The Chirp: Strengthening Timing
Just like with the Baby Scratch, your ears become sharper as you continue to focus on timing. As your hearing develops, you begin to recognize the relationship between the record hand and the fader hand and whether the record strokes and fader movements are in or out of time.
In Part 8 of the Baby Scratch series, you learned that as listening improves, you begin to hear more of what is happening inside the beat. At this point, if you’ve worked on the Baby Scratch, you should have some ability to focus on different areas of the beat rather than just counting 1, 2, 3, and 4. You can hear the eighth notes of the hi-hat filling the space between the kick and the snare. The kick and snare establish the pulse of the beat, while the hi-hat eighth notes fill the space between them. Together, they create reference points for where the record hand strokes fall and where the fader opens and closes. The record strokes and fader movements begin to feel like part of the beat rather than something separate from it. This is why it is important to build a solid foundation.
Once you can hear the eighth notes between the pulse and understand how they relate to the record hand strokes and the opening and closing of the fader, coordination becomes easier to control and correct.
You can hear when the fader’s attack or the record’s stroke is rushed or dragged when playing eighth notes or sixteenth notes. This happens even if you are not actively counting, because you are beginning to feel the beat and hear how everything fits within it. You start to think less about counting and focus more on the feeling of moving your hands in time with the beat. At this stage, you are learning to recognize when something is off.
From here, the goal shifts from recognizing timing issues to correcting them. You begin to adjust the opening and closing of the fader and the placement of the record hand strokes so that they land in time.
Why Timing Is Important
Without good timing, the record and fader motions fall out of sync. When these movements are not aligned, the Chirp loses its sharpness and the rhythm can fall off beat. As your timing improves, you begin to hear when the fader should open and close and how the record strokes align with those movements. You also begin to hear how they fit within the space of the beat. The movement becomes synchronized and coordinated, and once you can hear where the strokes should land, your hands will follow. The Chirp develops from that internal sense of timing.
Checking Timing While Playing
Both hands move as a single unit as the music plays. Like with the Baby Scratch, timing is checked against the beat itself. Your focus shifts between different parts of the beat as it moves forward.
At times, your attention settles on the kick to confirm that your fader cuts are grounded. At other moments, it shifts to the snare or the hi-hats filling the space between those movements. You are not changing the technique. You are changing what you focus on to make sure both hands are executing in time.
Being able to shift your focus allows you to make adjustments while you play. If the fader opens too early, it pushes into the space before the beat. For example, a motion meant for beat 1 enters the space leading into beat 1, causing the sound to feel choked. If it arrives late, it misses the pulse and falls behind the rhythm.
The same thing happens when a synchronized stroke is meant to land between beats. If it arrives early, it pushes into space that should still be empty. If it arrives late, it falls behind the rhythm.
Below is the original transcript from the video.
Rhythm 1
In this video, we are going to apply sixteenth notes, eighth notes, eighth rests, and quarter notes to the chirp. If you are new here, do us a favor and click the subscribe button. Then grab your sheet music. You’ll find the link to the sheet music and everything discussed in this video in the description below. Alright let’s get started. The tempo is at 85 beats per minute. Here we go!
Rhythm 2
As you know by now, we have to be accurate with our counting. We are going to focus on the count to the best of our ability, while trying to be in time with our strokes. We don’t want rush or drag the beat. If you rush the count, it means that you are ahead of the beat. If you drag, it means that you are behind the beat. We want to be in time. If you're having difficulties, you may want to slow down the tempo. Let’s move on to number two. Alright, here we go!
Rhythm 3
Let’s move on to the next rhythm and continue to concentrate on the accuracy of our counting. We now know that we don’t want to come in too early or too late. But at the same time, we don’t want to play on the eighth rests. Playing on the rest can be a common mistake when learning a new rhythm. Let’s concentrate on playing in time, while making sure that we are not playing during the rests. Ok, let’s dive into rhythm number three. Here we go!
Rhythm 4
With our last rhythm let’s put everything together. We are going to count out loud and play in time. We are not going to play during the rests, and we are going to get a clean and consistent sound. Our strokes are going to sound crisp and clear, and they are going to be evenly spaced apart. Alright, here we go!
I hope that you enjoyed this video. For premium content, check out our website scratchingmadeeasy.com. Our structured learning method takes all the mystery out of scratching, and with consistent practice, it will take your scratching to the next level. Thanks for watching. See you next time! Peace!
FAQs
1. How does practicing eighth notes help you place the Chirp in time?
Practicing eighth notes helps you place the Chirp in time by giving you reference points for where the record strokes fall and where the fader opens and closes.
2. How do you check Chirp timing while you are playing?
You check Chirp timing while you are playing by shifting your focus between the kick, snare, and hi-hats to make sure both hands are executing in time.
Summary
The kick, snare, and hi-hat eighth notes create reference points for where the record hand strokes fall and where the fader opens and closes. Shifting your focus between these parts of the beat allows you to recognize when the movements are early or late and make adjustments while you play, improving your timing.
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. 8 → Pt. 9
Continue to: How I Learned to Scratch With the Cross Fader - The Chirp (Part 9)
