Advice on serves for beginner/ low intermediate

Serves are definitely difficult to discuss on a forum.  You might want to look at some videos of the backhand serves of some of the Asian women professionals.  I am thinking particularly of the one that uses a large side-ways motion (not the one that is more "U"shaped.  The Bh serves use less of the wrist snap than the Fh serves.  Also this sideways swing type Bh serve is very good for serving fast long serves which are very useful at the beginner level.   The more "U" shaped one can be a very deceptive serve, but is a little more difficult to execute since it requires some very quick and subtle changes in the racket direction at the bottom of the "U".

One of the ways to get in extra serving practice is to play an entire match serving only one serve.  As the match goes on your opponent will get better at returning it and you will need to get better at keeping it low, fast if long, and landing at the proper distance.  When playing a weaker player, this is a good way to make them play as if they were higher rated.  You can also practice one simple variation for the whole match.  Something like alternating short under and short no-spin serves.  Or short side-top and long side-top. 

I would suggest focusing on keeping serves low and controlling depth.  For depth control I mean landing long serves within 6 in of end-line and landing short serves so that the 2nd bounce is 6 in from the end-line or just barely off the end of the table.  Keep working on making the swing faster and the contact more grazing in order to maximize your spin.  Getting a fast swing with grazing contact early is important so that you do not need to re-learn your depth control all over again when you find you want more spin on your serves against better players.

Mark

You could look up some videos of Li Kewei.  He has a fairly simple looking Fh serve that I think does the underspin-no spin combinations really well.  He is a modern defender, but he does 3rd ball attack behind what appears to be a dead serve that is often popped up.  There is some wrist whip, buy it does not appear to be nearly as much as in Brett Clarke's serving videos.

What he is doing is probably a lot more complicated than I think, but at least it seems less complicated than lots of the serves I see being used.   Very slight blade angle changes, tip vs handle contact, and a motion that hides he racket until just before contact so that it is harder to see the changes he makes.

Mark

Mark: Thanks, I had a look at that Li Kewei's forhand serve and will try it out. His unusual bending of the wrist prior to starting his serving motion could be interesting. 

Sandiway, that page doesn't seem to load. Lots of pages don't though in Vietnam. 

Blahness, I am doing the three finger grip. Or am I? (Gets out paddle to check...) Well, more of a index finger and thumb grip actually. Is that what you mean?

As for videos, I'd be more than happy to upload some. I've just reviewed the first videos of me playing and was quite shocked to how different my form looks than I'd imagined. Especially forehand loops and fast fh serves are nothing as I'd imagined. I won't upload those but will be more than happy to share the next video of my serves that I take. 

Thanks a lot for all the advice :)

It happens to everyone - in our minds, we all think we are Ma Long looping but the reality is more brutal - body straighter than expected, little torso rotation etc. all because of bad habits picked up copying bad players for the most part, especially if you are an untrained adult.  You need videotape to improve your self-awareness as quickly as possible and it also lets people see and make up their minds what the problem is if you share it.  Even if you don't share videotape, just the self awareness it gives you is invaluable. 

It never radically changes but it gets better with practice.  Don't think most of the people commenting are radically better than you.  I know I am not.

Perhaps you can enter the URL into one of those websites that can download Youku videos for you for free. Even if you can't download it, maybe it can. It's a really well-made video.