What can you do to set yourself apart from the rest? If you really want to step it up and become a quality selecta, read on and you will be well on your way to becoming a well-rounded DJ.

Go to a local equipment store like Guitar Center and get familiar with what's available. Beginners can purchase an all-inclusive DJ kit such as Stanton's DJ 101 Pak which gives you everything you need to get started: turntables, DJ mixer, needles, headphones, slipmats and all the cables for about $200. There are similar kits like the Stanton DigiPak that include CD turntables. You can find cheaper kits, but remember that you'll get frustrated learning on crappy gear.

Listen to everything you can. Decide what you like and dislike and then you can choose what genres you want to play. The more you know your music, the better DJ you will become.

The easiest genre to start with is house because it has 4/4 beats (four beats in each measure counted 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4). First, learn to cue your record, which is simply putting the needle on the record at the beginning of the song. Start playing one record and count the beats to get ready to drop the other record in on beat one. Once you drop the record in, you can use the pitch control slider located on the turntable to speed up and slow down the record/CD until it matches the tempo of the first record. The key is for both records to be on beat with each other. Once you learn to match beats, the crossfader, volume faders and equalizer on the mixing board are used to fade one song into the other smoothly. This blending technique is called mixing. Different genres of music can have varying mixing techniques, but the goal is always the same, to go from one song to another seamlessly.

Thousands of websites sell records and CDs, and on most you can hear tracks before you buy. I recommend www.dancerecords.com for electronica and www.www.turntablelab.com for hip-hop. Sometimes I go online to listen, then try to find what I want at the local stores to avoid shipping charges. Tower Records sells both CDs and vinyl, and most areas have at least one store that specializes in vinyl of various genres like electronica or hip-hop. Thrift stores and used sections are also great places to find those older records for cheap! With drum and bass you'll want to get the vinyl direct from the U.K before it ships to the U.S. to give you the extra edge; check out sites like www.redeyerecords.com. Records with sound effects and instrumental beats that are great for scratching are known as "battle/scratch records" and my faves are on the Dirt Style label with crazy names like "Shampoo Breaks," "Hee Haw Breaks," "Bionic Booger Breaks" and "Back Sliding Turkey Cuts".

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