Fader Hand Tension - Why Less Equals More

Have you ever felt like you were putting way too much effort into scratching? You push and push and yet your results seem to be pretty stagnant. Well there are several symptoms that could be at the root of your suffering. In this article I plan to focus in on one of them.

This issue typically plagues the beginner worse than anyone, but make no mistake, this can and will affect anyone. I'm talking about unnecessary tension in the fader hand. I want to share with you some ways you can begin to alleviate this problem so you can focus on your development as a scratch dj more freely.

Taking An Assessment

First let's take a look at your average beginner scratch dj so we can get a better understanding of what I'm addressing. You begin scratching and the fader is all over the place. You just can't seem to control it. You're having trouble getting together any proper technique. You're probably strong arming the fader way too much and straying way too far from the cut off point.

Does Equipment And It's Settings Play A Role?

Now two things have to be made clear before I go any further. If you want to get the most out of your scratching in the short and long term you need to have your cutoff point set as close to instant as possible. Also it's ideal to have a very loose fader. I personally love the fader of the Rane 56, but regardless of what mixer you have, nowadays there are options for using scratch friendly faders regardless of what type of mixer you're using.

No Fader Control, No Dice

Obviously if you have a hard time controlling the fader you will have basically no hope of getting any decent scratches pulled off. The solution to this may seem as obvious as taking the power you're exerting back a few notches and in a way it is. In fact the solution is actually not much more complex than that. What you need to realize is that although this will help, you are not through correcting this problem.

Ultimately you need to discover with experimentation what the least amount of power is needed to control the fader and only use that. Simple right? Well not so fast. Understand that this is not a fix and forget issue. Only through consistent, highly concentrated awareness can you really reap the benefits of focusing on this method.

Why All DJ's Will Benefit

This is truly a lesson for scratch dj's at any level. No matter how well you grasp the concept of minimum power you can always improve your current technique. I personally can attest to this as I've gone through many stages of this issue.

Sometimes you may be taking on a new technique and have yet to really gauge what is needed to pull it off. You may be starting off slow and not ready to put a lot of speed into it. You may be doing one technique that requires more energy and power than another technique. Not to mention all the combinations of things you already know. As you can see it begins to become somewhat intricate.

Narrowing Down The Process

What we need to do right now is take things down a notch. Several notches in fact. Take the most simplest fader based scratch possible. We'll use a forward 2 click transform for this exercise.

Execute a simple forward transform over and over at a low tempo such as 60 beats per minute and pay close attention to how much power you're exerting. Is your forearm, wrist or hand getting sore? Are you pushing the fader too far away from the cut off point? Is the sound of the record running out before you have a chance to finish? These are things you should be asking yourself as you're performing the transform scratch. If the answer is yes to any of these, try relaxing and releasing as much power as you can while still maintaining control.

Is Doing Nothing A Solution?

Well yes, it can actually be a highly effective solution. However you would not simply be doing nothing and stopping there. You would be resting between each repetition. This is one of the easiest ways to avoid unnecessary tension. So always make sure you bear that in mind.

While it is typical while learning new scratches that there will be some forearm burn, you can usually reduce it substantially by following the advice outlined in this article, especially this particular point. In fact it really doesn't matter what technique or combinations of techniques you do. Resting between every transition will make a HUGE difference.

What Else Is Choking The Life Out Of Your Potential?

There is another culprit that creates unnecessary tension and that is unnecessary tension in the body. While it may seem obvious by now that you need to have just the right amount of tension in your hand, wrist and arm, it's important to note that holding extra tension in other parts of your body can be detrimental as well.

The biggest key here is awareness. You have to pay attention to how you're feeling while you're scratching. If you notice that you're tightening up in your neck, back or another area you'll need to consider changing your posture and sending a message to your brain to relax. This is a process that will require consistent, focused monitoring so keep alert.

Keeping Things At The Forefront Of Your Mind

One final point I'd like to mention is that you shouldn't just read this article and then let it leave to memory. Use this information to your advantage on a regular basis. You can potentially shave off years of frustration by following this advice. Stay aware, focused and above all else have fun!

If you are interested in more information on how to further improve your scratch technique, go to http://kwotemusic.com and sign up to my newsletter where I feature free lessons monthly.

? 2011 Kwotemusic

Piano Beginners - Learn The Basic Chords On The Piano to American Pie by Don Mclean

A great song for beginners to learn on the Piano is American Pie, by Singer and Songwriter Don Mclean. It was released from the American Pie album in 1971, and became a number one hit in the US for four consecutive weeks in 1972. American Pie is renowned as Don McLean's signature song.

The song was inspired by the death of Buddy Holly, who sadly died in a plane crash in 1959, and the song was written about the memories of the event.

This song shot him to fame, but Don Mclean found this very difficult suddenly being in the public eye and rarely having any privacy, it sadly made him depressed at times, and all linked back to losing his father at the young age of 15, and having a failed message, which is represented in the American Pie Album. A lot of his emotions at the time are linked to songs on the album.

The song is an incredible 8 minutes and 33 seconds long, but cleverly manages to keep you captivated throughout the whole length of time with its catchy melody and gripping lyrics. When Don Mclean talks about the song to people he would describe it as starting off with his memories of the death of Buddy Holly, and then moves on to describe America as how he was seeing it and how he fantasized about how it might become.

He explained that it is perfectly okay for him to talk about being in the gym and seeing this girl dancing with someone else and suddenly have this become this other thing that this verse becomes and moving on just like that. That is his reasons why he never analyzed the lyrics to the song.

The Song is still played regularly on the radio today, even though it was originally released over 20 years ago, Madonna famously covered this song for the Soundtrack of the Austin Powers film the Next Best thing, which once again proved a popular hit with the public, reaching number one in many countries across the world.

The song is in an easy key signature to play which makes it ideal for a beginner learning piano. It is in the key of G Major, and is quite a repetitive song. The main chords in the Song are G Major, E Minor, A Major, C Major, D Major and A Minor. It has a clever arrangement by which the intro is featured later on in the song as part of the end section, so it links in very nicely, and a great song to have in your repertoire as a budding pianist.

Learn How To Do Warm Up Vocal Exercises

The warm up vocal exercise I'm going to share with you does the following:

It warms up your vocal muscles so that you can sing with ease. This activity lets your tone flow smoothly through your vocal range.
It helps balance the air going in to your lungs making it easier to sing through your vocal registers. The vocal registers are the chest voice, mixed voice and the head voice.
It helps link your vocal registers so you can sing all over your range. Usually when you sing through your range, you tend to break into a falsetto when reaching the highest notes. Warm up vocal exercises minimize that from happening.
It makes singing so easy. Voice warm ups tend to relax the vocal muscles so that singing is just like talking.

This exercise has proven to be very effective! Just practice this for a month and viola! You will feel that your voice has improved.

Now let us do this! This is known as the lip-roll exercise.

Place a hand on either side of your mouth and let your fingers hold up your cheeks. Push your fingertips in until you feel your teeth meet. Your lips should be kept loose and flappy. Make a blowing noise like you are very tired. It should sound like a horse. At this position, try to make an MMMMM sound. While doing this, flap your lips freely and produce a dopey BRRRRRRR!

Doing this will allow your larynx to be gradually pulled down, easing vocal tension. This enables you to move with ease from one vocal register to another. In short, this warm up vocal exercise helps you sing easy and it also improves your voice.

Strange warm up vocal exercises? Not! This sound teaches you to determine your vocal range. Forget about how strange sounding it is. Just focus on its ability to improve your voice.

Let us move on to the next step. Now choose a song from your mp3 collection that you like to belt out. In singing it, replace the lyrics with BRRRRR. While singing, hold your cheeks up to produce MMMMMM. Sing this and you will be amazed at the outcome. It is easier to sing. You can hit the high notes with more ease and you have a nice sweet tone.

Are these warm up vocal exercises great or what? Try it now and you will see wonders in your singing career!

Violin Maintenance - Looking After Your Bow