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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
do you improvise/change blues songs when you busk?
do you improvise/change blues songs when you busk?
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ejakon
56 posts
Jul 29, 2017
2:36 PM
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Does anyone here improvise an entirely new song while they busk or if you change it a bit if they forget the lyrics? just wondering if its professionally possible to do so because im really nervous about doing the singing part in public
Last Edited by ejakon on Jul 29, 2017 2:38 PM
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nowmon
136 posts
Jul 29, 2017
3:27 PM
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By yourself you can make it up as you go.You can step into a song get it going and take off to where you want.Mix a few songs too.12 bar blues is mostly for a band... I witnessed old blues cats doing this many times,j.l. hooker was famous for creating as he jammed by his self.Freedom on the street, just be on the beat....
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ejakon
57 posts
Jul 29, 2017
4:06 PM
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jeez, maybe i shouldnt be so harsh and structurally strict with myself on the street then, Little Walter let it flied on Maxwell so how come i make myself worry so much? thanks.
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BronzeWailer
2002 posts
Jul 29, 2017
4:58 PM
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I went to a busking guidelines working group organized by the city of Sydney last week, as it happens. There were buskers, rangers, city officials, music organization reps, a lawyer and consultants.
The key "commandment" from our six-person group was to be respectful of the surrounding environment. That means not being too noisy and not being too repetitious. So vary your location and/or repertoire and stay fresh.
Say whatever words you want. The typical listener won't know the song and may only hear you for a minute or two anyway.
Even on stage most people don't notice "mistakes" in the words.
Good luck!
BronzeWailer's YouTube
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BnT
71 posts
Aug 02, 2017
10:42 PM
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If you're busking by yourself you can go where you want from changing the number of bars per stanza to improvising lyrics, forgotten or otherwise.
I played with a couple of guitarists who had played solo guitar a lot - Guitar Mac and John Lee Hooker - and within the same song they might do a 12-bar verse, followed by 9 or 13 or 12 bars the next verse. They just flowed with what they felt or heard. Easier for a harp player accompanying than the bass player or drummer.
Lyrics? You do the best you can. Slim chance anyone listening will know if you improvised a verse. Listen to a few versions of Rock This House by Jimmy Rodgers - his verses varied over time. Improvising the lyrics is no different than if you re-wrote a verse the night before. It happens.
I had two songs written within 2 weeks of trying them out. Sat in with a band and promptly forgot some lyrics in each and had to improvise. They got videotaped and are on YouTube. Every time I hear them I laugh inside knowing I'm the only person who knows I blew a couple of verses.
Whatever happens, only you will know. Busk on!
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BnT
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Joe_L
2745 posts
Aug 06, 2017
11:11 AM
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First, you can do whatever you want when busking. If that's your goal, then you are good to go. Take your current time keeping abilities and live your life in happiness.
However, if your goal is to play with people, you really need to work on your ability to keep time. If your time sucks and you jump time a lot, you had better be a pretty bad ass singer. Pro musicians have very little patience for time jumpers, unless they are seriously deep blues singers. It makes playing a gig a lot of work because you can't easily find the pocket.
If your time sucks, you could go the really boring ass way to fix it by playing with a metronome OR you could take the advice of Luther Allison and listen to a bunch of Jimmy Reed records over and over again. When you get through with them start all over again. My advice comes in here, if you get bored with listening to Jimmy Reed, playing Blues may not be your thing, because Jimmy Reed is cool. Another band whose timing is alway spot on is Magic Slim. This shit is work and if you are going to do it, you better have a passion for it.
BnT advice about improvising is spot on. Blues comes from the heart and that mean improvising. Each tune has a beginning and an end. Each tune is a journey, enjoy the ride. Little Walter probably never played the same version of Juke twice.
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Last Edited by Joe_L on Aug 06, 2017 11:12 AM
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nacoran
9563 posts
Aug 06, 2017
1:43 PM
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It depends on how good you are at improvising! Just now that if you get people singing along and you change the lyrics you may throw some people off. Knowing a song they are listening to can be a big pull for the audience, and a sense of musical structure can make a piece enjoyable. If you are doing blues, for instance, following the 12 bar structure will help the audience follow.
But, there certainly is room for improvisation. Look at what Walter Tore does. Keep in mind though that he's got a real solid grounding that gives him flexibility.
So, if you can do it, and you can do it well, absolutely, but remember when you are busking that you are playing for other people. There is a lot of improvisation in the blues form (the twelve bar pattern actually makes that pretty easy when you are playing with other people- you have a rough enough idea of what they are doing that you can do stuff that won't clash, but enough room to do your own thing).
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