how did you learn ?

[oznewbie]

So i've watched numerous videos on how to DJ. But how did you learn?

Ive practiced 2 of the same tunes. Ive so-so got beatmatching. I understand beats, bars and phrases (well enough for now i think).

did you guys stick to a few records? practice the same mix over and over? just grab anything and give it a go?

at the minute, im just sort of grabbing anything and giving it a go. sometimes working, sometimes not ?

or should i chose 10 records, play them in the same order, practice try and get a decent mix going ?

thanks

[Mitch]

Playing the same songs over and over gets boring in my opinion, and isn't really what DJing is about, however can be helpful to learn I guess.

If you've got mixing the same song into itself down pat, try pick a handful of tracks that are a similar tempo & genre, then practice so you can mix them together in any order

[Cupe]

I started as a turntablist, scratching and beat juggling on vinyl, so my path is fairly different (and probably not much help)

[oznewbie]

yeah mitch, thats what ive been doing,just grabbing anything.

Can you guys literally grab any song, and mix it, without knowing the song ?

Ive been mixing songs without knowing them. with average results.s some good some bad.

il choose 2 sets of 5, and mix them about a bit.

thanks anyway cupe, ill defintaly not be beat juggling any time soon

[Cupe]

I'm at a point where I can mix songs I don't know just by checking the waveform (I manually drop cause I mix from vinyl decks with DVS if I'm not using straight wax (no cue points, no sync, no instant play button etc).

You just pick up on things the more you do it.

I'd always be getting new music and just mixing. That's how you're gonna get better

[andyman]

You do get to a point where you can mix songs you've never heard of; usually helps when going b2b or when you have someone playing before you.

I would keep focusing on getting your beatmatching tight, learning the phrasing/structures of songs and have a bit of fun with it.

If you get too bogged down playing the same shit over and over again, it's no fun for anyone - make sure you enjoy what you're doing

[AlexJ]

ive been djing for like 4-5 years now and i would say only in the last 6 months have i had the awareness and skill to play stuff ive never heard (providing i know the audio file is good) off the cuff. in the end the real skill comes when you can actually think on your feet and remember what songs sounds similar (kicks have the same tone or pattern, hats have the same rhythm, similar melodies, samples etc)

i learnt (day 1) to match the same song (so i know what matched songs sounded like), then songs of the same tempo within the same key (so i had practice beatmatching) (week 4) then its all about building up a library that you know. its great to have a 1000 songs in your library that you could probably string together end to end but the trick comes to working the phrases, learning to loop, use effects but most of all listen to more music. i play regulary in pubs, clubs, weddings etc and still make an effort a couple of times a week to play music with no preparation, a genre ive never heard/mixed or to just mix as fast as i can to improve my skill level. at the end of the day if you want to take djing somewhere (whether it be a club, festival watever) its hard not to recognise a strong, skills based work ethic. because once you can dj, what you play becomes the most important factor between an average and an excellent dj. ive heard excellent mixes from very poorly skilled djs because they kept to genre, or a theme and just played good tracks. and on the flip side, ive heard shitty mixes (often in clubs) from incredibly skilled headliners who were to arsed/full of themselves to do more than the bare minimum (whether it be playing bangers for an hour) or not commit to a good show.

tl;dr-beatmatch using same song, then similar songs of same tempo+key, then different tempos/genres/keys, then build busic library, practice everyday.