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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2020 13:23:48 GMT
I would also suggest that if you haven't been busking before, go and find somewhere relatively quiet and busk acoustically. It would be a shame to spend all that money on gear to find out that you hate it. This is a great point and one I shall act upon. I'm not going to be ready for at least a month anyway so I'll spend a bit more time practising and a bit less worrying about the amplification (but having said that it's helpful to know about the various possibilities and start thinking about them before I need them).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2020 13:26:59 GMT
I have both a headset mic and a standard mic. With the headset you don't need a stand, but you also can't back away from the mic to talk to someone, cough, etc. I prefer the standard mic. Make sure you research busking in London before you get out there. It's the only place where there are actual laws about busking, well in two of the boroughs anyway. There is a Busk in London site that used to have opportunities to busk at farmer's markets, etc. Busking has turned into a bit of a hard slog. There is now huge competition from idiots with big generators who blast through entire PA systems, making it impossible to set up anywhere in the vicinity, and annoying the shopkeepers in hopes of being discovered. Then there are the miming pan pipers who bring a whole selection of trinkets to sell, the karaoke singers, the full bands that set up in the prime spots for the entire day, or the people who will pretend to drop and scoop up a pile of your coins. I still do it because I need the money and usually enjoy it, but the days of knowing I would come away with at least £50 are long gone. Some days I don't even make minimum wage. The younger and prettier you are, the better you will do. Playing for 2-3 hours and coming away with £5 or less can be demoralising. On the other hand £5 will buy you 10kg of rice at Aldi, so you won't starve! Having seen your video and read your reply I'll probably avoid central London. I'm 20-25 minutes from Central London on the tube and there are plenty of small, town-centre like areas near me where I can go as well as a lot of towns within 30 miles (easy reach on the bike) if I choose to pursue it further. Right now the main thing is learning more longs ad playing them well enough to feel happy about it. So back to the guitar and the metronome. Sadly even my best friends would not claim that youth or beauty are on my side. But I never liked them that much anyway.
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Post by dobro on Aug 2, 2020 19:06:20 GMT
Here in Norway, and especially after Covid, cash has mostly disappeared as a way to pay, so when I busk (which I sometimes do), I put up my phone number so people can pay online, and I bring the 5 cds I've made (although streaming has made cds almost redundant as well). Things have changed. And good luck to you. (I busk with the Fisman Loudbox mini charge, which I find unsurpassable in size/price / sound quality).
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Wild Violet
Artist / Performer
Posts: 3,557
My main instrument is: Symonds OM-14
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Post by Wild Violet on Aug 2, 2020 20:16:41 GMT
Dobro makes a good point. I display a paypal/me link on a sign. There are contactless payment options for buskers in London - at least there was a deal for a while with izettle. I don't know if it's still going.
Selling CDs here will get you in a bunch of trouble without a street vending licence - it's often used by counsellors to shut you down, even if you have a "donations only" sign.
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Post by lavaman on Aug 2, 2020 22:56:04 GMT
I have a friend who busks every day in Chester. More and more people are returning to the city centre now that lockdown measures have been relaxed but few carry cash so he's had to buy a contactless card reader for donations / cd sales. Also, he's observed that people's awareness of social distancing evaporates once they drink alocohol.
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Post by andyhowell on Aug 3, 2020 8:57:36 GMT
Busking is a hard slog as Lynne says. If you like playting Wonderwall every 6 minutes you might enjoy yourself :-) The miming pan pipe players are particular favourites of mine. I reckon this must be a franchise now! I do know buskers who really have a following — they are very good and have been doing it for many years. I don't think it a substitute for playing in even the smallest of clubs! Here is Pete Hartley's Facebook page — he often lviue streams his busking sessions!
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Post by PistolPete on Aug 3, 2020 9:26:34 GMT
The miming pan pipe players are particular favourites of mine. I reckon this must be a franchise now! I've no idea if this is true or not but a few years ago someone told me that Andean Indian men need to embark on a quest in order to become a full member of the tribe. A fair trade shop in Bath cottoned on to this at some point in the nineties and ever since has sponsored their visas, supplied them with a PA and a stock of generic panpipe CDs and sent them out into the market towns of the UK to bring "joy" to passing shoppers.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2020 10:48:42 GMT
Perhaps you'd understand it better if you took it on its own terms instead of seeing it as a poor relation to your own preferences.
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Post by Matt Milton on Aug 4, 2020 9:48:57 GMT
Perhaps you'd understand it better if you took it on its own terms instead of seeing it as a poor relation to your own preferences. Well it's a very different thing. For me the big satisfaction of busking used to be being able to play for as long as you like, with no particular performance pressure. You're not being scrutinised as much as if you're playing a gig. I would try riffs or whatever that I wasn't sure about. Play a new song that needs more practice. Play it again 25 minutes later for practice. I've always done busking more for fun than money, when the weather's been sunny and when I've had some spare time. In my younger days, when I was single, it could even sometimes be a good way of chatting up girls. I also got a few gigs from busking. On sunny days by the South Bank I'd even make a decent amount of money if I really wanted to be a bit of a showman about it. Sometimes back then if I still any annual leave holidays in December to use up I would take a day off to busk some Christmas songs. Seems almost genuinely incredible how many things I had time and freedom to do before kids and mortgages (and pandemics)...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2020 14:46:00 GMT
Perhaps you'd understand it better if you took it on its own terms instead of seeing it as a poor relation to your own preferences. Well it's a very different thing. For me the big satisfaction of busking used to be being able to play for as long as you like, with no particular performance pressure. You're not being scrutinised as much as if you're playing a gig. I would try riffs or whatever that I wasn't sure about. Play a new song that needs more practice. Play it again 25 minutes later for practice. I've always done busking more for fun than money, when the weather's been sunny and when I've had some spare time. In my younger days, when I was single, it could even sometimes be a good way of chatting up girls. I also got a few gigs from busking. On sunny days by the South Bank I'd even make a decent amount of money if I really wanted to be a bit of a showman about it. Sometimes back then if I still any annual leave holidays in December to use up I would take a day off to busk some Christmas songs. Seems almost genuinely incredible how many things I had time and freedom to do before kids and mortgages (and pandemics)... That's pretty much what I meant but you said it better.
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Post by andyhowell on Aug 4, 2020 16:55:30 GMT
I've no idea if this is true or not but a few years ago someone told me that Andean Indian men need to embark on a quest in order to become a full member of the tribe. A fair trade shop in Bath cottoned on to this at some point in the nineties and ever since has sponsored their visas, supplied them with a PA and a stock of generic panpipe CDs and sent them out into the market towns of the UK to bring "joy" to passing shoppers. Sounds like an urban Bath myth to me!
I new some Chilean refugees way back in the 80's. Quite a few of them were musicians and old compadres of Victor Jara. Their music was very passionate and I guess today you might say 'authentic'. Not sure how good it was. I do remember a bit of busking going on.
We then had the pan pipe thing for a while. Most of the people I know swere eventually able to return to Chile although a few stayed behind.
There is today certainly something of a formula to it all. Get a big PA — with big speakers — and a large mixing desk. Makes everything look very professional. And then have to hand a whole series of rather bland, generic, CDs. Oh, and play the PA at such volumes that nopbody could ever pick up any trace of an acoustic sound at all!
I'd be surprised if the sponsoring of visas would work but if this was to bappen anywhere it would be Bath. Mind you, I have always admired the buskers in Bath — I have never seen a pan pipe player though!
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