After years of playing guitar in my living room and collecting lots of blues, folk, and rock songs, I starting playing at local open mic – which were (and still are) terrifying and nerve wracking yet fantastic at the same time. Through these events I met some wonderful musicians and starting busking. I’ve been doing both for about six months, and I use the open mic nights to try out songs that I want to put into my busking set list.
Most nights it seems to take some time to warm up my guitar skills and voice, so it’s hard to play the songs well at open mic. The 2 songs or 10 minute set is great to showcase local artists, but it’s hard (for me at least) to feel comfortable on stage, hit the songs perfectly, then leave. I find with busking I have more time to warm up and more opportunities to play.
Lately I’ve busked with two other musicians, and this has been a lot of fun. We alternate songs, so the audience gets to hear three different musical styles. Since we tend to play for 2-3 hours, it also keeps us from getting tired vocally.
Of course, busking also means getting new gear, so I’ll post separately on my busking set up – compact, powerful, easy to accomplish.
So, it’s been quite a year for the Blues Prof Guitars team – building, playing, performing, busking. Looking forward to what we accomplish in 2020.
Blues Prof Guitars 