Free DJ lessons by The DJ Tutor
Twenty years of Ellaskins' tutorials, sorted into nine stages that build on each other, from your first controller to running DJing as a business. Start at the beginning, or go straight into the complete beginner course.
Nine stages, in dependency order: you cannot beatmatch before you can count a bar, so each stage assumes the one above it. Work straight through, or jump to whatever you are stuck on.
What DJing actually involves, and how to choose a first setup without wasting money. Start here if you have never touched a mixer.
Every control on a controller, CDJ and mixer explained one at a time: loading tracks, gain and trim, faders, and using headphones properly.
Before you can mix you have to hear the music's structure. Bars, beats and phrases, what BPM really means, beat grids and reading a waveform.
Getting two tracks running in time and keeping them there, by ear, with the pitch control and the jog wheel. The skill everything else rests on.
Moving between tracks cleanly: EQ mixing, bass swaps, chops, filters, long blends, and how to avoid vocal clashes and clipping.
The musical side: mixing in key, choosing tracks that work together, managing energy, building a set and reading a floor.
Cues, loops, effects, acapellas and scratching used as performance tools rather than party tricks.
Running Serato, rekordbox, Traktor and VirtualDJ with confidence, plus the real-world kit: PA, speakers, microphones, laptops, USB and troubleshooting.
DJing as a job: getting booked, what to charge, weddings and mobile work, clients and contracts, marketing yourself, and the scams to avoid.
Ellaskins has been teaching since 2006. Every video here is transcribed on our own hardware rather than lifted from YouTube's captions, so you can search what was actually said - not just what it was called.
The curriculum is the spine, but twenty years of reviews, first looks and business advice sit alongside it.
