Hi all,

Just found this board while having a bout of GAS. It looks refreshingly "adult" for a guitar board. My first post. Please be gentle.

Skipping the gory details, I've been playing fingerstyle seriously for a couple of years. Age 45. Finally gaining enough confidence to play publicly, but nowhere near good enough yet to play professionally.

Nevertheless, playing for the wife night after night is hard on her. And my friends/family are mostly tone deaf when it comes to good music, especialy solo guitar, so they really don't want to hear it.

So, I am considering a "career" as a busker (street player). In the Washington DC Metro area, there are lots of parks and other busy public areas that might be appropriate. Has anyone gone this route, and can you give some advice?

Once I do some busking to gain some confidence, I might try some open mikes. There are several around town here. Advice here, too, if anyone has any.

Questions I have are:

Will people demand to hear songs they know? I don't play many covers. Mostly my own comps, and do not sing.

What places are most "player friendly"? Subway players (not allowed here anyhow) and busy city streets/walkways don't seem that great a "venue". I'm thinking that the parks along the river, or quaint shopping areas, etc. might be better.

Do people stop and listen?

How rude are people? How think of a skin will I need? In business, I generally have rhino skin, but this is different.

Do most places require "busking" permits?

What else should I expect?

That's about it for now. BTW - I've looked, and there are no real "busking"-related websites.

Thanks

Couple of things to consider. If you're playing fingerstyle, you'll probably need some form of amplification because in the open air, the sound might get lost. Another thing is that covers tend to get people's attention more. I actually would prefer the open mic scenario as the crowd tends to be more supportive, there's amplification so people can hear what you're doing. That's my experience, anyway.

Best Wishes,
Gerry

I agree with Gerry about starting with open mics. I would also recommend attending a couple open mics as an audience member once or twice to get a feel for the right venue for your style. I'm not big on busking myself, but open mics are fun. If I play, I want to be heard, so amplification is required in all but the most intimate settings. I played at an open mic yesterday afternoon in a bar that has blues bands at night. We had several acoustic guitar/singers as well as a kind of band of friends that I played lead guitar with. At times we had 2 drummers, 3 guitars, bass and girl singer all on stage. So we went from folky to rock/blues and back again and everything was well received. Not surprising as most of the audience were other players. It was big fun and I got to turn my amp all the way up to almost 3.

Good thoughts from Gerry and Rockerbob.

I think you are probably cool with originals in an open mike setting, since the whole point tends to be listening to what whoever's on can do. When you "graduate" to bars and restaurants, you'll need covers or you'll be mostly ignored. (I did the singer-songwriter thing for several years, and one night in a little dinner club I had done 10-12 pretty good (IMHO)originals to little awareness from the groups there. Mostly because I couldn't call to mind another original I wanted to sing right away, I did an acoustic version of Sultans of Swing: BIG round of applause from everyone in the club!)

If you go a couple of times beforehand to open stages wherever you are going to play (as Rockerbob suggested), not only can you get a feel for the place, but also visit with the performers you see to get their input on how things go, what to be aware of, what it's like to play through the sound system, etc. The more familiar the scene and the process, the more comfortable you will be with the rest of it. Also, when you go open mikes, be very, very well-prepared so you can go through with it in good style in spite of the nervousness that is natural to everyone, and probably good for us.

In terms of reception, I think busking is probably OK for you, too, expecially with no vocals. Passersby can generally be more critical of unsolicited entertainment, and folks doing vocals need to be good. But fingerpicked instrumentals are fairly non-aggressive, and I would think likely to be well-received, or at least only just ignored. And playing outside is nice! But Gerry's point about the sound getting lost is a good one: if you go the busking route, it's important to find a wall of some kind to sit in front of so it will reflect the sound out. And better to pick a spot that doesn't have a steady flow of background noise, say, near a busy street.

Don't forget to have fun! Good luck.

Tony