Besides basic throws and catches, it is helpful to learn the fundamentals of the nail delay and air brush first. The nail delay, or spinning the disc on your finger nail, is a basic freestyle skill, as is the air brush. Most competitive freestylers use a 160-gram Discraft Skystyler . I prefer the Discraft Skystyler because it's lighter and is better suited to my style of air-brushing. The Skystyler is definitely the preferred disc on the circuit.
Some players also like smaller discs for wind play.
A dry silicone lubricant is applied to the disc to make the nail delay easier.