Let's watch numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 Let's watch numbers 1, 2, 3, 5 Hi folks, today we are talking about the standard grip. This is the first episode of the new series that we called 10,000 ways to use chopsticks. Okay, perhaps there are exactly 10,000 ways people use chopsticks, but we have recorded so far about 30 different ways people use chopsticks and we have published 16 articles on different ways chopsticks are used. We call the different ways people use chopsticks grips because in order to use chopsticks you first have to secure or grip the two sticks with your fingers. Then you twirl the top chopstick. Now I mean it, take a careful look at the slow motion video clip. As you notice how the top chopstick rotated around its longitudinal axis. Good, now you know the secret of the standard grip, as long as you were able to emulate exactly that twirl in motion, you've got it right. The rest of this video will now show you how to learn to secure the two sticks and to make that twirl in motion. Oh, one more thing. We'll be calling chopsticks, Marco sticks. Go to marco sticks.org for reasons why. Step one, you secure the top stick with three fingers, the thumb, the index finger and the middle finger, exactly as shown. In fact this is the same way you hold a pen. Now play tag of war between your two hands. See if you can pull the stick out of the right hand. We call this three finger gripping, the tripod hold. Step two, you will learn to secure the bottom marco stick while maintaining the tripod hold. Insert the bottom marco stick into the gap between the base of the thumb and the perlick you. Use the knuckle of the ring finger to hold up the bottom stick. Note how the thumb is doing double duty. The thumb tip is holding the tripod hold. The base of the thumb keeps the bottom stick secure. If you're unable to hold both marco sticks securely, then practice with just the bottom marco stick. Make sure to press down with the thumb on the marco stick against the ring finger and the perlick you. Similarly, go back to rehearse holding the top marco stick as if holding a pen. See if you can write with it using that twirling motion that we mentioned earlier. Next. Step three is about quote, air quote, unquote. I'm sure you know about this sarcastic finger gesture. Now, just practice that a few times without being distracted by anything marco sticks related. Step four, I want you to twirl the top marco stick using that air quote movement while maintaining tripod hold on the top marco stick. And at the same time, also holding the bottom marco stick secure with the base of your thumb. If you find it difficult to concentrate on all three things at the same time, then help the bottom marco stick as I do here with the left hand. This position is what we call the open posture end of the twirling motion. And this one, the closed posture. At the closed posture, you want to make sure that the rear ends of the two marco sticks are separated as far as you can hold in. That separation in turn allows the tips of the marco sticks to be extended far apart. Whether you are making small and fast movements as seen here or large and slow movements as here, the same principles apply. You must always think of it as an air quote twirling motion. I'm going to slow down the clip four times so that you can see more clearly the finger dynamics. You should observe that regardless of the range and speed, the same finger motions are used. Do you remember that secret of the standard grip that I told you about? See how the top marco stick rotates around its longitudinal axis. Here we have large movement and slow speed. Not coming, we have very small, very fast movements, but the finger motions are exactly the same. I will now speed up the clip, the young regular playback speed, to show you a different perspective. I think the speed up allows us to appreciate the air quilt motion more clearly. Now we'll briefly talk about training marco sticks. Some people may find that despite following this video, you still can't manage to twirl those marco sticks. Some of you may find that you are unable to in fact maintain the thumb pose as indicated in the video. Well, we have good news for you at marco sticks.org. We've got training marco sticks that you can pre-nail at home on your own 3D printer. There are unlike any other learning chopsticks that you actually have to pay for on the market because they are designed following the insights we have just shown you. If you like my friend, despite being a lifelong marco sticks user, he has never been able to use the standard grip because as you can see, he's unable to flex his thumb into a flat pose. He tried out the ring finger helper mounted on a standard set of training marco sticks. Suddenly, he's now able to do the twirling motion. For information on training marco sticks, please look at the video description.