Want to learn how to be a dj?
How to be a DJ is one skill that if asked most guys would want to learn. There is the whole idea of the lifestyle of girls, partying and music that makes it similar to the life of the rockstar. Well learning how to be a DJ is not all fun and games!
Those things may be there but learning how to be a DJ involves hard work and persistence, only then do you get the rewards.
I began learning how to be a DJ when I was in my mid teens. I grew up in a small town and it seemed everyone was learning how to be a DJ at the time since there was not much else to do around there. The good thing about this was I had a lot of people around me all into learning the art of how to be a dj which is not something I can say about many of the hobbies I have undertaken. I feel this is a really invaluable thing when learning a new hobby as it keeps things fun and motivating. If you don’t have that however, there are things which can help you which I will tell you about later in this article.
Honing the craft of how to be a DJ
To tell you the truth I was quite a late bloomer in learning how to be a DJ. Even though these guys around me were all DJing and hosting free raves out in the woods I was more interested in smoking weed and just bumming around. Why do I mention this? Maybe cos I want a shoulder to cry on over my misspent youth but other than that it is to tell you that you have to WANT to DJ and have a passion for it or else what’s the point? So at that point in my life I wasn’t too into Djing and as a result my skills were shoddy and pretty much nonexistent simply because I didn’t care too much and didn’t hardly practice.
So what is the next tip I’m giving you? Yea yea I know you are fed up of hearing it but it’s what separates the amateurs from the pros- it’s PRACTICE. I quickly watched my friends who were throwing parties race ahead of me in their skills since they would love to practice and go round each other’s houses many times a week to mix. So yea, motivation comes 1st then practice. I on the other hand was still not bothered about my DJing and was happy to watch them improve their skills (although secretly a little envious) while I sat back and enjoyed what they were spinning.
how to be a dj
Fast forward a few years and I still had my decks but had moved to a new city and new friends. After having quite the break from DJing I got back into it again once I found some buddies who were into MCing. It was a bit of a different scene here since where I lived before everyone was a DJ with hardly any MCs but now it was the other way round. There were loads of MCs with not many DJs. So I became the main DJ for my group of friends. We would often come round to my house for a mixing session to my father’s dismay and rave it up of an evening.
This time round I would practice more and enjoy the practice. This is another main point. To stick at it I think you’ve gotta enjoy it which is pretty easy when you have a passion for the music you’re playing. DJing can be a great feeling when you really get in the flow of it and you’re riding the beats in the mix which brings me to my next point…
The techniques of how to be a DJ
One of the most important skills you are going to master in learning how to be a DJ is learning to beatmatch. Beatmatching is the core skill of any budding DJ cos without it all the other fancy skills such as chopping scratching or even plain fading will sound worse than a barrel of apples falling off the cart. For those who don’t know beatmatching is where you match the tempo of one track to the next track and bring them together in the mix so they sound harmonious.
Even if you are not a DJ yourself you will have heard a sloppy out of time mix in a club before and know it sounds bad. I think this is the main skill which really lets a lot of Djs down because it really leaks into your other skills if it isn’t tight.
So how to beatmatch? To be honest I think I was a hard case when learning to beatmatch. It literally felt like it took me 5 years to learn but in fairness looking back I really didn’t apply myself to it like I could have. This is why why I am writing this article to encourage budding Djs to avoid the pitfalls I faced.
One of the main things you are gonna find when learning to become a DJ and learning to beatmatch is at the start you will sound like total crap. The thing with beatmatching is that until you are good at it your mixes are gonna sound like total garbage and if you are anything like me you will be embarrassed to play in front of anyone else with your ‘flabby’ out of time mixes. This is the critical time for patience and persistence because beatmatching is so important for a mix sounding decent you must get this down before moving on to other skills. Once you learn beatmatching all the other techniques will flow from there. I found once I learned beatmatching that my confidence to DJ in front of others really shot up and that was when I really began to enjoy it.
Thing is though, it is going to be really frustrating at first because not only can you not mix you are butchering your favourite tunes as they sound more out of step than a drunk granny who lost her walker.
So here I really want to drive home the importance of having patience. Lock yourself away from your friends if you have to while you learn it. Become like a DJ monk going into a period of deep meditation. It won’t matter if they wonder what happened to you because once you learn to beatmatch they and the girls will all be running to your side and want your attention with your newfound skills. PERSIST PERSIST PERSIST. Slowly but surely you will see progress and the great thing about that is that it will motivate you onwards more and more inch by inch. Learning how to be a DJ is a process.