Diggers In Training.

Would any of you Sensai Diggers be willing to lend some advice to a youngin? If willing please send suggestions on Funk, Soul, Jazz, Foreign, Acapella, Alternative, Etc. records or artists. Other young diggers feel free to also post your questions in this thread. Thanks for taking the time to read this message.

get those fingers dusty.

read those liner notes.

dig, dont pay someone else to.

always check the condition.



as for you in the southbay of la... two words... RECORD RECYCLER.

only experience can really teach you how to dig... what i dig for is going to be different from what you dig for. and that's a good thing.

you're gonna buy a lot of useless crap along the way... until you start realizing what kind of stuff you like to sample best and what genres to avoid entirely...

as mentioned... read the liner notes... see what instruments are used on the album... what year it's from... and most importantly, don't judge an album by the cover... some of the best samples i've ever found have been on the most random records with the worst covers ever.

Get movie soundtracks older than 1976, and get anything with electronic synths from 1967 to 1973, because synths were considered background music for horror and sci-fi films in that era. So bands that used them were really experimenting

Go to record stores with listening stations
Never rule out thrift stores
School yourself on records with youtube
Sometimes you have to take chances on records
Check who arranged/ produced/ the record

Funk :James Brown, Ohio Players, Funkadelic
Soul : Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin
Jazz: Herbie Hancock, Donald Byrd, John Coletrane
Foriegn: Anything

Also don't rule out rock music. Plenty drum breaks to be found, probably more than any other genre.

Heres a tip I learned. Never pick up a **** bobby vee record lol but on a serious note... I am not super experienced but I have a decent little stack of records and have been digging for a few months or so... just listen to everything that looks like it something you would like... I like to listen to a record the whole way through and stop and back up to grab a sample I heard that I was feeling... I like to just focus more on appreciating the music I am listening to and trying to get in the feeling of the song because I really enjoy listening to music... then when I find something I think I would like making a beat out of... I grab it... its all in good fun for me!

Try new genres and stuff! I ended up really liking samples from songs I didnt even like that much lol. But I gave it a chance, and listened to the whole record trying to see the point of view he was trying to get the listener to understand, and got some awesome samples on the way. Just trying to gain inspiration from other musicians. I dont think there is a wrong record or right record to look for but maybe there is lol... you never know whats on it til you listen to it.

In the past couple of years, I don't look for old jazz or funk albums anymore unless it is totally out of the ordinary.
Now I go for old orchestrated movie soundtracks and classic rock albums.

A store with a listening station is My advice too.

When i started out i hooked a few records that i knew had open drums on em, then just went crazy in the 10 SEK bin (1€)

Just start diggin and you'll find out what you like and what you don't, good luck!

Cool Sauce wrote:Go to record stores with listening stations
Never rule out thrift stores
School yourself on records with youtube
Sometimes you have to take chances on records
Check who arranged/ produced/ the record

Funk :James Brown, Ohio Players, Funkadelic
Soul : Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin
Jazz: Herbie Hancock, Donald Byrd, John Coletrane
Foriegn: Anything

What he said