When you're learning to DJ, you're learning to match your own musical expressions with the desires of an audience. It isn't just matching beats, or scratching over songs. It’s about being observant, empathic, and reactive.

Contrary to popular belief, learning to DJ is not an easy route to overnight success. This takes work, and hustle, and time. It's not difficult to start. But it isdifficult to stand out, and to be exceptional

Step 1: Learning What DJs Do

A DJ, or disc jockey, is a person who hosts recorded music for an audience. Simple!

But there are many different kinds of DJs, and many reasons for them to exist. Before we start your journey into DJing, let's take a quick dive into what they actually do:

Club DJs.

Every club has a different feel, reputation, and audience… which means they vary in what's expected from their musical selection. Normally, the club DJ's job is maintaining a moving dance floor. Club DJs may perform long blends (called transitions) between songs, or some other trickery to keep people's feet moving.

When a DJ performs at a venue regularly or permanently, they're called a resident DJ. They must know how to ramp the energy up and down, maintaining the balance between an active dance floor and a busy bar.

Step 2: Determining Your Goals

Do you have stars in your eyes? Want to start a business? Host your own podcast? Are you just doing this for fun?

There are loads of reasons that you may wish to learn how to become a DJ. The most important thing is to be completely honest about what those reasons are.

Step 3: Exploring DJ Software

It's time to see what DJing feels like! First, you'll need to get some DJ software.

Step 4: Learning Basic DJ Skills

There are a number of basic skills to consider when learning how to become a DJ: mixing, EQing, phrasing, beatmatching, and prep.

Step 5: Getting DJ Hardware

While it's possible to begin DJing using only your laptop, you’re eventually going to want more control over what you’re doing. It's time to look into some hardware!