Scratching Maxims

[$a!n+]

I am in no way an expert scratching but I am way past the novice stage. But as a novice you are overwhelmed with just the whole idea of scratching not so much staying "focused." these are just somethings i say to myself to keep my "in tune." Things I didnt realize when i started a few years back.

 

_ Tears are as important as clicks

(Tears add to your combos as much if not more than clicking. not everyone is impressed by fader control but everyone seems to be respectful of record hand control)

 

_Picth variation is a must

(Like when doing chirps or drags or whatever. it nice to have the control to raise the pitch of the sample without speeding up the actual technique.)

 

_Sustaining pitch is a must

(On the flip side of the latter, if you do 10 2 clickers back to back can yo make them sound the exact same every time? that is something I think is very important.

 

 

_Scratching Flow should not be repetitive

(Its important to keep things changing. Doing on combo over and over and over get well, repetitive)

 

_Scracthin Hooks, using repitition as a hook

(I always like when DJs use a hook in there flows. Very much like the hook of a rap track. Its 4 bar piece that repeated every 16 bars or so. This allows the listener to have something to stick in their heads. These are very omportant in all music and In my opinion is left out a bit much in scratch music.)

 

_Cleanliness is better than Speed

(Now everyone is impressed by fast techniques but if they are sloppy, none will respect them no matter how fast. But a really clean and funky combo thats not necessarily fast can still be respectfull and difficult.)

 

_Learn to count bars or go home

(yeah, yknow, dont be DJ Skils)

 

_Use your scratches as a "voice"

(Approach your tables a rapper or singer. use your combos as different words and cadences. If a rapper rapped monotone with two words over and over you would hate it. At the same time if a rapper just tried to spit as many words as possible all sloppy off beat and incomprehensable, you would hate. So try and articulate, and speak clearly via your scratches. For practice try and find your fav rap track and immualte the vocal pattern.)

 

 

_Have Fun

(lets not forget..the most important)

 

 

I hope these help some people and if any body has any add ons or edits please do.

[Jon]

good advice, particlually the last one

[Jimmy]

i think the best advice for anyone new is just to do what u want and to do what u feel sounds/ feels best

 

i dont think there should be any set bounderies at all, thats not whats scratching is about in my mind

[la ressistance]

some nice points.

This should be a pinned thread for all the new scratchers visiting the site, so they don't make the same mistakes i did.

I can't stress enough how important tears and drags are !

Thats something i missed out on by teaching myself.i thought i had to learn the most complex scratches i could find and i fucked up big time.i ended up being shit at it all.

 

The main lesson though is LEARN THE BASICS FIRST ! .... AND GET THEM PERFECT !

[Guest Ryan]

i think the best advice for anyone new is just to do what u want

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[$a!n+]

i think the best advice for anyone new is just to do what u want

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I dissagree. Thats how people get so far behind in the game. i was scracthing for a year before I even heard of a flare! I didnt even know what a tear was. If i would have had a list like this when i started, I would have got alot further faster.

[iexist]

lets not forget..

 

_Have FUN!

[$a!n+]

lets not forget..

 

_Have FUN!

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You are right let me add that one in.

[foodstamps]

Heres one

 

If you see somone do a dope scratch or combo then bite it.

 

Hopefully your mates won't have seen the same video clip or dj doing the same scratch or pattern so you can really impress them next time you have a cut with them!

[$a!n+]

Immatation is the biggest form of flattering!

[Guest Ryan]

Heres one

 

If you see somone do a dope scratch or combo then bite it.

 

Hopefully your mates won't have seen the same video clip or dj doing the same scratch or pattern so you can really impress them next time you have a cut with them!

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I used to do that all the time

[Guest Ryan]

i think the best advice for anyone new is just to do what u want

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

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I dissagree. Thats how people get so far behind in the game. i was scracthing for a year before I even heard of a flare! I didnt even know what a tear was. If i would have had a list like this when i started, I would have got alot further faster.

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If you dont know what else is going on theres more of a chance you'll come up with your own ways of scratching.

 

Ps: Since when was this scratch shit a gayme

[Steve]

I think it's somewhere between what Ryan and Gabe are saying. Even if you learn every scratch on DIY, there's still nothing that says you won't come up with some ideas of your own. QBert took other people's cuts and expanded on them. A lot of people's ideas of "scratching with soul" is just fake bollocks though. What they should say is "try and sound like this other guy who thinks he's scratching with soul".

[$a!n+]

I know what y your saying ryan because i was one of those who just did my own thing for a year before I even listen to scratch music. I used my table like a sampler. I was all about flipping melodies and makingmusic mltitracking. I never really ever even used an AAAAH or FRESH. I didnt even know that it was saying fresh! But as I got into the scratch "game" I realized it was almost like a lead guitar and a rhythym guitar. Flipping sample and solo ahh scratches. I am ahead of most scratch DJs on the sample flipping and composistions but on straight solo cuts, I didnt even do for a whole year of scratching.

[$a!n+]

I think it's somewhere between what Ryan and Gabe are saying. Even if you learn every scratch on DIY, there's still nothing that says you won't come up with some ideas of your own. QBert took other people's cuts and expanded on them. A lot of people's ideas of "scratching with soul" is just fake bollocks though. What they should say is "try and sound like this other guy who thinks he's scratching with soul".

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I feel what your saying! But i do think some people just have soul and it comes out natuarlly. Some people immulate what those people sound like. Just being aware of what "soul" or "funky" is helps alot i think. But yeah, you have to first set rules in order to break them.

[cbay]

_Use your scratches as a "voice"

Approach your tables a rapper or singer. use your combos as different words and cadences. If a rapper rapped monotone with two words over and over you would hate it.

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50 cent anyone?

[Guest Ryan]

"scratching with soul" is just fake bollocks though. What they should say is "try and sound like this other guy who thinks he's scratching with soul".

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Exactly stephen. Ive yet to hear a soulful scratcher.

 

IMO D-styles is the best solo scratcher to date. And his cuts arent soulful to me.

 

Scratching is strange wee sound not a fucking beautiful peice of music.. Spose thats all down to opinion then really *Rolls eyes*

[Steve]

I think it's somewhere between what Ryan and Gabe are saying. Even if you learn every scratch on DIY, there's still nothing that says you won't come up with some ideas of your own. QBert took other people's cuts and expanded on them. A lot of people's ideas of "scratching with soul" is just fake bollocks though. What they should say is "try and sound like this other guy who thinks he's scratching with soul".

 

 

I feel what your saying! But i do think some people just have soul and it comes out natuarlly. Some people immulate what those people sound like. Just being aware of what "soul" or "funky" is helps alot i think. But yeah, you have to first set rules in order to break them.

Surely "soul" is defined by putting your heart and soul into what you're doing. You are attempting to define soul as sounding a certain way and that's formulaic and wrong IMO. Funky to you might not be funky to me.

[Banano]

learn flares and chirps first.

[BM Beck]

Great thread. I gotta agree with nin-jazz and Ryan on this one. I watched a lot of scratch videos in my first two or three years, just to learn the basics, and see what had happened in scratching up to that point. But, for the last four years or so, I've stopped buying videos, I haven't a clue who's won the DMC after Craze's reign, and I pretty much only check out people's files on the internet, from time to time.

 

For the most part, scratching is like religion to me. I keep it to myself. My friends don't understand it, so fuck em. It's just a bedroom thing. And I've never been one for "combos", because what is a combo, but a pre-packaged idea. I just put different types of scratches and samples where I think scratches and samples should go. It just fits. And that, to me, makes it "soulfull". The only advice I'd give a noob is to always listen to yourself while scratching. Be the DJ and the audience at the same time. Scratch with passion, and its yours. Fuck if anyone else gets it. I didn't get into to scratching to impress anyone but myself, and I did.

 

Anyway, just my two cents.

 

Beck

[Mista_Ed]

But yeah, you have to first set rules in order to break them.

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i dont agree...

 

i am 100% all for people doin whatever the hell they like...

 

it makes for much more diverse ranges of approaches, IMO.

 

forget we are talking about fader techniques, record control, or in fact any other thing that people learn to do...

 

its is peoples approaches to anything that make for something different, original or 'dope' ......or whatever you would like to call it.

 

this is something that people should be more aware of than anything...IMO - overriding all the other aspects - an individual approach will stamp its mark on all of the above...

 

 

 

but fuck it...

 

 

we're all different

 

pz

[Guest Vekked]

I think you should make the first and most important maxim "Don't talk about Scratch Club", and maybe the new few too, then add "When it's your night to cut, you gotta cut"

 

jus my 2 cents...

 

...ok, for my real 2 cents:

 

I wouldn't refer to those as maxims so much as food for thought, in my opinion, nothing's set, the beauty of the turntable is you can go into it with any intention or mindset, and eventually come out with something that sounds cool because the limits are virtually non-existent for a live instrument...

 

I don't really think there's a right or wrong way of doing it, like... lots of people bite and learn strictly from other people and videos, but make combo's up, and add their own flavour to stuff to make it dope, and there's cats who don't care what anyone else does, and doesn't know a single technique name, but they can sound dope... It's all what you wanna make of it really... If you just want to impress people, and you're not in it for yourself, it'll show...

 

there's no real certain way to get good other than to PRACTICE, I bet if you enough going into it with any philosophy, mindset, or style, you'll come out with something cool... TIME is the only thing that you really need to become good, cuz it's not like anyone really comes natural to it, we all start off on a fairly even level, we progress at different speeds, plateau at different times... and basically all come out at the same level depending on the effort you've put in, but there are so many ways to get to that level, and that level's different for everyone...

 

as for the soul thing that Ryan brought up... I don't really see how you can say that someone's cuts aren't soulful, because you can't really understand anyone's soul but your own, if that, and when you hear it, you won't know if it's a reflection of their soul or not, the only person that knows is themselves... if d-styles thinks he's soulful, i'll take his word for it, it sounds like he's passionate enough about it at least, and in my opinion passion and soul have a direct correlation... sometimes I think I scratch soulfully, sometimes I think I don't... when I don't think about techniques, and all of the sounds I'm making are coming from a sort of semi-concious spot, and I'm more hearing my cuts from an outside perspective and choosing my scratches based on how they sound, then I'd say it's pretty soulful... like when I cut for a while and get into the zone, and instead of thinking about doing flares over tears, I'm thinking about doing "wip, wip, whoo-wips", I consider that to be a reflection of my soul, and the sound I want... but obviously anyone could hear it and not be able to tell it from me doing tears over flares, but to me, it's not about the end-product so much as the inspiration behind what comes out, which will show more and more with the more skill you get...

 

I think cutting's sort of like drumming, where a break might not necessarily sound 'soulful' when you listen to it, but to the person playing it, it could be the perfect expression that they were trying to convey...

 

"Scratching is strange wee sound not a fucking beautiful peice of music.. Spose thats all down to opinion then really *Rolls eyes*"

 

Beauty's in the eye of the beholder innit?

 

IMO your interpretation of soul is somewhat naive and closed minded for my liking... It's like you're biased against scratching? :s Is soulful scratching even a possibility in your mind? Can you define it? Or was the comment baseless?

 

lol, I remember getting pretty vekked (yea, vekked is an adjective) on qbert's forum when you said something of this sort about soul... I'm kinda touchy on this ish... I make it my business

 

pz!

[$a!n+]

some good posts in here.

[Blak Randy]

Heres one

 

If you see somone do a dope scratch or combo then bite it.

 

Hopefully your mates won't have seen the same video clip or dj doing the same scratch or pattern so you can really impress them next time you have a cut with them!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I used to do that all the time

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Why do you think I like cutting with you on Skype Ryan.

[Blak Randy]

Great thread.  I gotta agree with nin-jazz and Ryan on this one.  I watched a lot of scratch videos in my first two or three years, just to learn the basics, and see what had happened in scratching up to that point.  But, for the last four years or so, I've stopped buying videos, I haven't a clue who's won the DMC after Craze's reign, and I pretty much only check out people's files on the internet, from time to time.

 

For the most part, scratching is like religion to me.  I keep it to myself.  My friends don't understand it, so fuck em.  It's just a bedroom thing.  And I've never been one for "combos", because what is a combo, but a pre-packaged idea.  I just put different types of scratches and samples where I think scratches and samples should go.  It just fits.  And that, to me, makes it "soulfull".  The only advice I'd give a noob is to always listen to yourself while scratching.  Be the DJ and the audience at the same time.  Scratch with passion, and its yours.  Fuck if anyone else gets it.  I didn't get into to scratching to impress anyone but myself, and I did.

 

Anyway, just my two cents.

 

Beck

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You my friend, are completely on point.

 

Good post.