The Baby Scratch: Improves Overall DJing
Even if you never plan to become a scratch DJ, the skills you develop through the Baby Scratch can improve almost every part of your DJing. Timing, control, rhythm, and awareness of musical structure are not limited to scratching. They are the same skills that make mixing smoother, transitions cleaner, and sets more musical.
The Baby Scratch is more than a technique. It is a focused way to train your ears, hands, and brain to work together in time. That level of coordination does not stay in one area of your playing. It carries over into everything you do behind the decks.
Learning Through the Baby Scratch Changes How You Hear Music
When you practice the Baby Scratch with written rhythms and understand how to count, you start hearing music differently. You begin to notice where the beat really sits, how phrases are structured, and where there is space inside the track.
Instead of just feeling that something changes, you begin to recognize:
- Where phrases begin and end
- How many measures lead into a new section
- Where there is space for rhythmic ideas
This awareness directly affects your mixing. When you know exactly where you are in the structure of the song, it becomes easier to line up transitions, plan mixes, and choose where you want musical moments to happen.
Developing Precise Timing and Control
Scratching demands accurate timing. Each forward and backward movement of the record must land in a clear place inside the pulse. When you practice the Baby Scratch, with a clear understanding of subdivisions like quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes, you are training your internal clock.
That same internal clock is what helps to keep your mixes steady and your transitions clean. If your timing is bad, beatmatching may feel like a difficult skill because your mixes drift over time. When your timing is solid, beatmatching becomes almost second nature. And even if your mix is slightly off, you can correct small timing problems seemingly automatically.
Working with the Baby Scratch helps you:
- Lock in to the beat more consistently
- Feel subdivisions instead of guessing where they are
- Notice when you are ahead or behind and correct in real time
Strengthening the Connection Between Ears, Brain, and Hands
Good DJing depends on how well your listening, decision-making, and physical actions are connected. The Baby Scratch is a direct way to train this relationship.
When you practice, you are constantly:
- Listening to the beat
- Deciding where in the beat the scratches should land
- Moving your hand to match that decision
Over time, this reduces the delay between what you hear and how you respond. You start to react more quickly to changes in the music. You can adjust mixes, adapt to unexpected moments during your set, or respond to demanding situations with confidence.
Building Confidence Behind the Decks
One of the hidden benefits of working with the Baby Scratch is the confidence that comes from practice. When you know you can place scratches on purpose, hit subdivisions accurately, and easily recover from slight mishaps, you feel more at ease.
That confidence shows up when you:
- Transition between genres
- Begin a challenging mix
- Play in front of a crowd that has high expectations
Improving Musicality in Mixing
Musicality is not just about what songs you choose. It is about how you connect them and how your choices support the flow of the set.
Practicing the Baby Scratch helps you:
- Hear where rhythmic ideas belong
- Recognize when the music needs space
- Craft mixes so they feel like part of the track instead of something added on top
Supporting Different DJ Styles
Not every DJ wants scratching to be a central part of their style. Some focus on long mixes, others on quick mixes, others on storytelling through track selection. The Baby Scratch strengthens the skills underneath all of these.
Expanding Creative Options
As your comfort with the Baby Scratch grows, you begin to hear new possibilities. You may find places where a short rhythmic idea adds depth and energy to a mix, where a simple scratch can underline a vocal phrase, or where a subtle movement can build anticipation without taking over the track.
Below is the original transcript from the video.
What's up everybody? In the previous lesson we learned how to play eighth notes, quarter notes, and eighth rests. In this lesson we will introduce the sixteenth note. Let’s go ahead and dive right in.
This is a sixteenth note.
Sixteenth notes have two flags.
One sixteenth note equals a quarter of a beat.
Two sixteenth notes equal the duration of one eighth note.
Four sixteenth notes equal the duration of one quarter note.
When sixteenth notes are written consecutively, they are joined.
This is what four sixteenth notes look like when they are joined.
When we count this rhythm, we count 1-e-and-ah-2-e-and-ah-3-e-and-ah-4-e-and-ah.
Rhythm 1
OK let's apply what you just learned. We are going to start by playing sixteenth notes and quarter notes. The tempo is at 88 beats per minute. Alright, here we go!
Rhythm 2
Let's move on to rhythm number two. Let’s focus on playing clean and even strokes. We want our strokes to be clean and evenly spaced apart. If your strokes aren’t evenly spaced apart, you will sound sloppy. We want our sound to be clean. Let’s go!
Rhythm 3
Let's go ahead and get into our third rhythm. I want you to focus on playing a steady and even tempo. I also want you to count out loud, because it will help you stay on beat. Make sure that you say the count properly. If you rush the count, you will more than likely rush your strokes. Alright, here we go!
Rhythm 3
Let's play this rhythm again. You don't want to rush. If you're having problems keeping the strokes even, slow down the tempo. And of course, if it's too easy, go ahead and speed up the tempo. Here we go!
Rhythm 4
Hopefully you are starting to get the hang of it, but if you are having trouble, don’t get discouraged. Sometimes learning new rhythms takes time. This information is new, so give it some time to sink in. With repetition you will eventually get the hang of it. Let's move on to the fourth and final rhythm. Here we go!
There you have it! That's your introduction to sixteenth notes. Be sure to check out the next video. We'll add the quarter rest to sixteenth note rhythms. For premium content, check out our website scratchingmadeeasy.com With our premium videos, I will walk you through learning different scratch techniques and more importantly, how to put them together. Our Made Easy Method takes all the mystery out of scratching, and with consistent practice, it will take your scratching to the next level. Thanks for checking us out! Peace!
FAQs
1. How does practicing the Baby Scratch strengthen the connection between your ears, brain, and hands?
Practicing the Baby Scratch strengthens the connection between your ears, brain, and hands by training you to hear the beat, decide where the scratch should land, and physically respond in time.
2. How does practicing the Baby Scratch improve musicality in mixing?
Practicing the Baby Scratch improves musicality in mixing by helping you hear where rhythmic ideas belong, recognize when the music needs space, and make mixes feel like part of the track.
Summary
The Baby Scratch trains your ears, brain, and hands to work together by listening to the beat, deciding where each scratch should land, and moving the record in time. That connection also strengthens your awareness of where rhythmic ideas fit within a track, helping your mixes feel more connected to the music.
About the Authors
Jason E. Bullock and M. Dwayne Bullock (DjRoninTokyo) are the creators of Scratching Made Easy and the authors of Scratching Made Easy Turntable Method Book 1: A Guide to Scratching. They created a scratch notation system that uses standard musical notation to apply fundamental music concepts to scratching.
Pt. 5 → Pt. 6
Continue to: How I Learned to Scratch on Beat - The Baby Scratch (Part 6)
