused with a no-comply or impossible. This trick involves jumping off and scooping your board around, then jumping back on. It’s okay to take things slowly at first. Simply step off with your front foot, pop your tail, and step back. Gradually increase speed and you’ll learn another trick that looks great and isn’t too difficult.
- Step off with your front foot positioned to the side of your board.
- Flip your board onto its side with your back foot.
- The board should be scooped around using your back foot, like an impossible.
- Jump back on.
22. Bean Plant
- Take off your front foot and pop your tail.
- Grab your nose with your front hand (thumb on the grip).
- Jump back on your board (just like the Caveman)
23. No Compy
Last but not least, the no comply. You really should try to master this elegant trick.
- Turn your shoulders backside and step off your front foot.
- Pop your deck 180 degrees using your back foot.
- Jump back on your board.
Order of Learning Transition Tricks
If that’s not what you’re looking for, here are some fun and rewarding transition tricks.
These tricks are intended for skateboarders who aren’t much of a street skateboarder and are interested in focusing on transitions. If you already know how to ride and push, I would suggest learning skate tricks in this order of difficulty.
- Tail stall
- Rock to fakie
- Axle stall
- Fakie rock & roll
- Rock & roll
- 360 rock & roll
- hang up
- 50-50 grinds
- Nose stall
- Revert
If you’re an older skater, transition is much more rewarding and safer. With these basic tricks, you can ride all day and just improve your style and form.
The goal of skateboarding is to have fun and skate to your abilities. If it was all about competition, I would have given up already.
Conclusion
There are 38 easy beginner skateboard tricks that you can try. I could keep going but this should get you going for a bit. You might find some of them too easy for you, but there are a couple you should try before you start popping kickflips.
Skateboarding is about fun and progression, when you learn something new the adrenaline kicks in and endorphins release and you get stoked, ready to do the next trick.
So go out there and train your muscle memory. With a few of these tricks under your belt, moving on to more difficult tricks will be much easier.
