Diary Of A Busker Day 2562 Sunday June 15th 2025 Winchester.
Indecision! I got to The Buttercross – no one playing and I thought it would be good to give The Square a rest from me because I’m always bloody there on a Sunday…then thought I’d just check to see if anyone was there because I’m curious! So I went round the corner and there was no one there so I came back to The Buttercross and was about to set up when I thought “sod it, I’m going back to The Square!” which is what I did. I mean, why break from tradition?
Lots of dads about with Father’s Day t-shirts, accompanied by their offspring. One dad and his young daughter watch me and at the end of a song the dad says ‘She can’t figure out how you’re playing that. She thinks you’re playing along with something.’ I can’t resist it – I explain the Travis fingerstyle technique…
‘See my thumb here? Well, that does most of the work (I do the bass bit of The Third Man)…then there’s the melody (I do the three note melody) and all I do is play them at the same time (I play them both!)…oh, and I forgot the other bit, which is the stuff in between those two things (I play the chordal bit)…so when I put them all together it sounds like this…’
‘I had a guitar lesson a few days ago’ she says.
‘That’s great, did you enjoy it?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well that’s the main thing. What sort of guitar do you have?’
‘She doesn’t have one but she might get an electric guitar soon’ says dad.
‘Right, well this one I’ve got here is a Squier Stratocaster and it’s really good and very good value as well but maybe it’s a bit big for you?’
‘We’re thinking of getting her a 3/4 size one’ says dad.
‘Yeah, that would be a bit better. In fact, you can get 3/4 size ones that look like this but you’ll need an amp as well. This one is really good. It’s a Roland Microcube – battery-powered. You need six double A batteries but it’s great and you can use it anywhere.’
Anyway, a good day; no CD sales but I acquired two tenners, five fivers and some coinage which put the takings to £64.10. And no sign of any rain…and hopefully I’ve inspired a young person.