Scratching - why do we (turntablists) do it?

[djlotus]

I've been playing records for 15 years and just started scratching for two reasons.

1- to challenge myself. Any monkey can learn to beat match. It's true, no "dj" is special because he can match beats and blend two records.

2- I bought turntables long ago with aspirations of scratching, and stopped trying because I got stuck in EDM.

No matter what anyone says, a dj is a dj is a dj, whether or not you can scratch. It's how you scratch that defines you. I have no identity yet because I'm still learning.

Oh yeah, an it's fun!

[DJ_kHeaven]

But it's like any instrument that musicians jam to, like a guitarist. Many don't understand a jammin' guitarist and call it noise as well.

I def agree. I'm also a guitarist, and soloing is basically putting a bunch of individual notes together to create a musical tangent that accompanies the original melody. I've always seen scratching in this way; each scratch is a note being played to a beat.. I love scratching, i've been a fan since i first heard [I]Step in the Arena[I] by Gangstarr, and i finally attempted it about a year ago... since then, it's literally my fave way of expressing myself musically

[Finnish_Fox]

I def agree. I'm also a guitarist, and soloing is basically putting a bunch of individual notes together to create a musical tangent that accompanies the original melody. I've always seen scratching in this way; each scratch is a note being played to a beat.. I love scratching, i've been a fan since i first heard [I]Step in the Arena[I] by Gangstarr, and i finally attempted it about a year ago... since then, it's literally my fave way of expressing myself musically

Besides, you can talk with scratching and Peter Frampton is the only one that can do that with a guiter...

[KLH]

I love it because scratching has a distinctive sound that's percussive in nature.

Used sparingly, scratching can spice up an otherwise "straight" groove.

-KLH

[Sigma]

Used sparingly, scratching can spice up an otherwise "straight" groove.

^^What he said.

I always got a good reaction from crowds when scratching, even when I wasn't playing hip-hop. I DJed at a rave once as the "third deck man" for another DJ, so I was just doing the odd bit of scratching here and there over his mixing and people went fucking mental for it.

I love hearing scratching in EDM mixes too. When it's done well, it sounds awesome IMO. Check this little sample for example: -

http://www.sigmamixes.com/misc/unkut.mp3

There's a big difference between doing 15 seconds of scratching like that and baby scratching "fresh" badly and too loudly for a minute, and it's the latter that grates on people's nerves.

But to answer your question about practicing, you've gotta love doing it. If you do, then there is no need to rationalise it at all.

[Finnish_Fox]

Any tips on where to pick up the basics? Lots of videos on YT and haven't found one particularly helpful... also, they are broken up into types of scratches and I don't know which ones to learn first and build upon.

also, do you reverse the counter-weight? (saw a Q-bert video where he said he did that.)

[Sigma]

Any tips on where/how to pick up the basics... also, do you reverse the counter-weight? (saw a Q-bert video where he said he did that.)

There's lots of tutorials on YouTube. The main thing is to not rush ahead trying to learn crabs and flares and all that stuff. Learn baby scratching, drags, tears, tips, stabs, forwards, marches etc. first.

There's no need to reverse the counter-weight.

[Finnish_Fox]

There's lots of tutorials on YouTube. The main thing is to not rush ahead trying to learn crabs and flares and all that stuff. Learn baby scratching, drags, tears, tips, stabs, forwards, marches etc. first.

There's no need to reverse the counter-weight.

That's exactly what I needed to know... where to start. I see the tutorials but have no idea the level of difficulty.

Cheers. Do you reverse the crossfader?

(is a chirp to advanced? Was just trying to practice that... and it seems the tutorial has her crossfader backwards (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kojo5...eature=related) which makes it even a bit more difficult to figure out what to do.)

[djlotus]

To hamster or not to hamster is a personal preference. Try it both ways. Don't forget to practice with both hands. Right now my right hand is still dominant so I have better fader control with my right and better record control for tears and pitching with my right.

[djlotus]

I have learned a lot from dj angelo's vids. I like the way he breaks then up into basics then intermediate, then advanced scratching and beat juggling.