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Like Dezma said, it's usually best to avoid Eq'ing your total mix (master) to get the sound you want (unless it's subtle changes). You just don't have enough control over what you're doing (and unless your using linear phase filters, you'll be messing massively with phase in your mix).
If it sounds badly balanced, well then it's that there is just something wrong with your mix (which is in fact basically a balance of levels). Fix the individual instruments when needed, and if it's not right then, it might be a level balancing problem, or you lack the right instruments.
How to explain this... You should look at your mix like it's composed in layers. Those layers are not only volume related and stereo image related, but also in frequency.
You must make sure you have all the elements that compose the spectral balance. For example, if you don't have any instrument that goes beyond 10 kHz (I'm exagerating so you get the point), it will usually sound crap if you just use an eq and boost the shit out of the range above 10 kHz. It would be better to find something that goes that high in the frequency range without even needing to eq it...
And that's true for every part of your song.
If you're sure that the totality of your sounds pretty much cover the whole audible frequency range, then it's pretty much a matter of balancing everything well.
And there's always two methods to get where you want. Either you increase one part, or you decrease another.
If you find you lack high frequency content, you could either increase the level of the high frequency instruments (hihats and the like), or you could decrease the low and mid content a bit. Both can give the result you want, experimentation (and experience) is the key.
But please, oh please, don't do what I see so much beginners do... An example. They find the song lacks bass. So they increase bass. But because they did that, the high frequency content is too low. So they increase high. Suddenly, they realise now they can't hear much mids anymore. So what do they do? They increase mids. And then... and then... They always add, and add, and eventually it all ends up a big sloppy mess. While the original problem could have been nothing more than that there was too much mid or hi, and decreasing that would have solved the problem.
That's the same with EQ, except radical tweaks, prefer cutting to boosting (it also helps on analog stuff, where boosting irremediably accentuates unwanted noise too).
As for eq'ing individual instruments or sounds, an error I see much beginners do is spend lots of time tweaking and eq'ing sounds in solo. Nothing wrong with that, you can do that to get a general sound. But keep in mind, stuff that sounds great when heard alone, doesn't necessarily sound good in the mix. You might need a completely different EQ setting to make it sit in the mix. So, it's pretty important, that when you do EQ tweaks on individual instruments, keep checking it in the mix. Because the mix is your final product, and what you want to do is to integrate the instrument/sound as good in that mix as you can. For example, when working on kicks... When you tweak the kick, a very good practice is to do your tweaks when listening to the kick in conjunction with the bassline. Seriously, a kick and a bassline that sound great on their own, rarely sound perfect together.
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) upload a short sample and I'll listen to it.
). Try to keep it as simple as possible. If you feel there is something missing in the tune, don't immediately say "hmm, I'll add another layer or instrument". Try to find if you can make what you already have more interesting. Usually that will end up for the best. The more layers you have, the more troubles you'll have to fit all that at the mixing stage. Don't clutter up your mix if you could solve it another way. The less you overdo it, the more your mix will breathe.
