Billy Bragg Recommends Busking: The Best Way To Hone Your Performance Skills

Busking is the ultimate test for a musician – and there's no better way to improve your performance skills

Link to video: How to busk: with Billy Bragg and Jack Monroe

• The Do Something challenge: Jack Monroe busks with Billy Bragg

• Watch Jack and Billy in action

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• • Billy Bragg
  • The Guardian, Friday 21 March 2014

The pitch

Look for a pedestrian area with plenty of space and not too many cars. Outside a station or shopping centre is good because you'll have a stream of people going past. - and if you play at the bottom of an escalator people have time to see you. Avoid larger public areas as the crowd will be too spread out. Watch where other buskers go. It's a bit like fishing – wherever there are fishermen, there are probably fish. Wherever there are buskers, there's probably money.

The song

Some people might be such spectacular singers or players that they can play anything and get a crowd, but if you're anything like me you can't rely on that. I'm not technically great but I can get away with it if I play songs that people know and love. Look at the space you're in, judge the mood of the day, and think carefully about what will work. I normally play a combination of rabble-rousing campfire songs like Take Me Home, Country Roads, and softer ballads like The Tracks Of My Tears. The campfire song will reach out to the crowd, the ballad will draw them to you. Always think about your surroundings: a softly sung ballad is going to work a lot better in a tunnel than on a very noisy street.

The voice

When you're busking, you're competing with the noise of the street, the traffic, and you're trying to get the attention of people who are in a hurry. My test is - could a passing lorry driver hear me? If they can, then the people walking past can too. Don't be distracted by what's going on around you – try to ignore loud noises and focus on what you came to do.

The money

You can't make people give you anything. You have to make them want to. To do that, you need to connect with them. Make eye contact, be friendly. Let people see you're enjoying yourself and don't be apologetic about being there. Don't get in their faces. You should be in your place, trying to connect with people and drawing them to you - not chasing them up the street. And of course, thank people who give you money.

The performance

When you're street performing, you're on a tightrope. You have to deal with whatever comes along, which is great practice for gigging, and especially for playing festivals: the weather, the equipment, the sound quality might not be what you expected. Can you still deliver a performance? Busking is the ultimate version of that. Get good at busking and later, when you're playing the Pyramid stage, you know you won't be fazed.