30 Beginner Skateboard Tricks with Step-by-Step Guides, GIFs, & Slow-Mo Videos

Skateboard Tricks are what make skateboarding an action sport and not just a 4 wheel commute to ride from your home to your office.

Skateboard Tricks – A Breif History

Ever since skateboarding originated back in the 1940s and early 1950s – the action sport was all about tricks, style, and movement. The game first evolved around the sidewalks of the beaches and came to know as sidewalk surfing.

The first ones to set foot on wooden boards were the surfers who were not able to perform their tricks when the waters were still. And hence – all that gushing blood to maneuver the surfboards was reflected on the streets in the form of skateboard tricks. You can imagine the maneuvering styles these surfers must have brought to the skateboarding world.

Today there are countless skateboard tricks. In fact, this post – which claims to have compiled the 30 best and easy skateboard tricks is just touching the wave. The waters for these tricks run deep.

Every country, in fact, every county and village has its own skateboarding style which differs marginally or totally from others. US skateboarders have a different flaunt while in Canada just below you will find skateboarders performing tricks quite new or unknown to the north.

And the same goes on for the UK, the middle east, and even eastern countries where the world is still welcoming this full-of-style sport.

Wherever you ride, be it in the States or India, or China – it is important to understand that skateboard tricks are risky to perform. The tricks are not just about the roads or the skateparks or the rails and plank’s quality. They are about your balance, your control, and your body synchronization with the skateboard.

You can get a good brand skateboard or go to a huge skatepark featuring balls and concrete tracks and still get severely hurt or bruised for the minimum. So never start with the advanced skateboard tricks ever.

30 Best Beginner Skateboard Tricks

Start with the basics. First, learn how to stand on a skateboard, then learn to ride it. Start balancing it and then gradually enter into the beginner skateboard tricks amusement world – which is huge!

You will never get fed up even with these beginner skateboard tricks. There are 30 which came just from the top of our heads. But if we seriously put every trick we learned past these years, our ink will not last us.

Below we have compiled the 30 easiest skateboard tricks that every beginner to the skateboard should first master. The best part about this compilation is that it has tricks even from the 90s and from the 20th century with modern tricks being ranked at the top.

We have even set up a step-by-step guide and linked photos, gifs, and videos wherever necessary for all these tricks to make them easier for you. Best of luck tricking!

360 Flip | Tre Flip | 360 Kickflip

360 flip, Tre Flip 3 Flip or the 360 Kickflip
360 Flip – Image by Adrein

360 Flip is the first of all the skateboard tricks you are ever going to learn. Some skateboarders say that it is the easiest – but we don’t quite agree. There are easier than the 360 flips too.

The reason 360 flip is considered the easiest is because of its popularity. Almost every single individual who associates himself with skateboarding actually starts his performance by doing a 360.

What is 360 Flip?

There are many names for a 360 flip. Some skateboarders refer to this trick as the Treflip or the 360 kickflip. However, 360 flip is the most common and we believe this is how it is named in all skateboarding competitions.

In simple terms, a 360 flip is when your skateboard rotates a full circle (360 degrees) in the air before landing on the ground. Check out this slow-mo video by Braille. However, this video misses addressing the foot placements and how to fling the board.

The challenge with this trick is to get the full circle. As you start doing it your skateboard will flip 180 degrees 24 degrees and even more than 36o degrees. This will crash the deck on the ground vertically or partially on the rims and the edges.

The key is the amount of pressure you apply for the board to do a complete 360 flip and not more or less (10 – 15 degrees plus minus is okay). And to apply proper pressure you need to adjust your right and front foot properly.

Check out the post titled “Master Skateboard 360 Flip / Treflip Trick in 6 Easy Steps which explains step by step where you need to place your foot and how to fling your skateboard up in the air.

360 Pop Shove It | 360 Pop Shuvit

360 Pop Shove It / 360 Pop Shuvit
360 Pop Shove It / 360 Pop Shuvit

360 Pop Shove It or Shuvit (shovit), is a flatground trick that is quite similar to the 360 flips. The only difference is that the board does not flip on its axis in this one. The sum rotation degrees of the board remains the same.

Look at the backfoot in the photo above. It is placed at the very end of the tail on the upper curvature or the tip. This is where most of the pressure is applied to pop the deck and fling it in the air. Your front foot is placed in the middle of the plank near the bolts which helps in scooping the board (However most of the work is done by the front foot).

This like the flip 360 is included in the beginner skateboard tricks because of its popularity. In reality, the trick is a bit difficult and a lot technical to perform.

There are even chances that your deck might snap into two. It is always advisable to get in a branded skateboard whenever going for tricks and tips.

To perfect your 360 shuvits visit our post “360 Pop Shove It – Explained in 5 Simple Steps“.

5 0 Grind | FS and BS

How to 5 0 Grind
How to 5 0 Grind – Erik Brolin Image

5 0 grind is one of our favorites. Primarily because this was the first of the beginner skateboard tricks which we learned back in the 1990s. It is easy, it has style and it can be performed almost everywhere. There are lesser chances of ankle injuries too.

The trick is pronounced as five-oh, yet written as a “0 (zero)” after the 5 and not the letter “o”. It seems a bit weird but that is how skateboard tricks’ names are. You just need to catch up with the ohs and oohs going on with modern skaters.

The basic of this trick is – you slide on a rail or a ramp or actually any obstacle with the back trucks grinding on the surface. The nose remains suspended until you land (Landing is the most crucial part of this trick, according to us).

According to the manual, only the back trucks should be grinding the surface. As you start practicing the trick the nose will also scrap the surface. Just hang on a little bit, until you perfect how to keep the nose too up in the air.

Read our step-by-step guide to master the 5 0 grind trick and the 5 0 around the fountain trick in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2.

There are many variations of this trick, some are just a tweak different. The two most common types are the backside or the bs 5 0 grind and the frontside or the fs 5 0 grind.

The only downside is trucks get out of shape or completely broken. Sometimes even the tail wood suffers scratches. Get a plastic rim to protect the edges and do buy a good skateboard to prevent truck damage.

50 50 Grind | 2nd Easiest Beginner Skateboard Trick

How to 50 50 Grind or Skateboard 50 50
How to 50 50 Grind or Skateboard 50 50

50 50 Grind alternately known as the Skateboard 50 50 is one of the easiest of all grinding skateboard tricks. You will find kids, beginners to skateboarding, and female skateboarders, doing this all the time in the parks, or near the metro underbridges.

What makes this different from 5 0 grind is that in the – 50 50 both the trucks or actually the hangers grind the surface whereas in 5 0 only the backside trucks grind. The former one (5 0) is believed to be a bit difficult in comparison to this one –

There are only two things that you need to perfect to perform a 50/50 –

First, become a master in ollieing, and then just balance your deck half on the rail or whichever surface you are skating on, and half off the rail.

This half off the rail and half on it – is what gives it – its name the 50 50 grind. However, there are many other names too – which we have covered in the 50 50 Grind Tutorial. Check it out below –

There are some other interesting variations to this trick too, for example, the 50 50 Grind on Curb and the 50-50 Switch Out – (awesome of all skateboard grind tricks). Look at the photo above, the skateboarder there is actually doing a 50 50 Curb. We have covered these two and also the THPS Warehouse 50 50 Grind challenge in the above-linked post. Check it out.

Nose Grind | BS Nosegrind | FS Nosegrind

Nose Grind with a Pop
Nose Grind with a Pop – Flickr Images

Nose Grind is the most logical to describe this skateboard trick. Because it seems that all other names might have some hidden unknown mystery that passed along with the skateboarder who must have named it.

In this trick, the nose or the front trucks grind the rail or the ledge (or whichever surface you are skating upon). It is completely opposite to the 5 0 which is also known as the Tail Grind where the tail or the back trucks grind the surface. But why it is named 5 0 must be again one of the skateboarding secrets! 🙂

We believe Nose Grind to be a difficult trick in comparison to the original 5 0. Your natural pressure foot while doing a front side is the back one. And hence in 5 0, you apply pressure backward and the front of the board or the nose remains suspended in the air.

In this trick, you have to keep the tail suspended and the front end to grind. So you have to shift a lot of momentum and balance from the back foot to the front foot. A bit difficult? It seems so – however check our step-by-step guide to master the trick we have linked here.

The article linked above has all the variations – the backside BS and the frontside FS and the Nose Grind Pop Out. The photo attached with this trick is the pop-out version of the trick and is very interesting.

We have even linked to the THPS 1+2 Nose Grind site in the Mall Level near the coffee ground gap. Read it out there.

Tailslide | Backside Tailslide | Frontside Tailslide

How to Tailslide | BS | FS | THPS
How to Tailslide | BS | FS | THPS

After the Grinds now it is time to lean on some Slides.

Sliding is another format of skateboarding tricks and they are also as easy as the grinds with some crucial differences. In grinds the part remains in contact much longer than in slides and secondly and more importantly in a grind the hanger of the truck is in action while in the slides the ply or the deck is the one doing all the tricks.

Tailslide is when the tail slides on the ramps or the ledges. And as the tail is sliding, it is the only part that is in contact. The rest of the skateboard, which is almost all of it, remains suspended in the air. So basically all the four wheels, the truck, and the nose – all fall outside the sliding object.

The difficult part is to turn the board at right angles after you ollie/scoop over the ledge. And you have to turn your body along. Or else you will flip out.

The other important thing is – balance, as only a little portion of the deck actually has a grounding. Rest everything else is falling completely outside. In grinds even if you are not able to pull the nose grind or the tail grind properly, you will end up on the rail. But here you will fall to the ground. So you need to be extra careful here.

Check out our 8-step guide to do a tailslide backside and frontside. We have included the manual for the THPS and the Venice Ledge as well.

Boardslide | Frontside & Backside

Boardslide | BS Boardslide | FS Boardslide
Boardslide | BS Boardslide | FS Boardslide

Tailslide was a little difficult? Here is the easiest and the first of sliding tricks – the Boardslide. In this trick you middle your skateboard on the obstacle and then slide along. The center part of the ply, horizontally and vertically is the one doing the action.

The rest of the skateboard, including the wheels and the trucks, generally remains suspended. If it is a pipe or a vert ramp, then there is no issue, because the width is less than that of a skateboard. You might find middling and suspending the deck a bit difficult on a bowl or a larger concrete block on the streets.

We assume there are many fewer beginner skateboarding tricks, in which the BS variant is easier than the FS version. Boardslide is one of those. Performing FS is a bit difficult because when you land on the ramp or the pipe, you are diagonal to the deck which makes landing a bit challenging.

The BS is the most common one and as a beginner, go with it. After you perfect it, start the FS. We have compiled a 4-step and a 7-step guide for both variants respectively. Check it out below –

Backside Lipslide – No beginner Skateboard Tricks!

1) Put in your favorite ACDC tape to pump up the session.

2) Don’t try this trick until you have first learned to do backside 50-50’s, frontside boardslides, and backside 180’s.

3) Approach the ledge or rail like you are about to do a backside 50-50.

Backside Lipslide - Beginner Skateboard Tricks
Backside Lipslide - Beginner Skateboard Tricks

4) A Start winding up your shoulders like you do when you do a bakside 180 and as you clear the top of the ledge or rail use the wind-up to turn about 90 degrees into the backside lipslide position.

5) Now slide! The faster you go the further you’ll slide but if you are on a rail or a box you need to keep most of your weight on your backfoot to get a good slide.

6) To come out, if on a rail, you just need to turn out like any other boarslide. On a ledge or box, however, you must put pressure on your tail to “pop” off the ledge, especially if it is a ledge with no end.

Bluntslide – Sequel to Backside 5-0

1). Approach the obstacle at a comfortable speed.

2). Go like you’re going to do a backside 5-0, but don’t lock into the 5-0.

3). As you ollie, turn the board frontside 90 degrees and lock into a blunt.

4). Slide as far as possible and turn 90 degrees backside when coming out to roll away smooth.

Frontside Boardslide to Shovit – Try this after Frontside Boardslide

1) Go to the object with a confident frontside railslide

2) As you get on the object, straighten out your legs a bit and then think about how you are to shove it this board underneath your feet.

Frontside Boardslide to Shovit - Beginner Skateboard Tricks
Frontside Boardslide to Shovit - Beginner Skateboard Tricks

3) At the end of your slide, start taking your feet and try to to throw / turn your board as if you were on the ground practicing shove-its

4) As it shove-its, watch to see where it is when you get ready to get back on.

5) Ride away so happy that you didn’t get a wheel bite.

Frontside Laidback Powerslide – One of the cool skateboard tricks

1) Go fast and take a mean frontside angle. (for some this may entail learning to carve.)

2) Compress as you rocket into a frontside slide.

Frontside Laidback Powerslide - Beginner Skateboard Tricks

3) Lay your trailing hand back.

4) Slide your board around so it’ll come under you, then simply ride it out.

5) Pop open a cold one.

Half Cab – After Mastering Rolling Fakie

1. First learn how to backside 180

2. From the 180 get comfortable rolling fakie and doing fakie ollies.

3. You want to roll fakie and wind your shoulders up a little bit.

Half Cab - Beginner Skateboard Tricks

4. Now pop your board exactly like a fakie ollie and start turning your board with your shoulders.

5. Try and level out your board half way through your turn.

6. Keep turning till your facing completely forward.

7. Now just absorb the impact and roll away.

Hardflip – One of the hard skateboard tricks

1) Approach the object you are trying to hardflip (gap, stairs, ramp, flatground).

2) Set your back foot in the left corner (if your goofy right corner if you are regular foot) of your tail. This will help you scoop the board. Then set your front foot on the upper right side (if your goofy) were it feels comfortable to flick it off to the side.

3) Since your board is fliping in a folding fashion most of the work is done with your back foot.

Hardflip - Beginner Skateboard Tricks

4) When your are ready, scoop your back foot so that your board will start going into a vertical motion.

5) When your front foot reaches the top of the board let it go limp so that you get a solid flick.

6) Avoid poping to hard, this will cause your board to pop up your butt. Try and pop with control

7) Watch for your board , catch it as it folds up to your legs.

8) Catch it, float, float and land.

9) Then ride away smooth

Heelflip – Again not one of the simple skateboard tricks

1) Roll fast enough that you feel like you’re rolling smoothly and comfortably across the ground.

2) Set up with your back foot on the tip of the tail and your front foot just behind the front truck bolts with your toes hanging off the edge of the board. Keep your body straight– your head should be directly above the center point between your feet.

3) Bend down keeping your head above your board. (Don’t lean forward, just squat.)

Heelflip - Beginner Skateboard Tricks

4) Pop your ollie and jump with it but don’t throw your shoulders back as you go up. Right after your tail taps the ground, kick your front foot forward with the heel in a kind of diagonal direction. Kick it out in front of you but also kick it a little toward the direction in which you are rolling. This helps to give you a flip that you can see and catch easier.

5) Don’t lean back! Don’t try to bail! Catch the board, push it down and land. Roll away happy.

K-grind – The Faster the Better

1) To start add my personal touch which is 5 pushes faster than you normally go…

2) Stay about 1 foot out from the object for spacing

3) Next ollie out at an angle and land on your front truck

4) Press with your front foot while keeping about a 70/30 pressure between your feet

5) Grind across the object staying directly over it

K-Grind - Beginner Skateboard Tricks
K-Grind - Beginner Skateboard Tricks

6) To come out, put pressure on your back foot to lift the front of your board up

7) Then direct your board with your front foot to where you want it to be

8) If you were going fast enough you should shoot off of the object and have to direct your board in the air

9) Land-Roll away and now try again EVEN faster.

Kickflip – One of the most basic skateboard tricks

1) Start with your back foot on the tail and your front foot right under the bolts. Your front foot should be slanted just a little.

2) Bend your knees and pop your board.

Kickflip - Beginner Skateboard Tricks
Kickflip - Beginner Skateboard Tricks

3) Flick your front foot off the tip of the nose making it flip.

4) Suck up your legs for the catch. Try and keep your feet over the bolts.

5) Land and absorb the shock and roll away.

Kickflip to Noseslide – Try this after perfecting Kickflip

1) Creep up on the obstacle with moderate speed. A slight angle in navigation will probably help.

2) Set your feet to the kickflip position.

3) Get ready to pop the frontside flip when the impulse strikes you. When you have reached a safe distance, unleash the nasty.

Kickflip to Noseslide - Beginner Skateboarding Tricks
Kickflip to Noseslide - Beginner Skateboarding Tricks

4) While your board is rotating, aim your front foot to meet the nose of your board in a nosesliding position.

5) By now your back foot should have also made it back onto the board. Slide as far as possible, with all your weight on the obstacle.

6) Decide whether you want to come out forward or to fakie, unweight your front foot and dismount accordingly.

7) Land cleanly and roll away in the direction of prospective sponsors.

Manual – One of the best skateboard tricks ever

Prerequisite

  • Must be able to ollie over a deck standing up
  • ollie up a curb
  • manual a set distance, like sidewalk cracks

1) Start and maintain a fair amount of speed. Make sure your back foot is covering most of the tail and your front foot is placed just before the bolts.

Manual - One of the Best Skateboard Tricks Ever
Manual - One of the Best Skateboard Tricks Ever

2) Pretend you are just going to ollie onto the curb but do it a little earlier and come up a little higher than the curb (so your back wheels dont bonk).

3) Land on your back two wheels and balance with your arms

4) hold still and just pretend you are dropping off the curb when you get off.

Nollie Crooked Grind – Combination of Nollie and Crooked Grind

1. First you want to be comfortable with nollies and crooked grinds.

2. You’re gonna want to roll up at a slight angle and have your feet in the nollie position with your front foot on the nose and your back foot in the middle of the board.

NOLLIE CROOKED GRIND - Combination of Nollie and Crooked Grind

3. Now pop your nollie high enough to get your front truck over the obstacle.

4. Now this is where the grind comes in–once you’re over the obstacle lock your front truck into a crooked grind.

5. Once you’re grinding you’re gonna want to put pressure on your nose to hold the crooked grind.

6. Now come out by sliding your back foot towards the back of your board.

7. Roll away.

Nollie Flip – This is a Beginner Skateboard Trick

1) Drop in going toward the pyramid at a decent speed.

2) Turn towards the hip you are going to land on.

NOLLIE KICK FLIP - This is a Beginner Skateboard Trick
NOLLIE KICK FLIP - This is a Beginner Skateboard Trick

3) Nollie pop and flip shifting your weight back in mid-air so you can land back on the board.

4) Land and shift your weight back forward.

5) ride away and go back on some chicks.

Nosebone – Push as farther as you can

1) To start, push push push push, and if your down PUSH SOME MORE!!!

2) Now get ready to ollie, foot behind the bolts but not too much

3) Ollie up and start turning your board toward your Left or Right at an angle

Nosebone - Beginner Skateboarding Tricks
Nosebone - Beginner Skateboarding Tricks

4) Grab your board real hard and use your arm and front foot to tweak it out and turn it sideways as much as possible.

5) Now use your arm to push your board back straight

6) Let go and get ready to compress and rollaway

7) Try again FASTER AND BIGGER

Nosegrind – Second Awesome-st skateboard trick

1). Approach the bench with medium to moderate speed, depending on the length of the bench.

2). Ollie as you normally would shifting your front foot just past your front two bolts.

NOSEGRIND - Second Awesome-st skateboard trick

3). Keep your back foot on the back of the board, with medium pressure, to keep the board straight so it won’t turn side ways. And so you don’t fall an look like a loser in front of your friends.

4). Keeping your balance as you come to the end of the bench, hopefully your speed will carry you off of your nose, clearing your back trucks landing bolts on bolts feeling like the king of the world !!!!

Noseslide – Same comment as in Nosegrind, Awesome!

1) Approach obstacle with decent speed. Make sure your comfortable before actually attempting it.

2) Pop an ollie and start to turn the board 90 degrees as if you were doing a 180.

NOSESLIDE - Best Skateboard Tricks
NOSESLIDE - Best Skateboard Tricks
NOSESLIDE - Best Skateboard Tricks

3) Watch for the nose to get over the ledge and just stand on it.

4) Keep your weight mostly on your foot and just slide across the obstacle.

5) When you reach end, start to turn your body then pop a little and your feet should fall into place.

6) Land bolts, absorb the shock and roll away clean.

Ollie – Actually the first of beginner skateboard tricks you want to learn

1) Push at a comfortable speed, remember the faster you go the better the pop.

2) Place your front foot near the middle of your board, about two inches under your bolts. Put your back foot on the tail.

3) Squat, so you can spring yourself up.

Ollie - The start for basic skateboard tricks

4) Kick your back foot down so you can pop as you jump up, your front foot should rub upward on your griptape.

5) Make sure you tuck your knees to your chest, picking up your back foot as well to level the board at a good height. REMEMBER you are jumping forward.

6) Then come down comfortably, both feet on the board. It will look better if both your feet are over the bolts as well as lessen the stress of impact

7) Finally bend your legs as you touch down to give it that smooth style and roll away stocked.

Pop Shovit – 360 Pop Shovit is in the beginning of the post

1) Start off with your feet placed correctly on your board.

2) Cruise at a comfortable speed, its about the same as an ollie except you rotate your body inward.

3) As you ollie up kick your back foot behind you and you board will rotate inward.

Pop Shovit - The start for basic skateboard tricks
Pop Shovit - The start for basic skateboard tricks

4) Keep your shoulders and body straight, don’t turn.

5) As the board rises up jump up with the board, the harder you pop the higher your board will.

6) Land Square on your board and ride away with a smile.

Salad Grind – One of the impossible skateboard tricks? Hahaha

1. Grow some balls and roll up.

2. Pop like you’re trying a front blunt but don’t turn all the way so your back truck sticks into a salad grind.

Salad Grind - impossible skateboard tricks

3. Grind till you can’t grind no more.

4. It’s hard to pop out but try it anyway.

5. Straighten your butt out and roll away.

Streetplant – Second of Impossible Skateboard Tricks? Hahahaha..

1) First it might be a good idea to learn how to walk on your hands so your wrists will be use to having all of your weight on one of them. Another good way to pratice is to do a handstand against a wall (brick,so you wont damage the wall) and shift your weight onto one hand. Once you have mastered that, you will be ready to go foward with the rest of the trick.

2) Ride foward with a little speed, plant your hand on the ground

Streetplant - impossible skateboard tricks
Streetplant - impossible skateboard tricks

3) At the same time you do that, you want to grab the board and start taking your feet off the board front foot first.

4) Boost off with your back foot and pull your board back to where you want to stall at.

5) At the same time, you want to bring your feet up to your board and stall there.

6) Bring body and board down at the same time.

7) Ride away with a little smirk on your face.

Tailslide to Fakie – The last trick you will learn as a beginner

1) First learn 50-50s and 180’s, when your comfortable doing these tricks your ready for a fs tailslide.

2) Approach the obstacle at a good amount of speed.

Tailslide to Fakie - Beginner Skateboarding Tricks
Tailslide to Fakie - Beginner Skateboarding Tricks

3) Ollie 90 degrees and lean on your tail pushing it into the ledge or curb.

4) Slide however far you want to.

5) Pop out 180 and ride away smooth.

What skateboard tricks should I learn first?

What is the easiest trick on a skateboard?

What should a beginner skater do?

Is a shove it easier than an ollie?

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