Hi,
Im going traveling and will take my accordion with me to meet people and hopefully to top up my cash through busking. Im looking for advice on good crowd pleasing tunes and any tips if anyone has done something similar. I play mostly chelidh music and would like to keep it as Celtic as possible although i have been looking for some Frank Sinatra tunes etc for some variety. Any advice welcome, cheers...
thank you wobblingfiddle, no advice? Just want to add im not relying on busking alone i have enough cash for my trip, i went busking in Spain last year and ended up playing at two weddings so think its just a good way to add some cash and meet people...
Eric bogle, nice - i'll check him out, thank you. Yeah Ramiro all these tunes are great im working on 'The Flying Scotsman' at the moment as a show off tune. I think i will try and get 'The Glasgow Reel' into it somewhere
Polkas seem to hook people in, as do jigs. Reels tend to entertain the discerning, not so much the uninitiated, in my experience.
Getting kids dancing along to your tunes is a good earner: people appreciate the 'cute' factor, and stressed-out parents seem happy to renumerate a musician who can stop their four-year-old screaming and start smiling for a while.
Eye contact is also good, if you're not a gurner, and smiling at people as you play earns smiles in return, and often money of the smiler happens to return themselves. To facilitate this it's helpful to position yourself somewhere that shoppers are likely to pass several times in an afternoon's shopping trip: a central square, the confluence of several shopping alleys etc.
Try working well-known TV themes into your sets - I've heard The Flintstones and The Simpsons played well.
To grab attention, play well-known tunes generally, in new ways - maybe a jig version of Stairway to Heaven followed by Tripping up the stairs ? (I've heard that done too!)
As for Irish stuff, it's the cliche stuff that will get the money rolling in - Washerwoman, Miss McCloud's, Dingle Regatta, Rakes of Mallow.
If you're not too pushed about the money, just play what you like yourself!
Busking my way to Australia and back
Busking my way to Australia and back
Hi,
Im going traveling and will take my accordion with me to meet people and hopefully to top up my cash through busking. Im looking for advice on good crowd pleasing tunes and any tips if anyone has done something similar. I play mostly chelidh music and would like to keep it as Celtic as possible although i have been looking for some Frank Sinatra tunes etc for some variety. Any advice welcome, cheers...
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by frewster
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
good luck!
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by WobblingFiddle
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
thank you wobblingfiddle, no advice? Just want to add im not relying on busking alone i have enough cash for my trip, i went busking in Spain last year and ended up playing at two weddings so think its just a good way to add some cash and meet people...
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by frewster
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
why dont you check out Australian folk music, Eric Bogle for example, and try to add that in?
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by Cradinski
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
frewster, what about some "showing off tunes", like The Glasgow Reel, The Mason's Apron or The Jig of Slurs?
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by Ramiro
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
Eric bogle, nice - i'll check him out, thank you. Yeah Ramiro all these tunes are great im working on 'The Flying Scotsman' at the moment as a show off tune. I think i will try and get 'The Glasgow Reel' into it somewhere
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by frewster
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
Polkas seem to hook people in, as do jigs. Reels tend to entertain the discerning, not so much the uninitiated, in my experience.
Getting kids dancing along to your tunes is a good earner: people appreciate the 'cute' factor, and stressed-out parents seem happy to renumerate a musician who can stop their four-year-old screaming and start smiling for a while.
Eye contact is also good, if you're not a gurner, and smiling at people as you play earns smiles in return, and often money of the smiler happens to return themselves. To facilitate this it's helpful to position yourself somewhere that shoppers are likely to pass several times in an afternoon's shopping trip: a central square, the confluence of several shopping alleys etc.
Good luck.
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by Dragut Reis
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
the butterfly is pretty accessible, also it never wants to stop once you start it.
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by selston steve
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
Eric Bogle is Scottish!
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
(as was the guy who wrote this - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DNT7uZf7lew)
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
*as is* - Colin Hay
oops
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9u7r--hS6c
Wonderful!
# Posted on January 26th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
Hey Frew...intersting...Frank Sinatra singing 'Someting stupid like I Love you" into Black is the Colour. I'd be into that. Piano or button box?
# Posted on January 27th 2009 by Greenwiggle
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
AC/DC always goes down well here.
# Posted on January 27th 2009 by Hup
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
AC/DC - more Scottish music
# Posted on January 27th 2009 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
Try working well-known TV themes into your sets - I've heard The Flintstones and The Simpsons played well.
To grab attention, play well-known tunes generally, in new ways - maybe a jig version of Stairway to Heaven followed by Tripping up the stairs ? (I've heard that done too!)
As for Irish stuff, it's the cliche stuff that will get the money rolling in - Washerwoman, Miss McCloud's, Dingle Regatta, Rakes of Mallow.
If you're not too pushed about the money, just play what you like yourself!
# Posted on January 27th 2009 by RockyRoader
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
Cheers for all the advice, keep it coming
I play the piano box greenwiggle.
# Posted on January 27th 2009 by frewster
Re: Busking my way to Australia and back
if you go through France, be sure to play some Louisiana tunes!
# Posted on January 29th 2009 by pipewatcher