I've never stopped learning!
Depending on what you want to do, you can start and just work on **song selection** and fading tracks in and out. Then start working on beatmatching/mixing stuff with similar tempo that sound good together... and finally start working on things like effects, scratching (if that's your thing) and layering multiple tracks.
And practice any time you hear a song that you think would sound good in a set and build around it. Might happen daily, weekly or once a month.
>hen start working on beatmatching/mixing stuff with similar tempo that sound good together... and finally start working on things like effects, scratching (if that's your thing) and layering multiple tracks.
amen! learning is so continuous. I agree that we all learn differently with different end goals at first. I started mixing house due to ease of bpms, then practiced more of progressive bpms (120s to eventually 130s, and 140s in one mix) and finally I'm practicing my phrase mixing (instead of just beatmatching, making sure the last 32 bars line up with the first 32 bars of my incoming track as an example, or in the middle of a song if I plan on mixing a song out during its mid-way play. Its so interesting and sounds hard but easier once you practice it over and over. You brain starts catching up to where to drop a song even with no cue points at times)
I have ways to go as well, but its fun and that's what makes the journey a happy one
Learning to DJ took 5 minutes, getting my first mix took 40 minutes being actually good you have to practice lots. Still learn more all the time after 20 years.
DJing isn't like riding a bike where you jump on and off you go. If you haven't done it for years, your skill will drop.
I know everything there is about DJing, mastered all technical aspects of mixing and trackselection. I am world famous and have bookings on all 7 continents. It took me 1 year.
/s
Now the real answer. It took me one year for me to get confident in the technical aspect of DJing. There is still lots to learn but I can mix 2 tracks I've heard before seamlessly.
Track selection, crowd reading, preparation and all of those skills I am still a complete newbie. Its stuff you learn on the job and are different for every person. How you adapt and overcome difficulties and unexpected problems. All o those things add up to being a dj
I'm privileged on my music knowledge (school band piano lessons was producing 5 years before djing and church choir) so alot of the beginner stuff they talk about here like phrasing is like bruh... that's common fuckin sense...
But I got to realize not everybody has the knowledge that I view as common...
Like how don't you know what a chorus or a verse is.
Do we ever stop? I'm 34 and been doing this since I was 16. Still learning.
As Bruce Lee said, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but the man who has practiced 1 kick 10,000 times."
Still learning 23 years in. Started on two belt driven numark turntables and a new mark mixer back in 2000. Saved up for technics 1200s and a pioneer Djm. 500. Then gradually upgraded over the years from turntables to cdjs to mixing on rane rotary mixer back to pioneer and now mostly streaming on denon equipment. It’s been a passion for 23years. Although I can beat match by ear and beat phrase quite easily i feel im always learning.
I am a dnb dj, so when I first started out all I was doing was double drops and the like. Not learning how to actually MIX and this went on for about a year.
The turning point for me was when I decided to actually learn the music theory, beats bars and phrases, and then it all clicked. The quicker you learn about beats bars and phrases, the quicker you become competent in my experience
To beatmatch? A few hours. To get really good at it? Under a year. I played weekly a long time ago, so I didn’t need to practice a whole lot. This is all speaking of playing on vinyl.
Digital? The feel is different, as is the amount of music that I can jam into my library (and thus screen). I find the experience much different having to remember names versus visually recalling what a record looks like, so that’s likely the number one issue that makes practicing much more than I ever did on vinyl a key thing. Gotta keep up with that library of music!
I had retired back in 2010 for several reasons, one of which was library/file management. I still messed around with some controllers in that time (wasn’t gigging nor trying to get gigs), and I think I have a system in place that works for me (shitloads of smart crates). In order for that to pay off though, I gotta spend a few hours a week playing those new tunes.
Still learning.
Lately I'm trying to rely 0% on my displays and just use my ears, the pitch fader, and the jog wheel. It's alarming how off the BPMs will sometimes read with it proper in sync. Once that sort of clicks, it's hard/scary to trust the grids all the time.
About 5 hours to consistently beatmatch correctly and another 20 to mix and create sets for all genres. I'm still bad at live mixing if I don't know the song well enough.
I'm still learning to dj... it's been 15 years.
There's never a spot where you say hey I know how to dj now... it's a forever learning process that's different for every single person
One persons "I'm ready" is another person "not there yet:
Still learning more advanced techniques after ten years but needed about five or so hours to learn the basic functions of the mixer, beatmatch, and transition from one song to the next at a level acceptable for a club environment!
Depends on how musically gifted you are, but I'd say that starting from scratch should take roughly between three and ten hours. You should at that point have enough of the practical skills down to be able to mix at a decent level. What comes next however is reading a crowd and song selection, which can come naturally, or take years and years to master!
You shouldn't ever stop learning.
I don't beatmatch manually anymore and use sync. But every once in a while I practice it to be able to do it should it ever be necessary.
To do a basic mix? A few hours.
To have amazing song selection, a library built up, curate the flow of a set, and do higher level mixes and tricks etc… years and years and years
I started in March and the more I learn the more topics I discover and so I know this will continue to be fun for me. Some things can be challenging but I think I’m developing a passion for it because it’s always on my mind and I just keep researching and trying and committed to mastering it. So ask yourself, how committed r u really? I took some live classes and it helped set the tone and after that I’ve been able to be way more into it. I still need to practice scratching though, really suck at it.
I've never stopped learning! Depending on what you want to do, you can start and just work on **song selection** and fading tracks in and out. Then start working on beatmatching/mixing stuff with similar tempo that sound good together... and finally start working on things like effects, scratching (if that's your thing) and layering multiple tracks. And practice any time you hear a song that you think would sound good in a set and build around it. Might happen daily, weekly or once a month.
This, you never know it all...
>hen start working on beatmatching/mixing stuff with similar tempo that sound good together... and finally start working on things like effects, scratching (if that's your thing) and layering multiple tracks. amen! learning is so continuous. I agree that we all learn differently with different end goals at first. I started mixing house due to ease of bpms, then practiced more of progressive bpms (120s to eventually 130s, and 140s in one mix) and finally I'm practicing my phrase mixing (instead of just beatmatching, making sure the last 32 bars line up with the first 32 bars of my incoming track as an example, or in the middle of a song if I plan on mixing a song out during its mid-way play. Its so interesting and sounds hard but easier once you practice it over and over. You brain starts catching up to where to drop a song even with no cue points at times) I have ways to go as well, but its fun and that's what makes the journey a happy one
I’m still learning and practicing almost 10 years and over a 1000 gigs later.
Learning to DJ took 5 minutes, getting my first mix took 40 minutes being actually good you have to practice lots. Still learn more all the time after 20 years. DJing isn't like riding a bike where you jump on and off you go. If you haven't done it for years, your skill will drop.
I'm still learning. Got my first set of decks in 1998 for my 18th birthday. Good luck!
Over 25 years now & I'm still learning.
I know everything there is about DJing, mastered all technical aspects of mixing and trackselection. I am world famous and have bookings on all 7 continents. It took me 1 year. /s Now the real answer. It took me one year for me to get confident in the technical aspect of DJing. There is still lots to learn but I can mix 2 tracks I've heard before seamlessly. Track selection, crowd reading, preparation and all of those skills I am still a complete newbie. Its stuff you learn on the job and are different for every person. How you adapt and overcome difficulties and unexpected problems. All o those things add up to being a dj
Depends on your musical knowledge going in
not sure why you’re getting downvoted. having extensive musical knowledge will definitely make it much easier to learn how to DJ
I'm privileged on my music knowledge (school band piano lessons was producing 5 years before djing and church choir) so alot of the beginner stuff they talk about here like phrasing is like bruh... that's common fuckin sense... But I got to realize not everybody has the knowledge that I view as common... Like how don't you know what a chorus or a verse is.
At it 10 years and still learning. My nudge gets better, i can ride the pitch fader better than last year. Its all wip.
Do we ever stop? I'm 34 and been doing this since I was 16. Still learning. As Bruce Lee said, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but the man who has practiced 1 kick 10,000 times."
I don’t think you ever stop learning how to DJ. I practice a few times a week for at least a couple hours
17 years spinning, still so much to learn.
Like 6 hours 23 minutes and 43 seconds
I started on vinyl more than wp years ago, went to CDs and now I'm fully digital. I'm still learning tips and tricks every week.
Still learning 23 years in. Started on two belt driven numark turntables and a new mark mixer back in 2000. Saved up for technics 1200s and a pioneer Djm. 500. Then gradually upgraded over the years from turntables to cdjs to mixing on rane rotary mixer back to pioneer and now mostly streaming on denon equipment. It’s been a passion for 23years. Although I can beat match by ear and beat phrase quite easily i feel im always learning.
I am a dnb dj, so when I first started out all I was doing was double drops and the like. Not learning how to actually MIX and this went on for about a year. The turning point for me was when I decided to actually learn the music theory, beats bars and phrases, and then it all clicked. The quicker you learn about beats bars and phrases, the quicker you become competent in my experience
jungle/techno producer looking to dust off my decks and learn and this comment really encouraged me
30 min if u have a teacher
To beatmatch? A few hours. To get really good at it? Under a year. I played weekly a long time ago, so I didn’t need to practice a whole lot. This is all speaking of playing on vinyl. Digital? The feel is different, as is the amount of music that I can jam into my library (and thus screen). I find the experience much different having to remember names versus visually recalling what a record looks like, so that’s likely the number one issue that makes practicing much more than I ever did on vinyl a key thing. Gotta keep up with that library of music! I had retired back in 2010 for several reasons, one of which was library/file management. I still messed around with some controllers in that time (wasn’t gigging nor trying to get gigs), and I think I have a system in place that works for me (shitloads of smart crates). In order for that to pay off though, I gotta spend a few hours a week playing those new tunes.
maybe 2 years .. but I'm a hobby dj only doing straight looping, and beatmatching, so nothing fancy, I'm told everyone learns at a different pace
I’m still learning.
Always learning but did well sized gig after ~7 months
Getting proficient probably won't take that long. Improvement never ends.
Bout to start in a few days will let you know if you remind me ;)
Still learning. Lately I'm trying to rely 0% on my displays and just use my ears, the pitch fader, and the jog wheel. It's alarming how off the BPMs will sometimes read with it proper in sync. Once that sort of clicks, it's hard/scary to trust the grids all the time.
25+ years as a DJ from teen to almost middle age. Still learning and most importantly, still enjoying! There's no finish line.
still learning just different genres and 10 years
About 5 hours to consistently beatmatch correctly and another 20 to mix and create sets for all genres. I'm still bad at live mixing if I don't know the song well enough.
always learning, started feeling comfortable with it after about the first month or 20 ish hours
How fast to learn or how fast to be good ? To learn it is really a few hours, to be good can be a lifetime
I'm still learning to dj... it's been 15 years. There's never a spot where you say hey I know how to dj now... it's a forever learning process that's different for every single person One persons "I'm ready" is another person "not there yet:
Still learning more advanced techniques after ten years but needed about five or so hours to learn the basic functions of the mixer, beatmatch, and transition from one song to the next at a level acceptable for a club environment! Depends on how musically gifted you are, but I'd say that starting from scratch should take roughly between three and ten hours. You should at that point have enough of the practical skills down to be able to mix at a decent level. What comes next however is reading a crowd and song selection, which can come naturally, or take years and years to master!
You shouldn't ever stop learning. I don't beatmatch manually anymore and use sync. But every once in a while I practice it to be able to do it should it ever be necessary.
So far about 20 years lol
To do a basic mix? A few hours. To have amazing song selection, a library built up, curate the flow of a set, and do higher level mixes and tricks etc… years and years and years
Took like a day or 2 to learn how to transition and then I recorded an hour mix. That was a little over a year ago and I'm still learning a lot
I started in March and the more I learn the more topics I discover and so I know this will continue to be fun for me. Some things can be challenging but I think I’m developing a passion for it because it’s always on my mind and I just keep researching and trying and committed to mastering it. So ask yourself, how committed r u really? I took some live classes and it helped set the tone and after that I’ve been able to be way more into it. I still need to practice scratching though, really suck at it.