Once you start to DJ you are only as good as your library. Buying more tunes means one thing. More practice is needed.
In the early 90’s I used to go around a friend's house every Sunday morning (while he laid in bed watching ‘Little House on the Prairie’, sterling Sunday morning viewing (a shout out to the legend that is Mick Day!) I would practice on his decks until we were ready to drive off to Soul Sense record shop where we would search and listen and chat and inevitably come out with a bag full of records and a bank account that had a large dent in. Getting back home we got to play new music, new mixes, alternative mixes, and B-sides for the rest of the day working out the next D90 mix we were due to put out. Once you start to put out mix tapes further requests always come thick and fast for the new tape (containing the new tunes) to be circulated around the block. But it needs to be perfect before release.. the next week would be practising the mixes, and preparing and changing the setlist. Recording, listening on my way to work, changing, recording. Then when it's ready, artwork and duplication of the tapes are ready to pass around anyone who wants one.
Whilst doing this process I was subliminally learning each track, the arrangement, the tempo, the vocals, where the breaks are, and when the bass
line drops. Without realising and with the benefit of hindsight, I was 100% ‘IN IT’. Submerged in something I loved and was getting better at day by day. I could not have been ‘in it’ anymore if I tried. This carried on for many years which I look back on with the fondest of memories and a room full of vinyl. It was truly a great journey, and that has taken me to lots of places, introduced me to lots of people, and taught me so much. Socialising, Interaction, learning various techniques and knowledge along the way. It has been special.
The reason I am banging on about years past is that you too can have these experiences and memories throughout your life. It is special. Life is about building stories and at some point passing those stories on to help and inspire others when you see fit.
Be IN IT.