Learn To DJ Online: 10 DJ Courses To Teach About DJ Techniques and Club Life
The bedroom DJ of today has it easy.
The Internet has collected DJs from around the world to share their knowledge with any person that wants to listen. There are many websites available on the net which teach you how to DJ.
Each of these courses have been created with one thing in mind: teaching you how to become a DJ. Although you may be beyond the scope of many of these courses, a beginner DJ may find them very helpful in learning their new hobby and potential career.
The Club DJ Guide
The Club DJ Guide is a comprehensive guide created by JP Coupe. This guide goes beyond the basic scope of of just learning to mix with tutorials on how to build your fan base, landing gigs and actually getting residency at clubs you want to spin at.
The Club DJ Guide is aimed at those who already have a foundation of what they are doing but just don’t know the steps to take their DJing to the big leagues.
Learn How To Be A DJ
The Essential Guide To DJ’ing is perhaps the most well known course on the subject.
Danny Rampling has been DJing for over 20 years and has now put together a massive ebook on all of his knowledge. This guide covers everything in DJing from learning the very basics to playing in international clubs.
The Essential Guide to DJ’ing comes with extras like creating your own website, a collection of tips from many other great DJs and it’s cheap as well: only $16.43.
How To DJ Fast
How To DJ Fast is a combination blog and newsletter with tons of DJ tutorials and suggestions.
The blog covers a range of subjects on DJing tricks, gear and some opinions but you’ll notice right away that it also pushes for people to sign up for the newsletter.
Even if you don’t sign up for the newsletter the blog still has articles worth checking out in the meantime.
DJ Resource Online (Offline)
Learning how to DJ with The DJ Resource Online takes a step away from ebooks and blog posts to bring you a collection of tutorial videos.
The scope of this course is mainly tailored in teaching you how to learn your gear and start mixing.
Although the price is a little hefty, $47, the videos should be easier for you to follow than reading the theory and trying to explain the motions via text.
How2DJ
How2DJ is a DJ course by DJ Shortee. This course is beginning to become dated (they are offering VHS?!) however this isn’t to say that the information in the course isn’t worthwhile.
The How2DJ course is another guide for those who are just starting DJing as it covers the basic mixing methods, scratching and finding equipment. The overall price is $28.
TurntableU
For those of you that is more interested in learning how to scratch, TurntableU is oriented towards you.
The TurntableU course covers the basics of scratching to many of the intermediate and advanced scratching techniques.
TurntableU attempts to bring you high quality videos taught by dozens of DJs and turntablists. The cool thing about TurntableU is that you can purchase these courses in packages so if you already know the basics of scratching, you could pick up the advanced stuff for a few bucks.
Dubspot
Should Dubspot be included on this list? I’ll let you decide but it is worthwhile mentioning. If you don’t know, Dubspot is an official school where you can learn DJing and music production.
For a hefty price ($695 up to $1,695) you can learn everything you need to know about DJing using turntables, Ableton and other pieces of gear.
For those of you that have a ton of money to drop and can afford traveling up to the school, Dubspot is your best option if you are really serious about learning how to DJ through courses.
DJ YourNameHere
Out of all the DJ courses available online this is the one I’m a bit sketched out about.
Right up in the headline it says that it will teach you “how to be a pro in 2 weeks”. Really? I highly doubt you’ll be able to go “pro” and be able to play in clubs after only 2 weeks of learning. You may be able to get very basic beat matching down in that time but this course seems like it’s just one of those ‘too good to be true’ type deals.
Perhaps you should avoid this one although it’s still worth noting.
iDJOnDemand
IDJOnDemand comes across as a bit amateur but there’s plenty of good info from the guys at IllVibe.net.
IDJOnDemand is a bit more focused for people that want to know about scratching although the videos cover mixing basics, equipment guides and info on how to land gigs and talk to the people at clubs.
This course has a relaxed atmosphere and doesn’t come across as this high budget thing, kind of a raw set of tutorials. You can snag it for $77, not bad but there are cheaper alternatives.
DJ Tutorial
Don’t let the website fool you, the DJTutorial site does offer you courses on how to DJ that are fairly current to what’s going on today.
What’s cool about DJTutorial.com is that it doesn’t come across as some douchy product because the tutorials are being taught by people like us, the regulars.
The prices are moderate and divided into tutorial packages so if you don’t care to learn how to scratch, no problem just pick up the basic DJing courses.
Before you buy
Like most set of skills there is always going to be the fundamentals such as mixing, scratching and using the various pieces of equipment. What you’re really paying for in these videos are the expertise, quality and teaching style.
Most of the basic techniques can be learned through online videos you find already or by reading blogs such as BeginnerDJ.
If you do spend money on one of these DJ courses make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. Take a look at the testimonials and the guarantee, if it looks too shady for you just move on to the next one.
The most important thing about picking up one of these guides is to ACTUALLY DO IT. How many times have you bought a book or some motivational piece and just let it sit on the wayside (guess that motivational book didn’t help after all). If you’re spending money on these items at least go through it and try to learn something.
You should also know your learning style. Some people learn better through reading while others with videos. You may not be able to sit down and read a 300 page ebook but you could easily watch a 30 minute video.
Just use common sense before you drop any money on a course.
If you picked up one of these courses, please let me know. Did you learn anything from them?
