38+ Easy Beginner Skateboard Tricks That Look Impressive

Now that you’re comfortable riding a skateboard, it’s time to learn some easy skateboard tricks. I don’t recommend moving to ollies and kickflips straight away, although it’s tempting. You need to get the basics right before you can move on to harder tricks. This will really benefit you in the long run.

If you get the basics, you’ll progress much faster, and learning new tricks gets you motivated. I honestly don’t get why there are so many ‘guides’ out there that skip the basics entirely. Here’s a short list with easy skateboard tricks for starters:

The Flip On
Hippie Jump
Nose Bleed
Caveman
Nose Pick Up
Ollie Pick Up
Caveman
Firecracker
Boneless
Biebelheimer

Easy Skateboard Tricks

Here are some real entry-level tricks. Easy skateboard tricks that aren’t too difficult to learn, and still make you look good. I did sneak some more difficult tricks in there to challenge you a little, but 90% is beginner stuff.

1. The Flip On

Let’s start off really easy, something everybody can do. You may think this isn’t a trick but my 6-year-old son thinks it’s impressive, so there’s that. I’m not sure what this trick is called though, Flip on it is.

Hey, that’s not a trick! Well, I think so. Once you got the hang of it you could try to land premo which means you land on the side of your deck with your feet on the wheels. This is a bit sketchy though, so you might want to skip that for now. Let’s move on to some tricks that actually look good.

2. The Hippie Jump

Before you practice an ollie, start learning the hippie jump first. You’ll get a bit of a feeling what it’s like to jump without popping your deck. This is a really easy trick which you can start doing by just jumping on your skateboard and work yourself up.

Once you feel comfortable just give your deck a push and jump up and down and land on your skateboard. Next, look for a rail or anything that allows your skateboard to pass under and jump over the obstacle.

Don’t forget to land on you skateboard properly. If you have a friend nearby he can help out by holding a stick or skateboard which you can jump over. Continue to do this until you can’t jump any higher.

Be careful to land on your bolts. If you land too close to your tail or your nose your deck might bounce up and hit your shins, or worse, your face.

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

A nose stall involves an obstacle like a curb with an edge and applying pressure on your nose while leaning backward. To make it easier to lock your nose on, start on a low obstacle and work your way up. You’ll need to push a little bit first and roll up to it.

Once you run into the curb lift your deck a bit by applying a little pressure to your tail and set your nose on the curb. Lean on your forward foot to stay in position. You’ll also need to roll off, I’ll leave that up to you to figure out. Once you get the hang of it, move to taller objects. Eventually, you can work your way up to 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

Again an easy trick that looks great. You already know the basics of riding and steering so you’ll have no problems learning the Caveman.

Start by practicing jumping on your skateboard with a little forward movement. Just take a couple of steps back, run towards and jump on your board. Now you’re ready to learn the caveman.

Hold your skateboard’s nose with your front hand and place your thumb on top of your deck. Run for a few steps and jump off the ground using your back foot. Let go of your skateboard and land on the deck’s bolts. You just did your first Caveman. There are many variations to this trick, once you master the Caveman, get creative.

Hold your nose using your front hand.
Run and jump with your back foot.
Release your board and land on your deck.

5. Nose Pick Up

This requires you to take off your back foot while rolling and popping your skateboard with your front foot. The tail will automatically come up behind you and then you’ll need to grab your deck.

Grabbing is easy because your skateboard will stay behind your leg in a vertical position, just move your hand to your back and you should be able to gran it. The easiest way to practice this is by starting out stationary. Just put your front foot on your nose (not over it). Next, you use your front foot to press down your nose and let your board pop up.

It may not look like much, but you made progress. Progression keeps you motivated and helps you to move forward to your next goal.

You’ll need a bit of forward momentum.
Press your nose with your front foot.
Grab your board.

6. Ollie Pick Up

Really easy and great to get used to popping your deck a little. You need to ride in a forward direction and pop your tail a bit. Put your back and front foot to the ground right after the pop the board.

Start by just letting go off your deck and see how it responds. After that just grab it and nail the trick. Just pop it and your board will fly upwards and it should be fairly easy to pick it up. Once you’ve grabbed the nose, why not jump back on? That’s called a bomb drop so let’s talk about how to do that trick.

Ride forward and gently pop your tail.
Put both of your feet on the ground.
Grab your board.

7. Bomb Drop or Acid Drop

Now that you learned the ollie pick up, it’s time to get familiar with the bomb drop. Basically, you grab your nose with your front hand and jump on your skateboard. When you’re holding your board you should give the board a little bit of a swing.

You’ll probably do this naturally as it makes landing the trick a lot easier. It takes some guts to do the trick but it’s really easy. Make sure you land on the bolts because landing with both feet in the middle will probably snap your deck in two. This is a great trick to combine with the ollie pick up, so go for it!

Be confident, you can do this!
Grab your nose and take a few steps.
Give your board a bit of a swing.
Land with both feet.

8. Wall Bounce

Really awesome trick and you’ll need some luck, but it’s something that will impress your skate buddies. It’s certainly a creative trick and requires some confidence, well actually a lot and bring some guts. If you don’t feel confident skip it and focus on something else for now.

It requires you to pop your tail a little and make your board jump forward. Your deck will have some forward momentum and naturally move upwards. The wheels will bounce off the wall and with great timing, you might land it. It looks kind of scary, to be honest.

Roll towards a wall.
At the right time, pop your tail and jump off the board.
wait for it to bounce back and jump on your board.

9. Firecracker

This trick requires you to just put a little pressure on your tail and ride off a stairway, but let’s just start with curbs first. Once you feel confident doing firecrackers on a curb, try to find 2-step stairs somewhere. It’s all about starting small and building up towards bigger stairs.

Once you get to stairs, bend your knees a little and put a bit of pressure on your tail (just like when you ride off a curb). Like the guy says in the video, it’s a mental challenge.

Don’t think about the stair just try to think of a manual and ride down the stairs. Keep your balance and don’t lean forward, lean a little to the back but not too much. It makes a lot of noise, hence the name, but is easier than you might think.

10. Tic Tac

This should be fairly easy. Just move your front wheels from side to side and push using your knees to get a little speed. It’s horrible, I know, but great to get more familiar with your board.

Is it actually a trick? I’ll leave that up to you but it deserves a place in this list. You’ll learn how to gain speed without having to push. It might not look like much but it will help you correct your balance when learning new tricks

11. Fakie Kick Turn

I don’t really need to show a video here, it’s so basic that you can just read and do it yourself. Just to be sure and for consistencies sake, I added the video. It just requires you to ride backward and turn 180 degrees. Move your shoulders and head first and let the rest of your body follow.

Your board should naturally follow, just make sure you gently push your tail with your back foot while turning around.

Get your board rolling in fakie.
Turn your head and shoulders and gently push your tail.
Turn your body and your board should follow.

12. Kick Turn on a Ramp

A basic trick that will benefit you greatly in skateparks. You can do this frontside and backside, but start with backside as it’s a lot easier. Once you feel comfortable, practice frontside kick turns. A kick turn on a ramp is like most of the tricks all about posture.

Gently lift up your front wheels by applying a bit of pressure to your tail. Start to turn your shoulders and head a bit when you ride up to the ramp, the rest of your body will follow.

Don’t put too much pressure on your tail and keep leaning into the ramp when you turn. If you do, your skateboard will decide to move forward without you. Just let gravity do its thing.

Just start slow, don’t try to make your way all up to the ramp but gradually move up. Remember not to overturn.

Move up the ramp.
Turn your shoulders and gently press your tail.
Turn your body.

13. Boneless

Another great beginners trick with potential. Once you know how to Boneless, there are infinite possibilities. This requires you to grab the (outer) side of your board near your wheels and jump back on again. It a bit scary at first and not for people with bad backs.

Grab the side of your board and step off with your front foot.
jump up and get back on your board.

14. Rail Stand

This looks scary but it’s really easy. Best to just start by balancing on your board first and get on your deck. Later on, try to get into the rail stand position.

For the rail stand, “All you have to do is set your feet up so your front foot will be pushing down the side in order to flip it over.” It’s kind of a four-step process:

Put some pressure on your feet to make it flip.
Once it flips, 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 rail stand. You just have to bring your front foot back and assume the rail stand.
Stay balanced. Now you need to make push slightly forward. Your deck will flip over and you should land on top of your board.

The best way to practice? “It’s best to learn this trick while holding onto something, but it only takes a few times and you start getting the feeling of it,” VLSkate says.

15. Biebelheimer

A cool way to get on your skateboard. It requires you to throw your board down and jump on. 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, just throw it down a couple of times to see how the board reacts. When you get the angle right, it’s time to try and jump on your board.

Grab the board with your thumb on the grip side of your board and the rest of your finger at the other side.
Turn around the board, throw it gently forward and make sure the grip side hits the ground. Make sure your tail is still on the ground and you throw it down slightly angled.
The board will bounce back and flip, time to hop on.

16. Manual

This is a great trick for practicing your balance and once you master it, you can combine it with other tricks. It’s difficult at the beginning but it’s a type of trick that you’ll get better and better at. You won’t get very far the first time, but like all tricks, you’ll improve.

Put your front foot just down from your front bolts and place your other foot on the tail.
Put some pressure on the back of your tail and bend your front knee a little. Keep your back knee straight. (while moving).

17. Staple Gun

I’ve seen my old school skater friends doing this in our local mini ramp and it always amazed me. Turns out you can just practice this on a curb, now why did I never think of this 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.

I’m going to practice this one and get back to you. I always wanted to do this trick in the mini ramp but it’s just scary. Time to head over to a curb and start practicing! Edit: I managed to do it but it made me feel really sore the next day, I’m getting old.

18. Step off Under Flip (Ghost Kickflip_

Not sure what the name is of this trick is but my friend suggested calling it the ‘step off under flip’ but I also heard someone say ‘ghost kickflip’.

It requires you to jump off your board, take a few steps and then flip your skateboard by placing your foot under the board. I found a video of a guy doing exactly that, but I’m not sure if this is actually the right name. It doesn’t matter, it’s a cool trick.

Roll forward and jump off your deck.
Use your front foot and reach under your deck and flip it.
jump back on.

19. Mike Vallely Shove It

Now that you learned about the nollie shove it, it’s time to get creative. A really fun trick that’s supposed to be relatively easy is the Mike Vallely shove it (Vlskate named it this way and I’m stealing it. It has similarities with a 360 shove it.

There’s not much risk in this trick because your board is sliding on the ground, so no worries about ankles. Do the slide, jump off your board and jump back on. Legend Mike Vallely is the one who came up with this, hence the name.

20. Shove It

This is a bit more difficult and at the end of the spectrum of beginner tricks. I wanted to mention it because it’s one of the first tricks many skateboarders try to learn. I also think you want something more challenging and the shove it should provide you just that before you go on and do ollies.

21. Strawberry Milkshake

Not the be confused with a no-comply or impossible. For this trick, you jump off your board and scoop it around and jump back on. You can take it slow at first. Just step off with your front foot, pop your tail and step on back again. Gradually increase speed and you learned another trick that isn’t too hard and looks amazing.

Step off with your front foot positioned to the side of your board.
Flip your board onto its side with your back foot.
Scoop your board 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

Saved for last, the no comply. It’s such an elegant trick which you really should try to master.

Turn your shoulders backside and step off your front foot.
Pop your deck 180 degrees using your back foot.
Jump back on your board.

The 4 Types of Flat-Ground Tricks Beginners MUST Learn

Skateboarding is all about being creative, having fun, and pushing yourself. Every skater has a unique style and original bag of tricks that come with it. So there aren’t that many required tricks per se.

BUT If you aspire to become a great all-round skater, there are key tricks you should master. I wish someone had told me this when I first started skating: “In order to progress faster, you want to focus on the fundamentals straight away”.

So, which skateboard tricks should you learn first?

Here are 12 must-learn skateboard tricks that encompass pretty much every advanced trick. The quicker you master them, the sooner you’ll be on cover of Thrasher Magazine.

1. Ollie

Put it simply, the Ollie is the action of jumping with your board stuck to your feet. Performed by snapping your tail on the ground and rolling your front foot on the grip tape towards the nose, it’s the most important trick in skateboarding.

It’s the base for every street skateboard trick. From flip tricks to grinds, from gaps to rails, it opens the door to every aspect of skateboarding. Thus, the faster you master it, the quicker you’ll jump into more technical tricks and different obstacles.

2. BS & FS Pop Shove It

The Backside Pop Shove It is a 180 rotation of the board on its horizontal axis in front of you. The trick introduces the concept of scoop you’ll find in many other more advanced flip tricks, hence why, I recommend learning it as soon as possible.

To perform a Pop Shove-It you want to scoop your tail backwards. You can start learning it standing still in grass or on carpet. If you have difficulty figuring out the scoop, only use your deck at first, without the trucks and wheels.

The Frontside Pop Shove It is simply motion of the opposite of a pop shove it. You want to scoop in front of you to make the board spin behind you. Most riders learn Frontside Shoves later than Backside Shoves.

3. FS & BS 180 Ollie

Frontside and Backside 180s are the first skateboard rotation you’re going to learn. They have a similar motion to the Ollie, except you want to wind up your shoulders and hips to make the board follow you.

These two tricks help to build the feet, hips, and shoulders coordination required for a lot of more advanced tricks. If you have difficulty learning them on flat, you can start on a pyramid to have less rotation to make; or a kicker to get more hang time.

4. Kickflip & Heelflip

The Kickflip is performed by flicking with your front foot toes towards the back corner of the nose (right corner for goofy footed, left corner for regular) causing the board to do 360° rotation on its horizontal axis.

The Heelflip is basically the same trick, but going in the other direction. As its name shows it, the heel makes the board spin by flicking towards the top corner of the nose.

No matter kickflip or heelflip, the first flip trick is a huge milestone in a skater journey. It requires tens of hours of trial and error. Hitting your shins, landing primo and slippling out hundreds of times in the process.

Some learn it in days, some in years. Don’t give up and you’ll get there!

5 Entry-Tricks to Skate Every Obstacle

1. Drop In

The drop in is the first trick to learn to step into the transition world. To drop in, you want to place the tail of your board above the coping with the wheels locked against it. Then, you place your front foot on your front bolts as you shift your weight from your back leg to your front one and roll away.

Dropping in allows you to ride transition from quarter pipe to vert ramp, the motion is the same. Every transition tricks involve dropping back into the ramp the drop at some point.

2. Manual

Manuals, also called wheelies, refers to the motion of balancing on the two back wheels of the skateboard.

Although a “legit” manual involves an ollie, you can learn them safely by lifting your front truck off the ground. Hold it as long as you can. Inches by inches. It’s a very rewarding trick because you can easily measure your progress, session after session.

Manuals are also a safe introduction to the one-leg balance most ledge, rail, and transition tricks require having down. They will build up your back leg and ankle muscles that all back leg-heavy tricks require, such as Five-O, Tailslide, Smith, Feeble and Bluntslide.

3. Rock to Fakie / Rock & Roll

As a skateboard trick, the Rock refers to the action of putting your front truck over the coping, stalling, and then going back down.

To drop back into the transition, you’ve got two choices: either go in backwards, called Rock to Fakie, or pivot back into your regular stance, called Rock & Roll.

Personally, I’ve learned Rock Fakie before Rock & Roll, but I know many people more comfortable with Rock & Roll at first. Try both and focus on the one that comes more natural to you.

4. FS 50-50 Grind

Now that you have your Ollies down, time to tackle ledges and curbs. The most basic trick to start with is the Frontside 50-50 grind. It’s when you grind with both of your trucks onto the edge of a curb.

The secret here is to lock in the wheels on your toe side against the coping. As you come at an angle, you want to shift slightly your hips at a to do the 10° rotation required to lock in perfectly. Focus on locking your back truck, the front one should follow.

5. BS Boardslide

The Backside Boardslide consists of sliding onto the rail with your deck centered while your body face the end of the rail. It is by far the easiest and safest rail trick. Thus, it’s the first trick 99% of riders learn.

Boardslides require having some basics down. You’ll need a solid ollie and a semi-decent Frontside 180. Stay above your board and bend your knees to avoid slipping out. There is no secret to it, you’ve got to practice it until you find the right balance point.

Intermediate Tricks to Complete the Basics

1. BS 50-50 Grind

The Backside 50-50 Grind has a similar motion as the Frontside 50-50. Except you’re going towards the curb backside and you lock in your toe-side wheel.

I would advise to start with Axle Stalls, on quarter-pipes, to understand the balance and the lock-in technique. Once you have those downs, it should take you to long to figure out how to do it on a ledge.

2. Nose Manual

Like its name suggests it, the nose manual is a manual performed with the nose. It isn’t a difficult trick per se, but it’s an intimidating one. Much harder to bail safely than a manual!

For foot placement, position your front foot in the nose’s pocket, your back foot close to the back bolts. You want to lean with most of your body weight over your front truck while balancing with your hips. Keep your upper body straight.

Nose manuals also build your front leg strength and equilibrium. It opens the door to many grinds and slides front leg-heavy, such as Nosegrinds, Noseslides, Krooked Grinds, Nose Blunts…

3. Backside Feeble Grind

Feeble Grind is usually the first grind skaters learn on flat-bars. Even though 50-50 sounds easier on paper, in practice locking both trucks on a rail is a guaranteed slam. Especially on round rails.

The trick is performed by grinding with your back truck locked onto the rail heel side, while your front truck hangs out. It’s one of the first trick you’ll encounter that requires a proper pinch of the truck. The secret is to stand with all your body weight on your back heel. As long as you have your boardslides and 50-50s (on curbs) down, you can learn backside feeble.

Transition Tricks Learning Order

Ok, if this isn’t what you’re looking for and want to skate transition, here’s a shortlist of tricks that are fun and rewarding.

This list of tricks is if you’re not much of a street skateboarder and want to focus on transition. Assuming you already know how to ride and push I’d suggest learning skate tricks in this order.

Tail stall
Rock to fakie
Axle stall
Fakie rock & roll
Rock & roll
360 rock & roll
hang up
50-50 grinds
Nose stall
Revert

Transition is very rewarding and in my opinion a lot safer when you’re an older skater. If you know these basics tricks you can ride all day long and just work on your style and form. Skateboarding is about fun and skating to your ability. I would have given up already if it was all about competition.

That’s It!

38 easy beginner skateboard tricks, I can keep going but this is enough to get you going for a while. Some are too easy for your liking but I’m sure there’s a couple of tricks in there that you want to 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.

If you know any or can help me name some of them I would appreciate it. As you know, you won’t get muscle memory from reading and watching but it helps you to think about what requires you to do a trick.

So go out there and train your muscle memory. Once you got a few of these tricks you’ll know all the basics which makes it much easier to move on to more difficult tricks.

Ruben Vee

I’m an aged skateboarder and I still shred responsibly. I started skateboarding 25 years ago but also love surfing, snowboarding, or anything that involves a board.