Creating playlist like a DJ--ideas & suggestions

[Amani]

iTunes has renewed my interest and love for music. Not since my high school days--which was well over 20 years ago--have I been interested in buying songs and maybe someday creating a few on GB.

But today I came across book in the bookstore about how be a DJ using vinyal records. It contained ideas for how to mix songs and put together a list for different occassions. It had lots of other stuff, but that's what interested me the most.

This book got me to thinking how to better develop playlist for myself and when I have friends over. Up to until now I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about how to order my songs. I usually just let smart playlists do it for me, but the results have not always be as good as they could be. I like smartplaylists, but I think I need to spend some time thinking about how to produce better playlists.

I went Amazon.com and tried to find similiar books. Digital DJ and How to be a DJ seem like useful reads. Even though I'm not planning on becoming a DJ, I just want to get some ideas for how they do what they.

So has anyone else come across any good resources for ideas about putting together well thought out playlists?

[LeeTom]

Listen to music A LOT...
Actually having two turntables in a party setting and being the DJ goes a long way in showing you how to feel it out, because you are responsible for keeping the music going without stopping, and keeping the mood right for the setting.

Lee Tom

[Amani]

Listen to music A LOT...
Actually having two turntables in a party setting and being the DJ goes a long way in showing you how to feel it out, because you are responsible for keeping the music going without stopping, and keeping the mood right for the setting.

Lee Tom

Lee, yes I need to listen to my music more and play it by hear when putting together my lists. I no longer have turntables but I would like to have more playlists a better musical flow. I havent' thrown a dance party since college, but I do use my music--jazz, r&b, some hiphop--to entertain family and friends. When Apple Express comes out, I'll be able to do that even better throughout the house.

[jbembe]

some of my favorite playlists:

Beck rare singles

Big Sounding Music (any song that sounds huge to me like "White Room" by Cream and "A Spoonful Weighs a ton" by Flaming lips)

Banjo Music (anything with banjo in it such as Travis "Sing" or The Jayhawks "Tailspin:)

Harmonica Music (from The Beatles "Love Me Do" to CCR's "Run through the Jungle")

Dad's music (stuff my Dad always listened to)

Eric Clapton Songs my wife likes

For automatic playlists I have one for songs added to the library in the last 6 months, songs not played in the last year, songs with the lowest playcount, Heavy music, etc. I also make a regular playlist and drag several albums I want to hear, then make an automatic playlist to select all the songs from that hand-picked playlist that have not been played since I made it so I can listen through all of them once before picking out several other albums.

Hope that gives you some ideas...