DrJonez on the Cut

You’ve checked out all of Q-Bert’s scratch videos. You’ve seen every DMC competition known to man. But you can’t seem to get “scratching.” Now, I do not claim to be the #1 mix master on the planet-I have a lot yet to learn. However, I am confident in the skills I have obtained throughout the years. I can occasionally rock the party with my ill technique and get props for it at the same time. This is just a list of methods I have learned over the years that have helped me in my training.

1. Practice - Seriously, this is key. The more you practice the techniques that frustrate you, the more you, your mind, and your body learns. It can take a while, but your efforts will be rewarded.
2. Be the individual different parts of your body that are involved. Most techniques require 2 hands. One hand on the cross fader, and another on the turntable. Practice with only one hand at a time. Start with just the record. a few minutes of repetition, practice your fader movements. Rinse, Repeat.
3. Practice - Find and old busted fader, and take it everywhere you go. Whenever you have downtime, practice your crabs, flares, and chirps.
4. Warm up by practicing slowly. It’s easy to try to come out of the gates at blazing speed. However, this doesn’t help you learn control. start off at a slow tempo and gradually work your way up.
5. Watch - There are a LOT more resources out there for folks learning to scratch these days. When I first started, I found a couple of scratch videos from DMC finals as well as some old Dj Qbert videos and popped those into a media player that allowed me to slow down the speed. I watched, frame by frame, and followed along.
6. Take notes! Feel that you’ve done something that brings you to the next level? Write it down! This helps solidify the idea in your mind.
7. Practice!
8. Keep a list of techniques that you want to practice, and make it a daily routine. This will help you maximize the effectiveness of your practice time.



9. If it’s not working, try a different angle. A lot of times, if you just pivot your arm a certain way, it’ll make that technique you’ve been working on for 3 months all that much easier.
10. It’s all in the wrists and the fingers. A lot of people starting out will use their whole arm to scratch. This does not provide control or stability. It also might be a good way to break off your fader! To reduce the torque on the vinyl/fader, use the nearest “joint.”
11. Meet up with other scratch djs and “jam.” This is a great way to get moving. Get together with other scratch djs, throw a couple brews back, and scratch it up.
12. When you get frustrated, don’t give up. I’ve found that this can be a great way to force yourself to learn. Keep doing the things you HATE to do until you LOVE to do them!
13. Record yourself - Whether it’s video or audio, this is a great way to get a gauge of where you’re at. It allows you to clearly focus on what you like, and work on the things you don’t like about your technique.



14. There are a lot of devices that can help you improve your finger dexterity: GripMaster, FingerStretcher, and Chinese Therapy Balls. Though these devices can be helpful, you don’t need them to exercise your fingers. One technique is to touch each finger to your thumb, one at a time. Start off slowly, moving back and forth, increasing speed over time. There are more helpful techniques here
15. There are A LOT of muscles in your arm that will get a good workout: Your individual fingers, your wrists, forearm, and even bicep, back and shoulders. Try your best not to tense up these muscles during your practice.
16. Repeatitive action is the key. Take the scratches and techniques you want to learn and practice them over and over again in tiny bits. Most weight trainers will recommend doing long repetitions of leighter weights rather than short reps of heavier weights. Keep this in mind as you’re cutting it up.
17. Practice until it hurts! No pain no gain - Working on the same scratch over and over again is a great way to build up those little finger and wrist muscles. Eventually you’ll start to feel a little pain, and you’ll even tense up. This is all a part of the process. Just make sure you don’t over do it!
18. Practice on your girlfriend/boyfriend in bed. Ooooh!

Turntablism Resources:

http://turntablism.com.au/ - A great archive of turntablism vidieos
http://www.skratchworx.com - Features new gear and reviews. Also has a great forums section - A great place to get your questions answered.
http://my.opera.com/turntablism/blog/ - Great archive of turntablism videos
http://www.djbattle.net/ -Scratch DJ news, reviews, and discussion.
http://www.djgeometrix.com/message_board/default.asp - Dj battle discussion forum
http://www.spinscience.org.uk/ - Another great turntablist resource. News and discussion about new battle records, and more.
http://www.beepahhfresh.com/ - Loops for you to scratch over… Great practice resource

Did I miss anything? Please share!

That’s all for now, time for me to go practice.