Busking for real and virtually

in Guitar4 years ago

Although I have played music for many years it was just last year that I had my first experience of busking. That was when my @swing47 collaborator Danielle and I played in Letchworth. That was fun, but there were not too many people around. Recently Danielle has booked some slots with Hitchin council that allow her to play with others for a couple of hours at a time. Our first one was on Saturday with a couple of friends. We were right in the main square and even had a canopy to protect us from the rain. We made a few pounds there and donated it to a charity shop.

We were back there again today. This time there was no canopy, but the problem was more the sun, so we used a tree for shade. Danielle has a little amplifier that runs off a battery and I brought my microphone.
Busking
Another friend, Bob, was due to join us, but he was running late, so we started anyway by playing most of our set from last year's Balstock festival. Some of those involve me singing.

Bob did make it in the end with his flute. We played in various combinations with some use of backing tracks. Due to my right hand issues I cannot play for too long at a time.

Woodwind
Sorry about the quality, but this is a still from a very short clip as my phone ran out of space.

We had a good audience consider it is a week day. There were a lot of families with small kids who like to put money in the guitar case. There are benches around the square plus various outdoor seating for pubs and cafes. We were getting some applause.

I have to admit some songs were under-rehearsed, but then it has not been so easy to get together. You just need to keep going and people may not even notice the mistakes.

We actually had a few spots of rain, possibly encouraged by me singing Stormy Weather. We also did a few songs about the Sun from our repertoire of old tunes plus a couple of more recent tunes from the movies.

This was Bob's first real public performance of any kind and he did really well. We made more money than previous efforts and will use it to treat ourselves this time. Not that it will buy too much.

I think in the current situation people do appreciate any live music as most conventional events are not viable. Playing in the open air with plenty of space ought to be fairly safe.

The virtual busking I have done is in Rising Star, which is free to play on Hive.

Rising Star

The first 'mission' is busking, but all you have to do is press a button, no talent required. I did a couple of hundred busking missions and now have clocked up over 900 radio interviews. These only take five minutes, so you can keep doing them through the day. I have almost reached the end of the second zone and will have to form a band soon. I was lucky to get my first Epic card from a pack in the form of the Pop Diva. She adds lots of fans to boost what I can make on each mission. This does increase issues with 'ego', so I need to do more lesson missions to increase my skill level to compensate.

Diva

Check out the game if you enjoy music as you can listen to tunes from the community. It is also an extra source of cryptocurrency as you can trade the Starbits on Hive Engine if you do not want to just buy more cards.

Rock on!

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Congrats on the real life busking performance. You could promote the game too next time :)

@tipu curate

Some little flyers with a QR code with his ref link, or a qrcode sticked somewhere with a note : You can do busking too at home... Bringing some more players, why not ;) Funny idea

I may do that if we do more of this. I want to see more musicians on Hive as it's good for their fans too.

Good idea!

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Good idea! I need to get some stickers and t-shirts made with a QR code on so people can go straight to the game. I also play to add a tutorial for people who have no idea what Hive is but want to play the game. On the list!!!

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There's an idea. On our first outing last year I had a little poster saying we were on various social media, including Steem. It's just not so easy to perform and explain what it's all about at the same time :)

Exactly.

Maybe @risingstargame would sponsor some leaflets? :)

Of course! Once things get back to normal I'll look into creating some merch including: stickers, tees, hoodies, caps, pin badges, etc. Not happy to start mailing lots of physical stuff until we get a vaccine though.

Stickers for the guitar case would be cool. Mine currently still has some Steem ones :)

Noooooooo! :P We must get something to replace those!!

Well, Steem did pay for the guitar. I really need some Hive stickers. Will see if anyone is making them.


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Coll thing to see you on picture, and fun story of busking in two different "realities";)
Have fun !!!

I thought the synchronicity was cool. I couldn't have imagined playing out like this a few years back.


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I miss live music and concerts with a passion. I can't wait until we can get back to seeing the shows. I had three concerts this Summer that got cancelled. In fact the last of them was supposed to be tomorrow. Nice job with your group of fellow artists!

The novelty value may be good for buskers, but then a lot of people rarely pay to go to a gig anyway. I wonder how many semi-pro musicians are resorting to some busking to earn some extra.

The first time you perform in front of even one person is nerve racking isn't it! I bet Bob was buzzing afterwards!

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I think he was on a bit of a high. It's not such a big deal for me now, but I can see how people get driven to get a bigger buzz and that can lead to 'alternative' options that I do not plan to explore.

For sure. One of my favourite things to do is play with my band. I love the buzz!

Are we gonna see you featuring on the cards sometime soon?!?

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Yes that will definitely happen!

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There's a possibility. It would be an honour.

That would be awesome!

You know music is a real big theme on twitter, great promotional opportunity there too!


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It's good to be able to play the game in real life! I haven't played in real life for a long time except with my students. The leader of my band passed away a few years ago and it was difficult for me to continue.
What repertoire do?

This is great! Keep rocking in the free-world man!

More swinging than rocking in our case, but cheers! Bringing music to the masses.


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This is something I've always wanted to do but simply have never had the guts. I might one day upload a song to dsound but only if I know I sound decent lol always respected the busker hustle

Do it!! That first scary step is the hardest but you won't regret it. Than politely as for some feedback in the Atom Collector Records discord and you will get some friendly replies from our fantastic community!

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It is more about confidence and talent. Once you realise that nothing really bad happens when you perform it gets easier. There are some really talented buskers out there, but luckily there were none around to compete with us.

Once you do more such events, you will get better output for sure, even though unpracticed. I will explore the virtual busking.

Love your passion for music

I love your passion for Hive!


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