4 Record Scratching Tips Featuring Advice From Questlove

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is a musician, DJ, and percussionist known for his soulful and vintage hip hop sounds. He is one of the biggest fans of the long-running music/dance program Soul Train (1971–2006), as well as a multifaceted talent, authoring his own cookbook, Mixtape Potluck. Questlove is a Grammy award-winning musical tastemaker supreme, one of the world’s most beloved DJs, and a leading authority on the soul, funk, hip-hop, and R&B genres.

• Early life: The son of doo-wop crooner Lee Andrews and singer and dancer Jacqui Thompson, Questlove made his music debut at Radio City Music Hall at 12. At the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, Questlove joined forces with classmate Tariq Trotter (who performs as Black Thought) to form the hip-hop band the Roots, known for their fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and vintage soul. Questlove also performed with a collective of black artists known as the Soulquarians, whose members also included D’Angelo, James Poyser, and J Dilla.
• The Roots: The Roots’s fourth album, Things Fall Apart, propelled by the single “You Got Me,” was certified platinum and landed a coveted spot on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list. Around this time, The Roots became a fixture on television, with memorable performances on Dave Chappelle’s sketch-comedy series Chappelle’s Show to the late-night talk-show circuit. In 2009, The Roots joined Late Night With Jimmy Fallon as the house band, with Questlove as the bandleader and frontman. When the comedian signed on to host The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon five years later, Questlove was named the show’s musical director.
• Other successes: Questlove’s eclectic career includes more than just performance—for instance, he was an executive producer for the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton. He’s made tracks for many revered artists, including Al Green, John Legend, Erykah Badu, and Jay-Z, and hosts a weekly iHeartRadio podcast, Questlove Supreme. Questlove recently directed Summer of Soul, a documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, also known as “Black Woodstock,” that earned two top prizes at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Questlove has also flexed his acting chops on television and the big screen in Pixar’s Soul (2020), Parks and Recreation, and Saturday Night Live. He currently teaches music courses at New York University.

Scratching, or turntablism, is the art of altering or mixing existing recordings to create new ones by moving or scratching records on turntables. The term was coined in the 1990s, but many consider earlier acts like DJ Kool Herc, and Grandmaster Flash to be forefathers of the technique. Scratching might be known as a technique exclusive to vinyl records, but with the right software, can also be done on digital vinyls and CDs.

Scratching is a technique that requires patience and practice. Below are some tips inspired by Questlove to help you get into the groove of scratching:

1. 1. Practice counting rhythms. Questlove recommends counting along with the beats in your playlist so you can form the perfect segue. Practice from the top of the track, starting with ‘one’ and counting until four, then repeat until you have the pace of the song. This will help you figure out where to insert your scratches so that they flow with the rhythm of the song. When you master the basic foundation of counting, then you can get more advanced.
2. 2. Get a feel for the basics. Start off with a basic four-count beat to find the standard syncopated rhythm. “Just so that you can start exercising your muscle memory,” Questlove says, “I recommend doing basic 16 notes with your left hand ad nauseum.” Experiment with a song that contains a simpler beatline before moving on to more complicated tracks—once you have the foundation can you start to build more advanced tunes.
3. 3. Make a perfect loop. Rather than try to work to a click-track or metronome, Questlove recommends creating a loop of beats to establish your own reliable foundation. “Looping a perfect four enables you to have your own metronome,” Questlove says. “And you get to practice different rhythms.”
4. 4. Train both of your hands. Regardless of which hand is your dominant one, both hands should be equally good at scratching. Questlove practices DJing with both hands, although he had been setting up his turntables for years to favor his “rhythm” hand. “Only later did I learn that the turntable should be on the right, the mixer in the middle, and my right hand should be just as good as my left hand.”

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