Ask yourself what kind of DJ you want to be. Do you want to use digital DJ gear with MP3s? Do you want to use equipment designed for vinyl, like in the old days of DJing? Do you want to employ the use of gear that plays CDs? Answering this first question will start you off on the right path toward your DJ career.
Invest in the following essentials before getting into the more difficult and confusing aspects of DJ gear: two turntables, a mixer, a pair of headphones, a pair or set of monitor speakers and a pair or set of PA speakers.
Save up your money. With all the equipment successful DJs must have on hand you'll likely spend many hundreds of dollars over time getting yourself just the right setup with just the right accessories.
Have a diverse selection of music. It's not quite enough to have a large music library. Your extensive and exclusive collection of dance music might work at one club, but it might not at another that caters to rock or rap. Don't be afraid to learn about genres of music with which you aren't readily familiar, especially if you want to land a lot of gigs.
Index and sort your music. Sort by genre. Sort by the amount of beats per minute are in each song. If you're a musician, try even sorting songs by the key in which they're played. However you choose to do it, have some method to the madness of musical organization, or you will likely not find employment opportunities.
Craft your playlists. DJs take weeks or even months to construct that perfect playlist. Still, don't stop there. There will always be better or more suitable playlists as you discover more new music.
Learn how to "beat match." Beat matching is a foremost song mixing skill, pretty much required of DJs. DJs beat match when they use their equipment to match the beats per minute (BPM) and phrasing of two songs or records so that they can be blended together as if they are a single, never-ending song. Essentially, beat matching helps a DJ to craft a playlist that can go on for hours without stopping.
Become familiar with the terms "beats per minute" and "phrasing." BPM refers to the tempo of a given song and phrasing refers to the nuances in the music itself, like the individual notes, bass lines and drum beats, among other aspects. Learning how these two terms relate to the songs you choose will make all the difference in how you handle them for mixing during a gig.
Know your songs. The biggest element of mixing and beat matching seamlessly is knowing when to begin fading out your first track and when to mix in that second track. It's up to you to practice this until you've got the feel for it.