First thing I learned (from a very skilled and popular DJ who mentored me): Most of the time when DJ's scratch they just **** up the momentum. People don't give a shit when they come out to dance, too often the DJ clears a floor by ruining the momentum that an artist put a lot of time into building perfectly. There are times when it sounds dope, and people who do it great, but spend more time mixing and reading crowds first. You can practise scratching after that, cause no club is gonna book you again if you're tryin to learn how to scratch when there's already a dance floor.
Most of the time DJ's suck and can't scratch. If you CAN scratch then it's not going to **** up momentum or do anything but add to it. Obviously you can't scratch so you're going to say this, lol. It's no coincidence that in Red Bull Thr3estyle type battles where it's strictly about party rocking, nearly all of the world finalists are sick scratchers.
i want to incorporate scratching in my beats so i have a couple questions.
1. how long did it take you to get to a very basic level of scratching, and how many hours a day on average did you practice?
2. what was/is your practice routine?
1. Very basic level of scratching is a bit subjective, but I think in maybe 5 months you can get clean enough to be able to do scratching out or in mixes and have it sound decent if you practice hard. I'd say at least 2-3 hours per day, but obviously more is better... if you can dedicate 6-8 hours a day, then do it.
2. Instead of answering this, I'll give you how I would do it if I went back and had to start again, haha. Find either:
-Qbert's DIY 1 videos on youtube or something, or buy the DVD if you have the money, and learn chirps, stabs, and marches. Try to only do those for as long as you can avoid practicing other scratches.
-sign up for qbert skratch university (google it), it's a REALLY good resource for up and coming/learning scratching, tons of stuff, but it's a bit pricy. If you can afford it, I'd say that's the best way to go in 2012.
But yea chirps and stabs should be your bread and butter, they're the simplest scratches but VERY versatile, and you can never get them too tight. If you can practice just those for like 6 months and get them double-time and be able to fast beats, that's the fastest way to becoming proficient at scratching. Transforms are really important too but they come fairly naturally and you'll learn them as you learn stabs. Here's a recent vid of me scratching:
