Busking Tips for Harmonica Players (and Other Musicians!) feat. Harry Higgs!

Sep 5, 2018 | Advanced Beginner Harmonica Lessons, Advanced Intermediate Harmonica Lessons, Harmonica Gear, Intermediate Harmonica Lessons, Playing Amplified

Hello and welcome to this week’s lesson, where I will be joined by my buddy Harry to talk about how to get started busking and some tips for making the most of it!


What is busking?

When you see musicians on the street playing/practicing for money; that is busking!

Gear required

• Guitarist and Guitar

All of the links below will take you straight to Amazon where you an buy the gear mentioned in the video. I get a small affiliate commission if you do this.

• Battery Powered Amplifier

I highly recommend using some kind of battery-powered amplifier. The one that I use is the Roland Street Cube Amplifier

• Shure SM58 Vocal Microphone

Singing as well as playing harmonica is an excellent way to busk so I would recommend getting a vocal microphone like the Shure SM58 which you can use for both. It won’t give you that fat ‘Chicago’ sound but it will sound nice and clean!

• XLR microphone cable

You will also need a microphone cable to plug your microphone into the amplifier. Here is one you can get straight from Amazon – XLR cable.

P.S. You might also need a mic stand if you are not comfortable holding the microphone but this is not essential.

Top Tips

1. Be Courteous!

2. Give People The Choice To Not Listen To You

3. Great Way To Test New Material

4. Don’t Take It So Seriously

5. If It Feels Good, Keep Doing It

6. Don’t Worry About The Money

7. Always Share The Money Equally

8. Agree On A Key

Get out there!

Busking is the most fun thing you can do as a musician. Think of it as “Music in the wild”. It doesn’t matter how good you are, it will be a great experience for you.

Thank you

Thank you so much for taking part in this lesson. I hope it was useful for you. If you enjoyed this lesson, please share it with your friends.

See you again for the next harmonica video!

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