Intro to Learning Beatmatching - DJing Tips
A picture of a DJ beatmatching

Intro to Learning Beatmatching

Beatmatching is a prerequisite for most mixing styles. It’s the part where the DJ matches the tempo of the next track to that of the tune that’s currently playing on the dancefloor. Beatmatching is done by ear, and it’s a skill that needs to be learned. If two tracks aren’t beatmatched, their beats will fall out of sync during the blend. Instead of sitting beautifully on top of each other, they will sound like a train wreck, which will mess up your mixing in a blink of an eye.

Now is the time to dispel the biggest myth about beatmatching. As opposed to mixing, which has a good deal of creativity to it (when to drop the next track? how long to make the transition? how to make the songs go together really well?), beatmatching is a purely technical skill that even a monkey can be taught. In that sense, beatmatching is like being able to walk for a basketball player. It’s hard to play basketball if you can’t walk, but walking is not what made Michael Jordan famous. Similarly, the genius of great DJs isn’t in how quickly or how precisely they can beatmatch.

Why then is beatmatching so much talked about, especially among beginner DJs? The thing is, learning to beat match by ear takes weeks or even months. It’s the first real challenge that will put your desire and motivation to become a DJ to a test. The good news is that, just like walking, beatmatching can be mastered by anyone: your mom, granddad, your neighbor and even her dog (OK, maybe except for the dog.)

So no more excuses, you can learn how to beatmatch! Let’s go?

Next up: A Few Words on BPM Counters

About the Author JM

JM has played open-air gigs, shared the stage with the likes of ATB and had mix albums released commercially. He has been teaching DJing since 2008.

6 comments
hey hey says February 3, 2013

Still doesn’t teach anyone how to beat match though.

    Susannah says February 27, 2013

    Thanks for publishing this resource on your website.

sherperd says November 29, 2013

Thanks I’ve learned something abt beat matching

Everton Rezende says November 6, 2015

Great tutorial, thanks for the tips 😀

Jon Lauenborg says May 18, 2017

Beatmatching is somthing every DJ should know, no mater if his equipments got a sync’ button or not. Because, sync’ button or not the algorithm of DJ software is not precise enough to beat sync’ every track.
Nice lessons you put up
thanks for a nice article!

djface says November 16, 2017

Thanks for very helpful tutorial.Thanks for your lessons.Aftem them i have made cool beat with these samples https://www.lucidsamples.com/house-sample-packs/286-house-garage-basslines.html

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