Can someone help me out!?

[misplacedfriday]

Hi, my name is Mike Butler. I play under Ancillary Atoms. I have recently decided to pack up everything that's important to me and travel around in my car across the United States. Can anyone give me any pointers so I don't give up a week after I leave? I play guitar and I plan on busking!

Can anyone suggest any good spots across America/Canada? I'm trying to avoid cities so I want to hit just small touristy towns. Thanks!

[Irina]

What's your starting point? Are you on Phoenix? Did you actually played with AA or you just do their style/covers? Did you ever busked before? It's tough for solo musicians to make money on the street, but it is doable.

[jeep caillouet]

I f you have no experience then my suggestion would be Boulder in the middle, Sant Cruz in the west, NOLA in the south, the subway in NYC

[davidkaye]

I'm a button accordion player. I began playing fiddle when I was out of work and my unemployment was about to run out. While I'm okay on fiddle, I'm not good enough to play solo, so I switched to the button box so that I could play melody AND harmony. I knew only 2 songs so I moved around a LOT so that people wouldn't notice I knew only 2 songs.

I played with a lot of enthusiasm, big smiles, various hats on my head, and I tried to develop a unique musical style. My style is that I don't play typical accordion tunes; I play rock and TV show theme songs, and maybe some oldtime and bluegrass music, and obscure tunes people don't quite but almost remember.

Give up? Well, discouragement comes with the territory. My very first tip was a $5 bill. And BOY was I encouraged! It was about a week later after receiving lots of quarters and some $1 bills that I realized the $5 tip had been just a fluke. It took me maybe a month to get my second $5 tip.

There were times I had hats as low as $7 after 2 hours of playing. I'd go home and think about what I did, what I played, where I stood, what I was wearing, etc. I'd do the same when my hats were really good.

I learned a few things -- in my case never wear a cowboy hat because a lot of people immediately think mariachi and won't tip or will look down their nose at me. (I think this is a California problem, though). So, I wear tophats, fedoras, hippie hats, etc.

I also learned to smile, nod, acknowledge people, bob my head to the music, etc. This encourages people.

When it comes to tips, I ALWAYS HIDE THE COINS. As soon as someone drops coins I pull up the bills so that anybody walking by sees only bills, not coins. I don't ever want to encourage people to drop coins, and people DO follow example!

I always start with $5 in crumpled bills so that it looks like I've been playing for some time. And of course I always make them visible.

I have a little tripod camp stool. I put my accordion case on top of that and my tip hat on top of the case. This raises it to people's hand level, making it extremely easy for them to drop a bill into my hat without having to bend over. Don't make them work!

I always have business cards visible, even if I'm just visiting a town and have no intention of playing a local party. The cards help establish my legitimacy as a performer in the eyes of the audience.

I have a little 8 1/2 by 11 plastic binder with clear plastic that allows for printed material to be slipped into the binder. You know what I'm talking about. Well, I have a very thin binder and I've put some tape on it between the front and back so that I can set it up like an A-frame. On both the front and back I have a sign that says, "Your tips keep music alive" with photos of my button accordion and a hand with dollar bills in it. The people walking by immediately see what I'm doing and are cued to drop dollars into my hat.

Tricks like this can boost your take substantially.

[bikerbusk]

The only advice I can offer is in what I have learned in my exp in my dealings, I first was a pitchman selling slicer / dicer at fairs and home shows around united states, started using comedy for sells 7 years learning that, was hooked dealing with public parents passed and got circus skills..
Loved the clown but had to kill the kid clown off & and changed up to Euro type preformers , and had to think hard outside of what magic, clown, music, buskers where doing....
But wanted the whole package to combine all, sort of like gypsy traveling show, that used music....... Comedy/story.....magic....and not relying on passing the hat... So took art classes with clay and glass, so make glass pendents and face jugs from clay, and 2 other light weight self contained items to offer...
I have done countless tests on what works around country and had to find right instrument to incorporate that could be used on stage and street.. I found it to make it keystone to whole package... And keep house where I have workshop to make all my stuff for road ...
The only rule for me is I stay away from deep south I bat a 1000% and lost my behind in every attempt, but west and northern states work..
But I went with busking roots and needed the full package, in order to not depend on agents or bookings... And do it from the street, just got my hot spots... And its from the roots of busking and that's what I spent years on learning and trying to make it blend with this modern age....