Luiz
26 posts
May 03, 2009
4:41 PM
|
Hey guys!
So, today I went to this city nearby where they were having some kind of students festival during the whole week. I met a friend who also plays to talk harp and share some licks. We were in a park with some other friends around.
He then got the guitar and we started jamming a bit. Some random guys came and said "Hey! Play the blues man! This is awesome!", so this friend said "hey, people seem to like it! what do you say let's go to the central square and try to make some money?"
So, there we went, we played for less than an hour and we made around 12 bucks! I don't know if it's too much in the US but here in Estonia it definitely is more than I expected!
I ran out of ideas to play quickly, but we managed to entertain the crowd (yes there was one!)! It was the first time I did something like this and it was amazing! I got really excited, the feeling you have can't be described! After we finished my friend said "how long did we play? Around half an hour?" But I couldn't even answer, I totally forgot about time down there.
Well, I just wanted to share the experience! Try to do it if you have the chance, it's really great!
|
jonsparrow
237 posts
May 03, 2009
5:34 PM
|
sounds like fun. $12 a half hour is good.
|
jbone
59 posts
May 04, 2009
3:40 AM
|
we do something most people only wish they could, or wished they dared to do.
we open the guitar case and set it in front of us, usually with a bill or 2 in it so people will get the idea.
the cool thing about street playing is, you can play 5-10 songs over and over and the crowd keeps changing.
|
steve j.
1 post
May 05, 2009
10:55 AM
|
You mean you can get money doing this?? lol
|
Jaybird803
25 posts
May 05, 2009
12:48 PM
|
Don't quit your day job, but do it on your lunch hour!!
|
lumpy wafflesquirt
51 posts
May 05, 2009
2:59 PM
|
I got a clap from a youngish lad [late teens] when I was playing at the bus stop this morning. It was only a bit of a 'train song'
and some jazz standards I'm practicing my bends on. Dunno what position, but there are some notes missing without the bends.
I must get up courage to do some busking, you don't need a licence in Herefordshire. [UK]
|
steve j.
3 posts
May 06, 2009
8:06 AM
|
It is actually fun,, once you get over the initial jitters. Then it just gets easier. For me , at first I was frustrated , because what I could play fine,,, when I got people looking at me ,, I would mess up,,, then bang all the sudden you realize ,, your not worried about it anymore. Then the real fun starts
|
XHarp
41 posts
May 06, 2009
10:36 AM
|
Luiz,
Great story for sure. It's always a great feeling when you get a hold of something like that. It validates all that practice and woodshedding and $12 bucks is a good haul for a little busking session.
I still get that "warm and fuzzy" feeling after a great impromtu jam session or after nailing that one little note that I've been stretching for.
Good on ya' man! Keep after it!
----------
"Keep it in your mouth" - XHarp
|
Luiz
27 posts
May 07, 2009
1:15 AM
|
steve, I think I didn't feel worried with people maybe because I am used to practice walking my way to work or back home. Sometimes people stare, or give me a nice smile or even try to shake their bodies with the beat :D
Plus I was so concentrated on the sound with the guitar guy I think I even forgot about the people!
XHarp, true! It was so cool to throw some of the riffs I have been practicing! On the other hand later I remembered so much more stuff that I could have played but didn't, but I think it's also part of the deal :D Thanks!
|
kudzurunner
417 posts
May 07, 2009
4:36 AM
|
Luiz:
I know exactly how you're feeling. When I was 26, and newly single, I went to Europe with a buddy on a summer getaway and tossed a couple of harps in my backpack. I ended up playing with street guitarists in a half dozen different cities and the experience changed my life. This website, my career as a musician, my current job teaching the blues at the University of Mississippi, the woman I married--none of that would have happened if I hadn't taken the risk and gotten caught up in, and transformed by, the excitement of the street.
I always said that street musicians had three concerns: 1) cops; 2) the weather; and 3) foot-traffic past whatever place they've decided to play. If the cops stop you, you're toast. If it rains, you're toast unless you're playing in a protected area. And if nobody is passing by, you can be Sonny Boy himself and you won't make any money.
Apart from Harlem on a summer Saturday, the greatest spot I've ever played is the Busker's Festival in Ferrara, Italy. Satan and Adam played there in 1991; you play right in the middle of a huge floodlit plaza, and the crowds are enormous.
The International BuskerFest in Halifax, Nova Scotia was also amazing. We were hugely honored to be selected for that. It's the World Series of busking, basically. You make piles of money. You're listed in a brochure; it tells everybody where you'll be playing, and when. It's like a job! But the cops leave you alone--you're "official", the weather is spectacular in August, and thousands of people have traveled to the city just to watch the buskers. Biiiiiiig piles of loonies. (Canadian $2 coins.)
You never know where street playing will take you.
Oh, I guess I forgot to list the two key reasons guys play on the street.
You've heard about wine, women, and song? If you play the song, the wine and women will happen.
Last Edited by on May 07, 2009 4:38 AM
|
jawbone
21 posts
May 07, 2009
5:56 AM
|
Hey Adam - How come I just get the women that whine???Maybe I should play that song better?
----------
If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
|
MagicPauley57
2 posts
May 07, 2009
6:04 AM
|
I regularly get out on a sunny day with my friends the baker boys which is the busking side of the band and it's extended famly of rockin' blues looneys.
It's great to just take along a harp case , acoustic guitar and double bass and just play , and yes women love it you see them put a skip in their step , we ofen change the words to involve them , money is'nt too bad either , but i do it just to get out there and play
|
Luiz
30 posts
May 08, 2009
12:19 PM
|
Adam, I'm reading your memoirs but still haven't reached this point that you go to Europe (although it has been mentioned), thank you very much for sharing it!
I can already say that it was an experience that has definitely changed my life. Since last weekend I can only think of when I'll be doing it again, and practicing to make it better!
Last weekend the weather was amazing, and there was a lot of people in the city because of this students/spring festival, and we were right by the central square. Cops luckily didn't show up!
And let all the wine and women come! :D
|
lumpy wafflesquirt
55 posts
May 10, 2009
11:58 AM
|
Not quite street playing, but I did it at last,
I took my harps to a local open mic jam session [after a less than inspiring band practice]. The Castleford Arms in Lydbrook with 'Jim and Friends'
I didn't know anyone there which was probably a good thing, but I was up on 'stage' having only been there about 5 minutes and played for 4 or 5 songs.
The guitarist knew a bit about harps as he spotted I was playing cross harp when he suggested the key, but Am was a bit of a 'curved ball'! fortunately by chance I had earlier been playing in Am so grabbed my G harp and blew in 3rd position.
I think I went down quite well, one audience member was trying to tell me he thought I was "$h1t hot", at least I like to think that was what he was trying to say but he was quite drunk and we were standing next to the guitarist's amp :^)
The band was Guitarist/vocalist, Drummer and Sax doubling on Violin.
Looking forward to next month's open mic
|
The Gloth
27 posts
May 10, 2009
1:20 PM
|
That reminds me some 15 years ago, I went to a blues festival taking place in several bars in Louvain-la-Neuve (it's a kind of "new city" built around a university, and inhabited mostly by students). The final part of the festival was supposed to be a big jam in a big hall with a public of hundreds of students. The public was there, but not many players showed up. I went onstage and played, then at the end I went out in the street and played my harp while walking with some friends.
Then, people began to follow us, clapping hands at the rythm of the boogie I was playing, all down the street. That was a great experience ! I'm sure that my playing was not particularly good, but the drinking must have helped myself and the crowd to get into the groove...
|
scrybe314
9 posts
May 13, 2009
5:19 PM
|
Heh, I'm in college, and to have enough cash to buy anything other than Ramen noodles seven days a week I play down at a local gas station. Although the cash flow varies pretty drastically from night to night, I've made good friends with the folks who run the station and some of the "regulars" who haunt the place when the sun is down and there's nothing better to do. A couple times I've even had folks whip guitars out of their cars and jam with me. Good times, and, hey, I get paid to practice for three hours a night. Can't beat that.
|
MagicPauley57
23 posts
May 14, 2009
5:03 AM
|
I could survive on Ramen noodles! especially nissin! keep it up fella .
|
