Busking with the Ukulele

Hey there!

Today, me and my girlfriend (who plays the CAJON) decided to practise in the street. It was a very cool experience for me to play for all the peope who passed there, and we made about 15 dollars in only one hour.

Do you think that someone could really earn his living by playing the Ukulele (and not beeing so developped in it) ?

I've got to say: I'll continue playing in the street, it's nice practising with -kind of- direct feedback and a pizza included after playing^^

There are a few posts regarding busking and hopefully answer your question(s);
http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14295
http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12785
http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12638
http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10694

Great!

Thanks for this post, I didn't think that there are some.

practicing in the open is one of the greatest ways to improve your playing. Having people judge your playing by how much money they give you is just great.

I've busked, duo, trio and with whole bands. As a solo act I've raked in over $200 bucks in a couple of hours at an art faire. It was not until about a year ago that I started "seeding" an empty ukulele case with a $5, a couple of $1's and some change. It makes a big difference in the results. I also keep a couple of large songbooks handy for requests. A little jovial banter with passers by increases the tips. Playing cartoon themes for children gets the moms and dads pulling funds out of the purses and wallets for major tippage (always seed the case with at at least one $5 dollar bill, to let people know it's OK to tip BIG!). I busk both acoustic and amplified. Amplified, whenever possible. It saves your voice and is less wear on your ukulele, as you don't have to whip the strings and scream for volume. There's a review on busking and battery powered amps here:

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5333

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busking



Look closely at the photo below. There's a microphone boom stand on my right and left camoflaged by the Tiki Hut. Behind me hanging from the top of the EZ-Up frame are two Vox DA5's. If you look closely, you will see the guitar cable and microphone cable straight up from my left shoulder and plugged in to one of the Vox DA5's. These amps were plenty to project the sound for both the audience passing by and for the hula dancers to hear the beat:





Two Roland Cube Street amps for two microphones and ukes and a Roland Microcube RX Bass for the bass violin at a private party:

A good tactical place for the well marked band tip jar is placed in between the punch bowls:



"Everybody does the Hukilau"...



Setting up for solo at the Carlsbad Village Farmers Market:

..and for the rest of the band that same week on Saturday:



Since I'm a retired Marine and a full time Ford Fleet Sales rep, I usually give my tips/share of the tips to one of the homeless/homeless families that hang out the highway onramps/offramps. I believe that one could scrape a humble living while busking, but not a fortune. We have a forum member right now busking for a living, as his lifestyle has changed due to the current economic situation. His new EP CD rocks and I've got mine on order!:

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19079

http://howlinhobbit.bandcamp.com

http://howlinhobbit.com/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=538