Top Ten Best Songs for Beginners to Learn to DJ with

As I'll be a part time DJ tutor at my college next year, I'm already considering tracks which have an easily detectable, regular beat, which are also very good tracks themselves. The fact is, a lot of people learn to DJ with commercial deep house music, myself included, because it is easy to mix, but it's only easy to mix because there's little to no diversion within it. When I teach people, I will encourage them to think differently, to go outside the box. Of course, they can learn with whatever genres they please, partly since I'm experienced in mixing several kinds of music, from melodic dubstep to psytrance, but also because I'm not forcing anyone to fall into a certain area, because when you learn with a greater scope of music, you become a much better DJ. You become one of the DJs with several tricks up his sleeve that he's not hesitant to use, rather than the DJ who brings in a track that's out of sync by a fraction of a beat in the hope that nobody notices.

So, without further ado, here are some tracks, not necessarily my favourites to listen to or to play in a set, but those which I think will be a core part to misinformed newbies becoming cultured experts in no time.

Like many of my lists, however, there is no definitive rank to these items, so the bottom items are by no means not worth learning to DJ with.
The Top Ten
1 Technologic - Daft Punk

The isolated vocals in the beginning of the song are ideal for practicing various types of transitions, possibly by simply varying the mid or by implementing a filter, and when you're just messing around with this track, the whole track is good for getting to grips with how a general track is pieced together, and the more you mess around with it, the better you make yourself with these effects. I'd recommend experimenting with the filter, pitch and beat loops using Technologic.
The only issue with this track is that the beat is non-existent for the first 30 seconds, but if you've analysed this track, either by memory or using something like rekordbox, you'll be fine.

2 I Remember - deadmau5 & Kaskade

One of my all time favourite songs, for its incredible sound and its uplifting message. And also a track which made learning to DJ a much more ecstatic experience. Speed it up or slow it down dramatically? Sounds good. Rapid beat loop before the drop? Sounds good. Flanger on buildup? Sounds brilliant!
I love being spontaneous when bringing this track in or out, or by messing with it mid-track, because you know that if that doesn't sound good, you're doing something drastically wrong.
In short, this track really allows you to be creative during your set. If I were to learn it all again from scratch, I would've used this track more often. I was cautious to fiddle with something so intricately put together, but I found that, with concentration in the picture, I became much more confident with mixing progressive house as a whole.

3 6 PM - Kings of Tomorrow

A laid back house track, I know, but KoT is easily better than anything you hear on mainstream radio. And it has a heavy beat with a distinct clap, and there are various parts within the full nine minute version of the track that are perfect for introducing unexpected effects.

4 Animal Rights - deadmau5 & Wolfgang Gartner

As soon as I'd learned the basics of DJing with music I didn't necessarily love, such as simple beat-matching and changes of basslines, I was straight onto tracks like this. It's got a simple beat, but in just the first 30 seconds of the track, it's got several elements which you can get really good at playing with. The beauty of this track is that this will sound good in a mix if you are very intricate with the sound overlaps, but also if you stick to the basics which beginners learn. And it sticks with you throughout your DJing career, being just as good for learning to mix as it is to get your fans on the dance floor!

5 Tearing Me Up - Bob Moses

The track has a slow beat and a smooth vibe, but there's a surprising amount that can be done with this track using only the basic tools on your mixer. Using just the treble and mid with one or two hot cues, you can change this into a completely different track. Just play around with it, and you'd be surprised with what you can get out.

6 Stronger - Kanye West
7 (Sic) - Slipknot
8 All I Do is Win - DJ Khaled

All he does is lose! Lose! Lose! No matter what!

9 Gin and Juice - Snoop Dogg

I mean, rap songs can be DJed, and this is a prime example of one that can be.

10 Windowlicker - Aphex Twin
The Contenders
11 Feel So Close - Calvin Harris
12 Zambia - Nora En Pure

A very tropical house track, but I still think there's a lot more musical variation to this track than most of its kind. Nora En Pure is a great artist for exploring what the commercial house scene which appears dull and unchanging on the surface can have up its sleeve, so if you use a track like this in an audience meant either for the mainstream or the progressive house environment, you're likely to get some cheers. And it's a track with a very noticeable clap and kick, so even if it's not to your taste, I'd highly recommend practicing from scratch with this one.

13 1 Sun - Miley Cyrus
14 Dapper - Domo Genesis
15 Seesaw - Jamie xx
16 One Dance - Drake
17 Walking With Elephants - Ten Walls

This track has very different sounding beats that alternate noticeably as the track goes on. That may sound like a pain in the butt for those who are trying to get to grips with the core of beat-matching, but the tempo doesn't change, which makes it incredibly easy to mix, and once you have the beat in control, there's a lot you can do with it. This track is ideal for testing the filtering effects on certain frequencies, particularly when you have another, similar track on top of this one, where one can quite easily observe how these effects change the depths and the ranges of the final sound. I would recommend doing this with a mixer which divides the input into as many frequency ranges as you can obtain, but really, as long as your mixer does so with suitable quality, you're ready to go.

18 Axel F - Crazy Frog
19 Synrise (Soulwax Remix) - Goose
20 Sansa - Gareth Emery

I have several hot cue points in this track. Why? Because there are so many vastly different parts of this track, each with a number of hidden elements which you need a good ear to detect. When you're getting the hang of slipping those parts over each other, you can really bring more of this track to life! Of course, this is a difficult part of DJing, and requires a lot of skill, but given time, practice makes perfect. This track is something I would definitely practice this with.

21 Let It Happen (Soulwax Remix) - Tame Impala
22 Phantom Pt. II (Soulwax Remix) - Justice
23 Downtown - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
24 Ayo - Tyga
25 My Boo - Ghost Town DJs
8Load More
PSearch List