Busking Report – North Greenwich

My first time busking in a few months… and my first time at North Greenwich! It’s a nice place to play, great acoustics with plenty of space for the performer.

I went with no signage or encouragement to tip - just my guitar case and guitar, plus a camera and microphone to record the performance.

To be honest, it wasn’t my best performance but there were some good moments. I only earned £7.64 - the smallest amount I’ve ever earned! But, I did get €5. If that had been GBP it would’ve been my third smallest earnings.

The first tip

The first tip came from a middle-aged woman who came over after I’d finished my first rendition of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She told me, “Nobody else is paying you!” and gave me a new £1 coin. She then informed me that she “paid her way through university by playing music.”

The biggest tip

A young woman came up before I began playing Get Back by the Beatles. She stopped to listen and then we chatted - I found out she was from Bahrain and told her that I grew up in Saudi Arabia. She told me that with my voice, I should be making more money from this! Very kind :)

The best performance

For my second rendition of Simple Twist of Fate I believe I did a stellar job. I thought about the fact that it’s in 3/4 time and decided to speed it up based on that knowledge, it worked really well. Much more lively.

How to improve

I should practice some of my more lively, exciting songs like Fat Bottomed Girls, I Knew You Were Trouble and The Lazy Song. That will help a lot, I think.

I also need to get a little sign. Many people might think that I’m being paid by TfL for this so it might help to put up a chalkboard saying, “Please tip! Buskers earn money from tips alone.” or something like that.

Heckle me on Twitter @basicallydan.