Nine Unique Gift Ideas for Musicians
A Buying Guide for Musical Gifts They'll Actually Use!
Nov 1, 2009
From special music pens to musical journals, from classic wooden metronomes to unusual instruments, these presents are bound to please guitar players and other musicians.
Need a holiday gift or birthday gift for a musician? Don't just buy another tie with musical notes on it, or jewelry shaped like guitars or keyboards! Try some of these fun and functional gifts for guitarists and anyone who loves making music.
Musical Accessories: Great Gifts for Guitarists and Other Musicians
These fun gifts are great for any musician and just about any budget, and can be found in about 30 seconds with a simple Internet search:
- Sailor 1911 Series fountain pens with "Music Nib": These high-quality fountain pens have a special nib (point) designed for making musical notation. They are beautiful and fun to use.
- Moleskine music journal: A great gift for a composer, or just the casual musician who enjoys transcribing favorite songs, this journal with musical staffs instead of regular lines will be a welcome companion for jotting down ideas when inspiration strikes! Comes in two sizes, with eight staffs per page.
- Chord block stamps: Guitar teachers and beginner guitar players alike will appreciate this inexpensive gift, which helps them create tab versions of songs or create chord charts in notebooks.
- Musical instrument wall hooks or stands: Musicians love to be able to grab their favorite instrument for a quick jam session, so why not make it easier with a wall hook or stand for their guitar, ukulele or other instrument? This inexpensive gift is available for most musical instruments - and the bonus is that the musician gets to make their favorite instrument part of the decor.
- Wooden metronome: Most serious musicians have an electronic metronome, but there's just something about the classic wooden metronome, with its tick-tocking arm and rhythmic movement, that makes it a lovely gift for musicians.
Those accessories are all welcome and useful gifts for most musicians. But if the budget allows, how about giving an actual instrument?
Fun Musical Instrument Gifts for Musicians
For the fully-accessorized guitarist, dulcimer player or other musician, these lower-budget and high-fun instruments make fantastic gifts:
- Strumstick or Other Guitar Dulcimer: These three-stringed instruments are simple to play, lovely to look at and reasonably priced. Used in traditional Irish or Appalachian folk music, the guitar dulcimer's folksy sound is a pleasure to listen to - and it's a very portable instrument. Some examples of guitar dulcimers include the McNally Strumstick and Grand Strumstick (priced at around $130-180), the Backpacker Travel Acoustic Guitar/Dulcimer priced at about $30 (which is actually a six-string travel guitar), and the basic Strum Stick from the Smokey Mountain Dulcimer Works for about $85.
- Yamaha Guitalele: It's a classical guitar, it's a ukulele, it's both! With nylon and steel strings and a small body, the Guitalele (officially known as the Yamaha GL-1) is a small, fun and infinitely playable instrument with a nice rich sound. Priced at about $100, the Guitalele is not available for sale in the United States but can sometimes be mail-ordered from music stores in Canada.
- EBow: For guitarists who are interested in more avant-garde music or experimentation, the EBow ("electric bow") turns any metal-stringed instrument, acoustic or electric, into a virtual theremin. Just listen to U2's "With or Without You" or REM's "E-Bow the Letter" for examples of how the EBow can be used.
- Soprano Ukulele: A good starter ukulele is a great gift, even for a child - but don't be too cheap, because quality matters! The Makala "Dolphin" series of starter ukuleles are a good gift choice. They come in a rainbow of colors and can be bought for about $40 online, complete with a gig bag. For more info about ukuleles beyond the basics, see Choosing the Best Ukulele for Beginners.
These affordable and useful musician gifts are easy to find and order online, and will definitely be enjoyed!
The copyright of the article Nine Unique Gift Ideas for Musicians in Musical Instruments is owned by Natalie Cooper. Permission to republish Nine Unique Gift Ideas for Musicians in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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