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A DJ picks songs and plays them one after another — but with no silence in between. That's the whole job, really.

When a normal playlist ends a song, there's a gap. The room goes quiet for a second. People stop dancing. A DJ never lets that happen. As one song is ending, the DJ is already sliding the next one in underneath it, so the music keeps going and going and nobody ever notices the join.

That join is called a mix. Doing it well is the skill. Everything on this website is teaching you how to do that join well.

So: two decks, one mixer, and a person deciding what comes next and when. That person is the DJ. That's it. Genuinely — that's the whole thing. Everything from here is just getting good at it.

Now you know what the job is. Tick this off and let's find out what you need to do it.

Right now? Nothing. Not one thing. You already have everything you need to start, because you're reading this.

People will tell you that you need to buy equipment before you can begin. That is not true, and we're not going to pretend it is. We built two real decks and a real mixer that run inside this web page. They work exactly like the proper ones. You can go and use them in about ten seconds, and it costs nothing.

Loads of DJs start exactly like this. Learn the skill first on something free. If you still love it in a few months, then think about a machine — and by then you'll actually know what you're looking at.

The order that actually works:

1. Use our free decks in your browser. Learn what everything does.
2. Stick at it for a bit. See if you still love it.
3. Only then look at a controller — and read a real guide before you pick one.

If you're at step 3 already, we've got an honest guide and a short quiz that suggests a first controller. No adverts, and we don't take money from the makers to say nice things. If you're not at step 3, skip those — go straight to the free decks. Seriously.

Put a dance track on and nod your head. That thump you're nodding to is the beat. Now count the thumps out loud: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Almost every dance track ever made is built on that count of four, repeating forever. And those fours group up into eights — count 1 to 8, then start again at 1. Listen carefully and you'll hear the track change something almost every time you get back round to the 1. A new sound comes in. Something drops out.

This matters more than anything else on this page. Once you can hear where the 1 is, you know exactly when to bring the next track in. If you can't hear it, you're guessing — and it'll sound like a mess. Every single DJ has this. It's the floor everything else stands on.

Read the lesson first. Then go and play with the BPM Tapper: put a song on, tap the big pad along with it like footsteps, and it works out the song's BPM for you. There's also a drum-tick you can switch on that clicks 1, 2, 3, 4 — and an 8 count setting. Clap along with it. That's the whole skill, and it's about two minutes of your life.

You've counted somebody else's beat. Now build your own. This is where it stops being homework.

The Groovebox is a grid of little squares. Each row is a different drum sound. You'll see five of them down the side: KICK (the deep thump), CLAP (a handclap), C-HAT (a short tss), O-HAT (a longer tsss) and PERC (bits and bobs on top).

Four squares in every row have a small 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the corner. Those are the four beats you just learned to count. The squares in between are the little in-between moments — there are three of them between each beat. That's how you get sounds that land off the beat. Tap any square to switch that drum on at that moment. Press play and it loops round forever.

On a phone each row folds onto two lines: beats 1 and 2 on the top line, beats 3 and 4 on the line under it. It's still one loop going round. Nothing is hiding off the side of the screen.

The grid starts empty. Nothing is on it until you put it there.

Try this first: switch the KICK row on at 1, 2, 3 and 4 — the four numbered squares, ignore the rest. Press play. That thump you just built is what nearly every dance track in the world stands on. It even has a name: four-to-the-floor. There's a button called that too, so you can check you got it right.

That's not a toy version. That's the real thing.

This is the best way to properly get step 3. You're not counting the beat any more — you're the one deciding where it goes. Once you've built a pattern, the counting stops being a rule you're following and starts being something you can hear.

Mess about. Get it wrong. Nothing here can break, and nobody's watching. Then when it sounds good, tick this off.

This is the bit. Two tracks, joined together, no gap. The thing you read about in step 1 — you're about to actually do it.

Open the Mix Simulator. At the top you'll see a switch marked JUNIOR and PRO. It'll already be on JUNIOR for you — that hides the scary numbers and gives you a big ring with two dots on it instead. That's the one you want. (PRO is still there for when you fancy it. No rush.)

You'll see two decks. Find them by their names, not by where they sit. DECK A has the words "COPY THIS ONE" next to it — that's the beat you're trying to sound like. DECK B says "YOUR DECK". That one is yours to move. On a phone, Deck A is at the top and Deck B is further down the page.On a screen this wide, Deck A sits on the left and Deck B on the right. Here's the job, in order:

1. Press Play A and Play B. Both beats start. They won't line up. That's normal — that's the whole puzzle.
2. Move the PITCH fader on Deck B up or down until both discs are spinning at the same speed. The ring turns yellow when you've got it.
3. Now tap the NUDGE buttons to shove Deck B along a bit until the two dots meet at the top of the ring.
4. The ring goes green and you'll hear a little chime. That's it. That's locked.
5. Now slide the crossfader across. The room moves from Deck A to Deck B.

That's a mix. That is genuinely what a DJ does in a club, just on much more expensive equipment.

Stuck? There's a button called "✦ Match it for me". Press it and it lines the two tracks up for you, so you can hear what "right" is supposed to sound like. That is not cheating. Hearing the correct answer once is how you learn to find it yourself. Use it, then undo it and have another go on your own.

Fair warning: your first go will sound rubbish. So did everybody's — including every DJ you've ever heard of. It takes most people a good few tries before two tracks stay locked together. That isn't you being bad at it. That's just what learning this feels like. Keep going.