10 Styles Of DJing That Are Harder Than People Think

We asked our community what styles of DJing are harder than people realise, and the responses underlined exactly what we’ve been teaching for 15 years. Over 1200 DJs weighed in with their experiences, and the quality of discussion shows just how knowledgeable our community is.

The thread revealed something important: while beginner DJs often assume certain genres are “easy” or “hard” based on stereotypes, the reality is far more nuanced. What looks simple from the outside often hides layers of complexity that only become apparent once you’re actually doing it. And some styles that get overlooked completely turn out to be among the most demanding.

It’s easy to think that house or techno are the pinnacle of DJ skill because they’re what you see in clubs and festivals. But talk to DJs who work weddings, private events, or specialist music scenes, and you’ll quickly learn that technical difficulty and musical versatility come in many forms. The DJ mixing four-to-the-floor at 128 BPM all night faces very different challenges to the one jumping from 1970s soul to modern hip-hop while managing requests from drunk wedding guests.

So which styles are the “hardest” to DJ? Here’s what came up again and again, with quotes from working DJs who know first-hand just how challenging these styles really are – plus the practical advice we give our students for tackling each one.

Open format is the ultimate test

This dominated the conversation, and for good reason. Open format DJing isn’t just about knowing lots of music – it’s about managing completely different genres, dealing with wild tempo changes, and handling impossible requests while keeping multiple generations happy on the floor.

As Nufe put it: “You have to know virtually every single piece of music in existence. People will assume you do. They will also assume that you know the song they’re thinking of. You know the one. Of course you do!! You have to translate some random yelling ‘Apple bottom jeans!!!’ into ‘Low’ by Flo Rida.”

Easily mix between genres, BPMs and styles: Mixing For Mobile & Wedding DJs

Stan captured the chaos perfectly: “I have more music that I can listen to. I have WAY more music than I can prep with load markers, verifying the grids, setting cue points. I am mixing songs that I have not prepped or studied in detail, that may have bpm drift. Keep in mind that in the middle of mixing a set, I have people coming up to make requests, to talk about the schedule and what is happening next, and just to pass the time.”

“Some of the most badass DJs I’ve witnessed were open format DJs.” said Phil. “Far and away more difficult than say house or DnB. Also the intensity and frequency of requests for open format DJs is brutal.”

The wedding and mobile DJ subset of this got particular respect. You’re not just playing music – you’re managing an event, dealing with drunk relatives, and somehow keeping both grandma and the young cousins happy at the same time. That’s where the real skill lies.

Pre-1980s music with live drummers

Anything with real drummers means tempo drift. You can’t just set it and forget it – you’re riding the pitch constantly (especially if you’re on vinyl). It’s proper old school skill.

Luke explained it simply: “Non-quantised music. Pretty much anything that hasn’t been beat mapped in whatever digital DJ software. Try mixing any vinyl before 1980. You need an ear and a steady hand on the pitch if you think you can mix eight bars minimum.”

Tom had a great description: “Soul, funk, disco, rock on vinyl. You gotta ride the pitch like a trombone on some of those records!”

Adrian said: “Mixing dance and disco records from the 1980s and before is harder than people think. First, without digital technology, many tracks had inconsistent tempos, and if you mix with digital gear today, the BPM info will be unreliable.

Read this next: How To Beatgrid Disco, Funk, Rock & Soul Music

“Second, tracks did not always have consistent phrases. Sometimes an extra two bars would be thrown in to build suspense or even an extra four bars .

“And third, breaks were short and even non existent.”

Tips for playing older music

If you’re working with digital gear, Djay Pro has got bulletproof beatgridding, even for these more “difficult” tracks. But you still need to know what you’re doing when (for whatever reason) those grids inevitably slip.

And here’s something crucial: when you’re mixing music from different eras, you need to understand your volume controls properly. Older music sounds different because it was mastered differently. If you find yourself with every single track needing your bass boosted and your mids pushed up, that’s telling you something.

Your EQ controls are meant to be creative tools – they should generally be pointing straight up, and everything away from that is you doing something creative. But with older music, you might need to use them pretty acutely just to get tracks sounding acceptable.

Hip-hop demands mastery

Basic hip-hop mixing is straightforward enough, but doing it properly – with scratching, beat juggling, and proper transitions – takes years to master.

JustAmber captured the learning curve: “Hip-hop – lots of lyrics, very quick changes easy to miss if you’re vibing. Always by ear, the phrases don’t line up quite the same. I love it but it has not come as naturally as house and bass/dubstep. Hip-hop into house – easy. Hip-hop into hip-hop – still figuring it out.”

Terry explained the vinyl challenge: “Hip hop, especially on vinyl. Records are all pressed different so volume adjusting is key. Plus it’s normally not made for extended mixing so if you’re off you don’t get a extra chance. Your window in and out is very small.”

George shared a big truth: “Hip hop is easiest on a basic level, but probably the hardest to master.”

One key thing that makes hip hop DJing easier

The short mixing windows, lyrical clashes, and need for perfect timing make hip-hop one of the most technically demanding genres once you move beyond basic blends. But there’s a silver lining – hip-hop is actually quite forgiving when it comes to musical key. You’ve got more flexibility there than with melodic genres, as there tends to be less ‘musical’ material to clash.

Turntablism is a different skill entirely

Everyone thinks they can scratch until they try. It’s not DJing in the traditional sense – you’re turning the turntables into an instrument.

Thomas reflected on his experience: “Turntablism hands down was the hardest thing I ever learnt. Beat juggling, flares, crabs, cutting, etc.”

Chris, who’s been at it for three decades, expands on this: “Scratching WELL – been 30 years for me and always feel there’s a ton to learn.”

R.L. agreed with the others, adding “Turntablism, no doubt… Beat juggling/trick mixing especially, even though that’s my favourite area of it.”

If you want to scratch properly, you need to put the hours in. There’s no shortcut, no sync button that helps you here. But here’s what we tell students: you don’t need motorised platters to learn scratching. Any DJ controller will do. The techniques are the same, and once you’ve got them down, you can apply them anywhere.

Drum & bass leaves no room for error

The speed alone is unforgiving. One tiny drift and everyone in the room knows you’ve messed up. Ashley didn’t hold back: “Old skool jungle, so many different breaks and off beats, can sound messy as hell if you don’t get it right!”

Benoit put it bluntly with “Drum and bass. A milisecond drifted and you are a complete trashy mess for eardrums.”

The half-speed trick

When you analyse drum & bass tracks in your software, you’ll often find they come in at half the BPM they should be. A 174 BPM track might read as 87 BPM. Your software isn’t broken – it’s actually right (in a way). If you tried to dance to drum & bass at the speed it’s made, you’d be bouncing off the walls. People actually skank to it at half speed, moving to every other beat.

And here’s the thing – if you can get your head into that, if you can mentally tune into every other beat and treat it like you’re mixing at 85 BPM instead of 170 BPM, it suddenly becomes much easier. You’re not fighting the speed anymore, you’re working with the groove.

Breakbeat requires proper feel

When it comes to breakbeat, those syncopated rhythms and off-beat patterns mean you can’t just rely on the grid. You need to understand the groove. Ashley noted: “Breaks can be tricky at times. Quite a wide range of BPMs within the genre 115 to 140 bmp.”

Nick explained how he sees the challenge: “Two-step garage. Even a perfectly beatmatched transition between two tracks can clatter badly if the syncopation/swing on the beat in each is incompatible.”

Stems for difficult rhythms

It’s not just about the numbers matching – it’s about how the grooves work together. Your EQ is your friend here, particularly killing the highs and mids on one track so only the bass is playing, then bringing in the full frequency range of the other.

But here’s where modern DJing really helps: stems mixing has changed the game for breakbeat. You can now mix the whole of one track minus its beat, have just the beat playing on the other track, and when you’re ready, switch everything else over.

Get the skills: How To Mix With Acapellas & Stems

When you’ve got two tracks that work well together – similar energy, similar key, same vibe – but the beats just don’t quite mesh even when they’re lined up, stems give you a choice you simply didn’t have before.

DJing for breakdancers

You need encyclopaedic track knowledge and perfect timing. The dancers are relying on you to hit those breaks exactly when they need them.

Carl added: “DJing for breakdancers. You need to know the tracks back to front. Know where the breakdown is and know how to beat juggle on time and on point.”

There’s no room for guesswork here. Your audience knows the tracks as well as you do, and they’re expecting perfection. If you’re coming from a club background where a slightly rough transition might go unnoticed, breakdancing events will humble you fast.

Watch the show

Prefer me to talk you through this? In this video, a recording of a live show from the Digital DJ Tips YouTube channel, I talk you through everything in this article, and we take questions from our community on the subject.

Ecstatic dance creates journeys

Multi-genre, multi-tempo, creating emotional arcs for sober dancers who are paying close attention to every single choice you make…sounds like a challenge? Yup!

With 30+ years experience, Pete summed it up: “I’ve realised that ecstatic dance is by far the hardest… different genres, speeds, dynamics and it all has to make sense at the end for the therapeutic/cathartic experience.”

Sandesh elaborated with “By far ecstatic dance DJing… you need an extensive music culture at 360 degrees, you have to be able to mix so many different styles, genres, beats and tempos blending them together and creating sets full of waves, from soft ambient to crazy D&B or dubstep peaks and everything in between, you are playing music for sober and committed dancers that come for the music and the vibe it creates hence are very attentive to it.”

Read this next: How To Be A Genre Fluid DJ

A double challenge

This is interesting because it combines two things we usually teach separately. We tell new DJs that people generally aren’t listening as carefully as you think – they’re there to drink, chat, let their hair down. They probably don’t even know there’s a DJ on. If they do, they might not be into your music, but they’re there anyway.

Ecstatic dance flips that completely. These people are sober, committed, and paying attention to every transition, every choice, every moment. It’s like having the pressure of a wedding combined with the musical expectations of the best club crowd.

Dancehall demands constant action

Fritz explained: “Dancehall/Caribbean Djing is the hardest! They have to mix songs literally every 20 seconds the whole night, as well as trigger non-stop sound effects, and actively work the mic. It’s the same intensity as a James Hype show, but for four or five hours! For me the amount of work they have to do makes them easily the most skilled DJs around.”

That’s four to five hours of constant, rapid mixing while managing effects and crowd interaction. It’s relentless, and it requires a completely different skill set to longer, more gradual mixing styles.

Reggae spans decades and styles

Finally, let’s look at reggae. Lienj summed it up with “Reggae / Jamaican music started in the 60s until now, covering BPMs from 59 to 130, real drummers, digital tracks, and everything in-between”

From rocksteady to dancehall, you’re dealing with massive tempo ranges, live drummers, and a crowd that knows exactly what they want to hear. The cultural knowledge required is immense, and the technical challenges of mixing such diverse tempos and recording qualities adds another layer of difficulty.

The Bigger Picture

If you’re working in any of these styles, the truth is – as with all styles of Ding – there’s no substitute for respecting the craft and putting the time in. These aren’t areas where you can fake it. The crowd knows, other DJs know, and ultimately you know when you’re not quite there yet.

The good news is that mastering difficult styles makes everything else easier. Learn to mix disco with tempo drift and house music becomes straightforward. Master hip-hop’s tight windows and you can handle anything.

It’s worth noting that house, techno, trance – the 4/4 genres – didn’t really come up in this discussion. They’re easy to DJ. Your software will get it right, sync will work, everything lines up. But to do them really well? That’s what separates great DJs from OK DJs, and that’s what DJ training is all about.

And if you’re just starting out, don’t be intimidated. Every DJ in those quotes above started exactly where you are now – they’ve just put the hours in.

Get the skills to rock ANY gig: The Complete DJ Course

Rob had perhaps the best point in the whole thread: “Open format, with no attitude, all skills are relevant, as long as there’s a vibe. The hardest thing to get is the vibe, because with it, the DJ can give CPR to the dancefloor…”

Getting that vibe right – that’s what separates DJs from so-called “button-pushers”, regardless of what style you’re playing.

What style of DJing gets your vote? Which types did we miss? Let us know in the comments!