Execution Trumps Technique
Execution trumps technique. I’ve always felt that. In a quest to help my Brolic Army students understand how to articulate the scratches I’ve taught them, I’ve spent some time over the weekend examining the approach Cash Money, Aladdin, and Q-Bert all took to performing “Transformer” scratches on “Rock The Bells” (LL Cool J). The differences between these 3 dudes couldn’t be clearer.
One is lyrical.
The second is funky.
The third is technical.
You can literally close your eyes and identify who’s who just by listening.
It’s my belief that obsessing over technique, leads you down a path of mediocrity. I guess because technique is relatively easy to learn with practice. The challenge is understanding how to execute that said technique in a way that allows who you are, your personality in effect, to shine through whatever scratch it is you’re doing. In this case, the ”Transformer”. So whether you’re melodic like Cash, soulful like Aladdin or scientific like Q, striving to let the unique qualities that define you as a person come out in your scratches make the difference between sounding like an “average Joe” or an “original Joe”. You choose.