I wanted to write this page of Guitar Player gifts – because people often ask me what to get a guitarist for Christmas. Not just for me, but people I know as well! I got the Guitar Center catalog the other day, and a lot of times I don’t see much, but they did a pretty good job on their X-mas version this year. I found some really cool gifts right away, and they were all pretty much under $100!
First – let me introduce you to a guitar player’s friend – the string winder! Everyone needs to have a good string winder, but the Planet Waves folks were very smart because they built a string cutter right into the string winder! This is awesome, if I had this I guitar gadget I could throw away both my old nasty string winder (that falls apart when you use it), and my side cutters from my gig bag! Great budget gift under $10!
Planet Waves String Winder / Cutter
A string winder and cutter is one of the most indispensable tools that you can give to a guitar player. The funny thing about this tool is that most musicians (that I know) don’t have a good one. They probably have a cheap string winder that they bought at the music store checkout for $3, and a pair of general purpose wire cutters in their gig bag. Planet Waves makes quality gear for reasonable prices, and the great thing about this tool is that it’s both a cutter and winder in one! Makes a great musician stocking stuffer or small gift. I have this tool in my gig bag at all times – and it works great! Get the Planet Waves String winder/cutter.
Snark Tuner
Another great guitar player gift idea under $10 would be a Snark SN-1 clip-on tuner. It runs on a small watch battery (lasts forever), and you can just clip it to the headstock of any acoustic or electric guitar (or bass) and tune in seconds. I’ve found that I usually end up passing it around at practice (prompting me to tell the other guys to get their own), and I’ve even used it live in a gig while playing. Not bad for a little $7 device. This is also always in my gig bag at all times. Get the Snark tuner.
Proline Fretrest Guitar Hanger
This next gift is for any guitar player that has his own little studio or music room. Chances are that he has more guitars than shoes, and there are just way too many guitar stands all over the place! What he needs are these Proline Guitar Wall Hangers so he (or she) can just hang the guitars right on the wall! Awesome guitar player gift under $15! why not display all your best axes on the wall?
Beyution Bluetooth Headphone Review
This one may seem weird, but I’m telling you this is a great guitar player gift idea! Every guitar player can use a good set of headphones. More and more players are using iRig and other devices to plug directly into their tablet or phone to practice. Why not have a decent pair of bluetooth wireless headphones? Recently, at Christmas, we found a really great (and highly reviewed) pair of Beyution headphones on Amazon for only about $20. We have these in the house, and they’re a really good deal.
Mini Marshall Stack
Here’s another really cool guitar player gift idea – it’s the Mini Marshall amp MS-2! It runs on a 9v battery and has a belt clip! Complete with distortion, tone, and volume knob! You can have a lot of fun just walking around with this thing on your belt! A very cool gift for the Marshall loving guitar player! It’s cool to have around the house or take on the back porch.
Here are some other guitar player gift ideas posts I wrote:
Personalized Guitar Straps
Guitar Pedal Stompbox Cord Saver
Shure SM58 Microphone