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Speed, Strength, Endurance


Karol

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What's up yall, I've progress a lot since I lately posted here, but when I watch some videos of such cutters as qbet tigerstyle and all of the greatest I cannot imagine how fast and strong they are. Plus how clear their scratches are. Do you guys have any special training tips on how to develop such a great skills? I'm training amost every day for at least 2 hours (yeah qbert has been training for 30 years/ 12 hours a day). When it comes to new techniques I pretty quickly get a grasp and can do them on regular tempo. But when it comes to speed, its a whole fucking struggle to get that full speed and repeat it over 8 bars. I've been learning boomerangs for 2 years still cannot repeat them over 8 bars in double time. My orbits flares are pretty fast, yet not that fast as somebody else's. How long have you been practicing one technique to master it completely?

Edited by Karol
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If you're doing 2 hours a day and varying it over different tempos and trying new things I'm sure you're on the right track. I noticed the speed of my stabs and chirps definitely improved when I made sure to do even just 10-20 mins a day on them, just drilling the basics.

 

Don't know if you've seen it but there is an excellent video where Vekked goes through his drilling routines for boomerangs etc you may get some tips there. https://www.pyramind.com/events/2016/5/18/elite-session-with-dj-vekked-5-time-dmc-world-champion

 

I think if you're having some troubles speeding up the techniques there may be some things you can tweak in your technique - maybe post a vid and one of the scratch dons in here will be happy to help you out if they see something.

To be honest I look at loads of other people scratching and however much I'm sure we're putting our clicks in the same places, things just don't sound the same and I guess that's just based on human difference, everyone moves the record slightly differently....

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So is the best way to improve record hand control just repetition? Or is there something additional to be doing to make my record hand (which is my non-dominant hand BTW) less sloppy?

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I know sirness preaches practising with the platter off, making your forward sounds sound less like everyone else and more unique. Not sure really, I used to practise all kinds of tear variations (ie 2 fwd 1 back, 3 fwd 3 back etc) loads while watching tv and stuff and I don't feel I'm any good at them really, and they're still much easier on my dominant hand which I don't use for scratching, so unless you're ambidextrous I guess it's pretty hard to get the record hand control level up there with dominant hand scratchers...

I'd say def get a portable TT if you haven't already, just for being able to practise loads where you wouldn't normally be able to set decks up.

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I imagine trying to do things with your weak hand in everyday life that you'd normally do with the strong one (pause) might help? I guess if we never use our weak hands for other stuff we can't expect it to scratch well either....

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I imagine trying to do things with your weak hand in everyday life that you'd normally do with the strong one (pause) might help? I guess if we never use our weak hands for other stuff we can't expect it to scratch well either....

 

Yeah I do that already. I'm not ambidextrous but my left isn't too far behind my right. Tried switching to left on the fader but wasn't very comfortable and felt like such a step backwards that I switched back.

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Here are my latest videos. Dirt Style tempo is rather fast, so my variations of scratches oscillate between one click flares and original autobans/boomerangs shall we say ? cresent flare here and there.

Should you any scratch 'don' has any tips, share'em plz. Edited by Karol
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Guest Symatic

 

Relax!

Oh shut it Symatic. I've seen you battling dj chile. You are dope mate. :d

 

 

haha thankyou but i meant it - relaxing is so important. if you are tense you waste energy and restrict movement. also if you are relaxed in your mind you can be more creative

 

skratchlord battle don and allround musical badass DJackulate is really good at being relaxed and he can achieve very expressive cuts fast or slow without effort. Jimmy P seems to be in a next level of meditative relaxation all the time....

 

Q also preaches the same shiz i tihnk

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Q was born a genius and a prodigy. He is like Confucius sitting on a whirling log for 24 hours without even blinking. He can do scribbles for hours and he does not fatigue his wrist. Scratch master of the world, Technician. I'd rather listen to your advices than watch a god-blessed child. :d

 

I've seen one of this djackulate videos on yt. He does not even look at the record.

btw. He looks like he is stoned and having a scratching rapture. Edited by Karol
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Guest broke

It sounds like you're impatient that you're not at higher level already. From watching your two videos, I'd say you're doing well. Just keep practicing and like Sy said, make sure you relax when you're cutting. Most importantly, just enjoy it. Come cut with us on TinyChat.

https://tinychat.com/turntablistworld

Q was born a genius and a prodigy. He is like Confucius sitting on a whirling log for 24 hours without even blinking. He can do scribbles for hours and he does not fatigue his wrist. Scratch master of the world, Technician. I'd rather listen to your advices than watch a god-blessed child. :d


That's new level of Q-Bert fanboying right there lol

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There's a few main things that will greatly improve your scratching.

 

#1 - Hand *flexibility* exercises rather than *strengthening* exercises. This is especially true with record control and within that even more true when it comes to more complex movements.

 

#2 - Visualization of scratching while AWAY from your turntables. Progress of skills in sports has been shown to improve in studies where participants spent time thinking of their technique (scratching in your mind) rather than just rote exercise where you are just developing muscle memory and not actually developing an actual conceptual understanding of any technique.

 

#3 - Slow and steady wins the race...meaning start with your most comortable SLOW tempo beat you can cut to and only increase tempos if you can EASILY achieve a pattern/technique at your current tempo you are learning at. Speed comes over time...dont expect this to happen quickly...takes months/years and is always a constant battle of refinement.

 

#4 - NEVER compare yourself to others! Progress in any art is personal and the only person you need compare against yourself when it comes to progress is...YOU. Progress can halt or regress if studying/admiring others too often...make your goal to be better than the version of you last week/month/year. Some people have natural adeptness in learning or executing scratching...for example I'm left hand dominant on the record and have always had to work harder at fader speeds than control for this reason...but you may have a different path or level and that is PERFECTLY ok!

 

That's all for now...just try to keep it fun and progress will just seem like play rather than work and happen faster in the long run.

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Oh thanks a lot all of you! I do like the point no.4 I all to often comapre myself to other very talented DJ's who needed only a qouple of years to get on international level. I'd rather now focus only on my progression than think "oh why this guy becomes a champion in a few years and I'm even nowhere near in a half where he is now". ;)

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From watching Pete and Sy cut, I'd also propose that you're possibly moving the fader long distances and that smaller movements will help speed you up.

 

I thought you scratched reverse at first because the fader spent so much time on the other side :p

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  • 3 weeks later...

From watching Pete and Sy cut, I'd also propose that you're possibly moving the fader long distances and that smaller movements will help speed you up.

 

I thought you scratched reverse at first because the fader spent so much time on the other side :p

When I drop the sound I always have a habbit or puling the fader to the other band to cut out the beat. That's a bad habbit. I do it too often :d

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Guest Symatic

 

From watching Pete and Sy cut, I'd also propose that you're possibly moving the fader long distances and that smaller movements will help speed you up.

 

I thought you scratched reverse at first because the fader spent so much time on the other side :p

When I drop the sound I always have a habbit or puling the fader to the other band to cut out the beat. That's a bad habbit. I do it too often :d

 

haha i've been working on doing this intentionally :) I used to do it with one type of scratch, but i've been working on incorperating it into thoer techniques and you get a cool cutting effect on the beat along with the cuts, but theyre offbeat to each other so it soinda really choppy when its right

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  • 6 months later...
Guest Symatic

back in the day interest in practicing pretty much died with the lack of progress (also a lack of mates and jam sessions).

 

yeah having people to cut with is so important, you get a real life scenario to actually compare what you're doing to other real humans, rather than just having a relationship with your computer and thinking either "oh fuck im not as good as so-and-so" or being deluded and thinking "whoa i'm better than so-and-so".

not that comparing yourself to others is crucial, but its just having the real life examples and communication with people can set you right i tihnk. the super scratch sunday meetups really helped me get out of my own head.

 

 

 

 

Drilling the basics:

- Minimum hand movement. I mean, strip it down to the last millimeter. Drilling tears and and babies for even a few minutes every practice with intentionally focusing on barely moving the record hand. I believe this is what Symatic is referring to when talking about relaxing yourself. With minimum hand movement and getting consistent helps to reduce strain. Of course you have constantly push your comfort zone, but I clearly remember being too aggressive with the record hand back in the day. The smallest details, like how little you should lift your record hand on release, can make a huge difference.

 

 

yeah this is a good point - i'd also say that while aiming to get it down to the smallest mm is a good excercise, it's also good to look at it like - that's the smallest movement, and you can now scale it up to bigger movements, and learn how to get from one to the other, which ones work harmonically, so oyu can now move from the smallest mm to the biggest 10 cm movement or whatever, and learn what the qualities of each one are, where youre limits are, and how you can move between the different "sizes" of movement easily.

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Guest Symatic

totally - I don't know how to meditate but scratching is definately starting to feel like that kinda of state of mind, where i'm kind of focused and not focused at the same time, and sometimes i can feel that i am able to operate independent parts of my body (mostly hands) in their own way, which becomes very liberating. also the ability to feel where you need to go next while scratching, rather than feeling bound to a particular routine of movements. its hard to describe, but its like being able to think about the next couple of notes or even bars, whilst still paying enough attention to what youre doing right now.

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You know, I think a lot of DJs miss out by getting too minute in the movements. It's good to be able to go there, but there's also something to be said for really digging in and making broad moves with the record. Listen to old school DJs like Jazzy Jeff, Flash, Jam Master Jay, etc. They get some of the nicest sounds by going all out on the wax. Not out of control mind you, but definitely pushing way beyond what you see a lot of these technical cats doing. Like Sy is saying, its the juxtaposition between the small movements and the big ones that can really open up your ability to emphasize.

 

There's also that back and forth between true flow and planned out combos. When I look back on my progression, I'd say the lack of disciplined work on combos has probably held me back. I'm much more of an "internalize the techniques and try to express with sounds" type of scratcher but that can limit your range. On the other hand, if you get too deep into practicing combos you can end up "talking" a lot but not really saying anything interesting or cohesive.

 

When I look at my favorite scratchers its usually their well roundedness that draws me in. They can get really technical but also drop super funky cuts, they can hit you with a wall of sound or be able to pause, and they can drop impressive combos but also be able to flow like they're telling a cohesive story instead of just stringing random combos together for a few minutes. D is probably the prime example, but Mello D, Craze and Klever also come to mind.

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I thought I'd share a couple of thoughts which I realized have made a world of a difference for me personally. I've had a break from practicing/turntablism for almost a decade, but I'm amazed by the progress during the last couple of months after getting back to it. I've pretty much surpassed what I achieved in over five years when I first started. I scratch with my weak (left) hand on the record and back in the day interest in practicing pretty much died with the lack of progress (also a lack of mates and jam sessions).

 

Drilling the basics:

- Minimum hand movement. I mean, strip it down to the last millimeter. Drilling tears and and babies for even a few minutes every practice with intentionally focusing on barely moving the record hand. I believe this is what Symatic is referring to when talking about relaxing yourself. With minimum hand movement and getting consistent helps to reduce strain. Of course you have constantly push your comfort zone, but I clearly remember being too aggressive with the record hand back in the day. The smallest details, like how little you should lift your record hand on release, can make a huge difference.

 

- Tears. Lots of them. This time around I really started being analytic about my practicing habits. Now I've intentionally focused on doing tears with movement of the palm/knuckles/fingers only, not the entire arm/shoulder etc. Same thing as above, just relaxing and starting super slow (minimum movement, slow pitch etc.) and building up muscle memory. When things become effortless, moving on to triplets, double timing, higher BPMs. Also doing babies with the palm motion only with the platter off is a great strength exercise.

 

- Focusing on 2-click and 3-click orbits and different rhythmic and timing patterns using them. Brings benefits to transformers, but this was my biggest revelation. Pre youtube you had all these fancy tutorials about advanced scratches, but looking back at them now, seems as if they were over-complicating and over-mystifying what were essentially only variations on 2-clicks and 3-clicks. After getting comfortable with 2-clicks and 3-clicks, learning boomerangs, aquamans, swing flares, etc. becomes a breeze.

 

 

 

That's good advice for me.. especially the bit about focusing on 2 and 3 click flares which I'm horrible at. I can basically only OG flare.

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