faderwork speed

[DJArmani]

I was wondering if anyone knew any wrist exercise or techniques you use to speed up your faderwork. For some reason when I do transformer scratches my wrist starts to get heavy and I can't rly move the fader its like i'm forcing myself to move it a little and it begins to hurt my whole arm. Its frusturating cause I can't move on past transformer unless I speed up my faderwork.

[syks]

Im learning to scratch myself and have come to realise that the answer to getting more speed is simply to keep practicing,start everything reeeeally slow and speed it up bit by bit,im shit at scratching but aim to get to a intermediate level...practice is the key :)

[DJArmani]

I practice scratching at least 4x a week and I've been scratching for 6 months and I know my hands should be a little faster than what they are now.

[Haddock]

Ive been cuttin for years and I still get the aches once in a while, especially if I am cold. When I first started I would turn the turntable motor off and do chirps double time using my wrist as the pivot point to strengthen the small muscles in your hand/wrist.

So pinch the fader with your thumb and index finger, and try to only move your hand, not your arm when doing chirps. This will also help you keep your fingers in contact with the fader and with timing.

[scottie the goonie]

I was wondering if anyone knew any wrist exercise or techniques you use to speed up your faderwork. For some reason when I do transformer scratches my wrist starts to get heavy and I can't rly move the fader its like i'm forcing myself to move it a little and it begins to hurt my whole arm. Its frusturating cause I can't move on past transformer unless I speed up my faderwork.

You don't need speed to get past transforming. Everybody hits an apex (either mentally or physically) when it comes to scratching (for the day), where everything goes downhill from there. Take a break.

You should also try the same technique while focusing more on using your fingers and thumbs instead of your wrist.

[Nies One]

I remember Qbert saying in an interview one time that he used to carry broken faders with him and practice throughout the day. It's almost like how boxers shadow box to get faster. Also doing some wrist stretches before your sessions wouldn't hurt. Trying to go fast right off the bat could be bad for your wrists if you’re cold. Maybe develop a warm up pattern you can follow before your sessions. Also practicing over a beat that increases 1 bpm every 4 bars will help. I have one beat that goes from 60 bmp to 120bpm (this also helps with learning scratches double time) which is a sick workout.

[Defiance]

Also practicing over a beat that increases 1 bpm every 4 bars will help. I have one beat that goes from 60 bmp to 120bpm (this also helps with learning scratches double time) which is a sick workout.

Would you like to share? I've never heard of that and it sounds like a blast actually

[Nies One]

Yeah, I'm at work right now, but when I get home I'll post a link.

[Nies One]

Here you go; It is 80 to 160, not 60 to 120, my bad...Also got another one that goes 70 to 140… I believe these were created by Q Bert or peeps at the QSU, not sure. Anyways I just uploaded them to Soundcloud so everyone here can download them to practice with. :D

http://soundcloud.com/speed-booster/speed-booster-80-160-bpm

http://soundcloud.com/speed-booster/freestyle-speed-booster-70-140

Not sure if you use a DVS, but you can make your own too, with most beats. Dj Byone made a sick midi program for SSL and Traktor
http://www.byowaves.com/audio/?p=58

[Jimanee]

i know very little about scratching, but alot about wrist pain. It's worth building wrist strength/ muscle, try something like this:

nAMDTWtVWtI

[DJhalf]

I tighten up my arm and in a way, use my shoulders to vibrate my arm.

[djslik]

Haha DJ's back in the day used to use those grip excercisers. They even used to market a DJ specific one that had a spring for each finger. The suggestion of bringing a fader around is a good one. I used to practice crabs and flares on the side of my textbooks while in class back in the day.

[akswun]

So I'm unearthing this thread as I have been on some serious scratch practice for the past few months. Took an L with a battle with Rabbit Monk. Kinda fueled me more.
Basically I've been working on 'core' scratches ie.babies, tears, chirps, one clicks and two click flares/orbits.

I do about 2-3 hours of scratch practice a day or realistically a total of 10-14hrs a week. I've been meaning to start a practice blog but haven't really focused on recording anything, mind you I have a couple of short clips on my instagram.

Like many, I start of slow and eventually increase the speed as time goes on. From working on getting the sounds clean at a slow pace and then eventually increasing the speed as I get better. I know speed comes with raw practice. And its really showing with my chirps and right now I'm trying to get my one clicks as fast as possible.

There are a ton of tools out on the internets. Loopers are huge and tablist.net has a ton of them. But then I stumbled on a youtube video of a DJ using DJ Rectangles Ultimate Battle Weapon Vol.5 "Increase your speed". This video has been a God send of a training track. I'm looking to buy the vinyl record off of Discogs in a short minute. But this past week I've been replaying this track over and over and over again. My thumb is killing me right now!

cJl6E1eUv0E

[DoomJockey]

Between boxing and paintball a few things I've picked up:

Take a rubber band between your thumb and index finger and spread apart open and closed until you get tired. Depending on how you hold your fader that could help.
The little hand crunchy thingy (V shaped spring with 2 handles) helps hand and wrist strength.
Elastic band under your foot, isolate your forearms and lift up the band using just wrist strength.
Lean with your hands up against a wall, straighten arms and move your body back and forth with just your wrists/hands
Pushups/Pullups make you cock-strong
Work on a car. That's probably the most effective wrist strengthening I've ever had.

Just takes time to get your wrists to handle that sort of endurance, so be patient.