How to Use Drag to Match a Beat as a DJ

Learning to beat match and use the drag technique to accomplish beat matching are extremely important in your arsenal as a disc jockey. Once you have mastered the basic disc jockey and scratching techniques, you can move on to more extreme moves and become a force to be reckoned with in the DJ world.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Understand what beat matching is. Beat matching is used when switching between 2 different tracks on the turntables. This is mostly used in clubs and at parties when switching from 1 track to another. Beat matching is based off the beats per minute (BPM) of the song or track.
2. Start a track on the first side and let it run for a few minutes. Start a song or track on the second side and let them play together for a minute. At first this will be hard to hear the different beats, but allow your ears time to adjust and listen for the different beats in each song.
3. Consider using 2 copies of the same track or beat mix for the first few times of learning this technique. This will make it easier to find the beats and get them matched up to switch between. Listen for when the beat is the same and use the cross fader to switch between the two.
4. Practice this technique over and over, until you have no problem finding the beats. You can also use the controls on the mixing board to drag the beat down, making it slower, in order to match the beats up more easily. Try this technique also so you are familiar with all of the ways to beat match.