The baby scratch is the first scratch every DJ should learn. It’s a simple scratch that only involves the record hand. However, there are a lot of different variations, in terms of timing, tonality and in terms of additional techniques that have evolved from it. 

2, in particular, are the Scribble (which is essentially 2 or 3 baby scratches in very quick succession) and the Slice (which is the baby scratch but you open and close the crossfader in time with the record motion). The latter doesn't really impact on the sound but helps you to switch between different types of scratching (more on this later) and also forms a critical part of more complex techniques that we will also go through later on in the intermediate and advanced sections. 

A little slice of DJ history...

The baby scratch was invented by a 12 year old in the 1970s. Theodore Livingston, who went on to be known as Grand Wizzard Theodore, was playing records loud in his bedroom and would often be scolded by his parents from the other room, telling him to turn it down. One day in 1975, Theodore was playing the Incredible Bongo Band’s “Apache’ and, as he reached over to pause the record to hear what his mum was saying, he accidentally moved the record back and forth in a baby scratch.

His older brother, known as Mean Gene, was involved in the growing Hip Hop culture and was also creatively involved with Grandmaster Flash so it wasn’t long before Theodore’s fortunate discovery was integrated into the very core of Hip Hop culture.

Exercise: Ideas with the Baby Scratch

One thing that beginners often struggle with is they are concerned they do not have enough scratch vocabulary, so they will quickly progress to learn new techniques, without really getting to grips with all the variation they have with the techniques they have. I recommend you spend some time with this technique, trying to get as many different variations out of it as possible. As inspiration, I have included an ideas video below.