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Busking?

R

Rytch

Jun 9, 2008
25
0
Guildford, Surrey UK
#1
Hey there, have just purchased my first acoustic bass. Me and a couple of guitarist friends (i dont fraternise with guitards btw) have decided to try our hand at busking. it will improve our repertoire of songs, as well as hopefully getting a bit of moola.

are there any specific laws i should know? i live in the uk btw
any ideas for popular songs we could try?

our set list at the mo is:
Cocaine
Mustang Sally
Sunny Afternoon
Sweet Home Alabama
Hotel California
Save Tonight
Stuck in the middle with you
we are also throwing in a few jams, probably 12-bar

How about sharing any experiences you have of busking?
 
#5
It sounds like fun...Go for it. If there are ordinances against it and the police come just be respectful and plead ignorance. They will probably just tell you to move along. I would immagine that it would be like panhandling as far as the law goes. I don't know for sure. Let us know how it works out.
 
#6
The laws vary from city to city. Here, (Newcastle) you used to have to buy a busking license from the council to play, but now they've stopped all that, and you can for free, except in certain places like train stations and shopping centres where you still need a license, but pleading ignorance always works the first time.
 
#10
I heard some buskers doing a great version of "Boys Don't Cry" about 2 weeks ago and was impressed enough to drop about £3 in their case.

From what I've heard there's a bit of an unwritten rule amongst buskers that you don't hog the one spot all day, instead you play for a while and move on to somewhere else then.
 
#11
We call it busking here in the colonies, too.

The last that I knew about the laws here in Cinti, is that you are limited to two people and there is actually a certain area that you are allowed to take up on the sidewalk.

The Man will usually ask nicely to leave or stop and you have to be something of an ***hole to actually get busted. That seems to be pretty standard everywhere. I was invited by a couple of Breatharian cats in town to sit in with them on sax in a former life. I wanted to play but told them I didn't want to get them in trouble as they partially depended on the income. They insisted and the local beat officer nicely told them that they knew better than that so I stopped.

I would guess that most frequently busked places have their own informal rules as well. Probably a good thing to ask them what's up.
 

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