There are many ways you can go about getting your first DJ gig – Firstly before you even consider your first DJ gig, you need to have put the hours of practice in your bedroom to make sure you are ready to make the most of the opportunity when it presents itself.
- An amateur practices till they get it right
- A professional practices until they can’t get it wrong!
I’ve meet loads of people over the years that have made the plunge and invested in the full DJ set up and the one thing that makes the real DJ’s stand out from all the others is practice, and lots of it!
So let’s assume you have put the time and effort into practice and you’re ready for your first club DJ gig!
The first thing that you need to do is go out and inject yourself into the clubbing community or scene that you want to be a part of, and in particular the club that you want to play your first gig at. You not only need to inject yourself into that community but you need to become a part of it.
You have to be prepared to do whatever it takes
You could offer to help on the door, promote, hand out flyers, collect emails, pick up glasses, work behind the bar, pretty much anything to get your foot in the door.
Once you are in you need to gain respect by working hard and by being passionate about what you’re doing as well as your music and what you want to achieve with it.
I am a firm believer that you create your own luck, people will pick up on your passion and vibe and you will notice opportunities will start to present themselves. You will start to get invited to private house parties and start to build friendships with like minded people.
The entire time you will be giving out endless copies of your professional looking kick arse demo CD’s, right?…
Always have your headphones and tune’s ready to go!
Once you start becoming a familiar face at the club and the promoters and club owners start to feel your vibe and passion for the music and the club, it will only be a matter of time untill they get a DJ that doesn’t show up – by strategically putting yourself in the right position and at the right time you will get your opportunity, that is a guarantee.
DJ’s don’t turn up all the time, flight delays, double bookings, wrong dates, lack of commitment, car break downs, airport rides not turning up the list goes on. This is you backdoor entrance!
No matter how unrealistic or competitive it is getting in the front door, if you do the right things and are prepared to get your hands dirty handing out flyers or just generally volunteering your services to help the club owners and promoters out your time will come.
Are you ready?
The thing I keep going back to is that you need to be ready. Remember if you get a gig this way it is out of desperation, after all you are filling a slot at the 11th hour, so you need to be doubly ready to make sure that you blow the club owners, promoters and most importantly the dance floor out of the water with your confidence, charisma, music selection and seamless mixing.
If you’ve truly put the time in to being ready for your opportunity, you will be in a position to make the most of it, the right people will take notice and your DJing journey will have begun. The flipside – if you’re not ready your DJing journey will be over before it even begins.
This leaves two questions:
- Have you done the hard work and left no stone un-turned practicing in your bedroom?
- Are you prepared to get your hands dirty and do whatever it takes to get your foot in the door?
If you can hand on heart answer yes to both the above questions, then you know what to do! So good luck and as always keep me posted because it’s your success stories that keep me motivated!
Benny
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Hi benny iam a student already at a dj skool im learning it hard to beat match i have a song a that i can put it together but its a matter of bars and outro i have problems with when to mix out and mix in too what shall i do any other ways to do this
hey man djaying is all about confidence and getting out there and not being afraid and enjoy what u do best and its all about the music and the people reading the crowd and knowing whats out there……..keep on pressing its about the money yo if u are real they are real……..
Hey Josua!
Knowing confidently when to start your mix makes a big difference, at the very least it’s one less thing you need to worry about if you are just starting out.
You need to start learning about song structure and in particular about beats, bars, phrases and end of bar markers – this will help you understand exactly what you need to. The idea is to not only get the beats matched but also both song structures.
This will go a long way to get your beat matching sounding more in sync and ultimately help produce more energy from the mix.
If you haven’t already you can check out the full DJ Master Course training package which systematically guides you through all of the above and beyond!
As djtrimp above mentioned it’s all about confidence. Now the best way to build your confidence is by completely understanding what you are doing, that and relentless practice.
If you keep learning and persisting you’ll get there guaranteed
Good luck!
@djtrimp9828skool09 no way its about the money, its about the music and the vibe. I love it and would do it for free, not the case with all djs but definitely for me.
wow
get it!
Very extraordinary site.
The information here is genuinely important.
I will tell my friends.
Cheers
hey just as benny says if your willing to always be at the club get to know the people/promoters/dj’s your path to landing club gigs will present itself just be patient my own personal eg.I was @ my favourite club jus waiting in line for entry when the owner of the club came out and asked if there was any dj’s amongst us so as benny said put urself out there but b4 you do make sure yor ready and confident enough on your djing skills because when an opportunity presents itself if you dont make a good first impression it could be your last cheers jim zanis
Hi benny…i have a problem in knowing the genre of the music?
@Gavy – If your having problems knowing the different genres out there what I suggest you do is set up an account with one of the online DJ music download stores and start clicking around all the different categories !
It won’t take long to pick up as most categories or genre names are basic descriptions of the style
Click on the link below to check out the 5 Best DJ Music Download Stores:
http://blog.djmastercourse.com/dj-tips-advice-dj-download-stores/
Good luck !!
Nice to stand before the public waiting for me to start the music, my heart races. I hope to share my feelings in the music with the audience and see a happy reaction!
I used to try and take my records with me everywhere I went just in case someone had “Open Turntables” or allowed guest DJs in their club. Back then I was lugging two crates of actual records. These days with a compact laptop music library there is simply no excuse for not taking your stuff with you.
Even after Deejaying for a while at clubs a group of us started showing up at the local after hours club after our regular club gigs and after hearing us play for free One time we all became the resident DJs for the second room as our styles worked well together and we rotated every 30 minutes. People would follow us to the afterparty as soon as our clubs closed for the night. It was a pefect match for both us and the after hours club.
- DJ Emir