If you are looking for busking songs that are sure to attract crowds but don’t know where to start, think about the target demographic that you are trying to entertain. Who are they? Is there enough of them at your chosen busking spot?
If you haven’t yet chosen a demographic, you could make your performance suit children (and of course their parents), fans of the latest charts or those who enjoy alternative music or country musk just to name a few. Again, it is a good idea to think about who would frequent your busking spot most often.
A great demographic most of the time seems to be the baby boomers. As there is plenty of music to choose from for this demographic, you can choose busking songs based on your skills, available instruments, personal taste and so on.
So for example, if you are just learning the guitar and are comfortable singing also, a lot of the earlier Beatles songs have simple use of chords. A few easy fun ones are:
- Here Comes The Sun
- You’ve got to hide your love away
- Across the Universe.
If the baby boomers demographic fits but you are not keen on playing Beatles, how about:
- Simon and Garfunkel, Sounds of Silence
- Rolling Stones, As The Tears Go By
Or, if you are an intermediate guitar player:
- The Who, Behind Blue Eyes
- Simon and Garfunkel, Mrs Robinson
But you wouldn’t pick songs that you just could not do justice to. For example,
- Eagles, Hotel California
This is because there are so many different guitar parts, and layers of vocals that it could not possibly come close to the original if it just you performing with one guitar.