We’ve aware that curating a “Best Gifts for Musicians” guide is a bit like creating a list such as “Best Food for All Humanity.” But there’s a method to our musical madness. Our other gift guides are curated for specific players—Best Gifts for Beginner Guitarists, Best Gifts for Guitarists, Best Gifts for Beginner Drummers, Best Gifts for Drummers—but there are potential presents that speak to the more global community of “people who love living, breathing and performing music.” So, if you’ve scanned the other gift guides and didn’t quite find the perfect present—hey, here’s another chance at making your favorite musician smile with gratitude.

Shop Now: Yamaha SEQTRAK Music Creation Station

Table of Contents

Top Home Studio Gifts for Musicians
Best Microphones to Give a Musician
Best Keyboards and Controllers to Gift Musicians
Portable Presents for Musicians
Top Pedals Accessories for Giving Musicians
Don’t Forget Our Gift Cards

Top Home Studio Gifts for Musicians

PreSonus AudioBox 96k Complete Bundle

What Makes This a Great Gift: It’s one of the top-selling, totally complete home-studio rigs.

Things to Consider: Includes trial subscription to Studio One DAW.

At some point, most musicians advance from players who just want to play to players who want to record their own tracks. When that happens, the PreSonus AudioBox 96k Complete Bundle offers a musician everything they need—besides a Mac or PC—to set up a home studio and start doing sessions as soon as they open the box. The PreSonus bundle includes a six month subscription to their DAW, Studio One), a high-quality cardioid condenser microphone (with XLR cable and pouch), HD7 headphones and Eris 3.5” 2nd-gen studio monitors.

Shop Now: PreSonus AudioBox 96k Complete Bundle

Explore More: Make sure you have the right rig for your home studio by reviewing How to Choose the Best Audio Interface. You can also learn How to Choose the Best Home Recording Gear.

KRK ROKIT 5 Generation Five Powered Studio Monitor 5"

What Makes This a Great Gift: Compact, best-selling, precision monitoring for home studios.

Things to Consider: KRK app offers space-specific audio optimization with an acoustic real-time room analyzer.

Shop Now: KRK ROKIT 5 Generation Five Powered Studio Monitor 5"

In most home studios, the “control room” where critical listening decisions are made is typically not the acoustically treated, sonically neutral space found in big, professional facilities. Instead, a personal studio is usually perched atop a desktop in a bedroom, dining room or other area, making near-field monitoring (speakers positioned close to the listener to reduce room reflections and improve accuracy) vital. Gifting your musician with the KRK ROKIT 5 ensures precise audio reproduction with small-form, 5" woofer-loaded enclosures that don’t devour precious desktop space. In addition, 25 built-in graphic EQ presets help your home-studio musician tune the ROKIT 5s to whatever room—or rooms—they work in.

Explore More: Check out additional monitors at various sizes to best match a studio space.

Mogami Gold Neglex Quad Microphone Cable 

What Makes This a Great Gift: Premium studio cable ensures signal clarity and low noise.

Things to Consider: Oxygen-free copper wire for excellent conductivity with minimal signal loss.

Shop Now: Mogami Gold Neglex Quad Microphone Cable

Microphone cables obviously connect mics (and other devices) to an audio interface and recorder, but perhaps not-so-obvious to some is that cable quality does affect sonic integrity. In other words, musicians shouldn’t mess around with cut-rate cables for critical vocal tracks. The Mogami Gold Neglex Quad is a premium XLR cable manufactured by a recognized, 60-year innovator in audio technology and high-end sound. Giving your musician a Mogami Gold Neglex Quad cable will help them capture truly pristine vocal recordings.

Explore More: Learn everything you need to know about cables.

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Closed-Back Headphones

What Makes This a Great Gift: Comfy and transparent cans for recording, mixing and just kicking back to listen to music.

Things to Consider: Fantastic isolation with 32dB of ambient noise rejection.

Shop Now: Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Closed-Back Headphones

Good-quality headphones with enough sonic isolation to minimize environmental distractions are critical for recording, mixing and DJing. Gifting your musician with a set of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro closed-back headphones ensures they can make creative assessments with confidence, due to the HD 280 Pro’s precision audio reproduction and excellent noise isolation. Plus, the collapsible design makes for neat and easy transport to a DJ gig or studio session.

Explore More: Learn about other studio headphones and DJ headphones.

Best Microphones to Give a Musician

RODE NT1 5th Generation

What Makes This a Great Gift: A best-selling mic from a renowned brand.

Things to Consider: World’s first 32-bit float digital output on a microphone. Comes with custom shockmount and pop filter.

Shop Now: Rode NT1 5th Generation Condenser Microphone

Home-studio musicians can seldom outfit their creative space with the large and varied mic collections of big, commercial recording facilities. But they can build their studio around one awesome, multi-purpose microphone that can capture vocals, guitar amps, acoustic guitars, percussion and more with exquisite clarity. The RODE NT1 5th Generation large-diaphragm condenser microphone is a supreme multitasker with surprising range. It’s not simply an excellent mic—it also includes a built-in interface with a Revolution Preamp and USB digital output. There’s more. Onboard DSP provides compression, noise gating, Aural Exciter, Big Bottom and more from APHEX—a trusted name in pro-audio processing for 40 years. Perhaps the biggest workflow advantage is the NT1 5th Generation’s 32-bit float digital output virtually guarantees that even studio newbies with limited mic placement skills will not be able to make this microphone clip. Plop the NT1 in front of a kick drum, horn section or bellowing demon from hell, and it will handle earsplitting signals without distorting.

Explore More: Upgrade your mic knowledge by reading Essential Microphones for Professional Recording Studios.

Shure MoveMic Kit Two-Channel Wireless Lavalier Microphone System With MoveMic Receiver

What Makes This a Great Gift: Podcasters can easily mic themselves and a guest—wirelessly.

Things to Consider: Offers up to 24 hours of battery life per charge.

Shop Now: Shure MoveMic Kit Two-Channel Wireless Lavalier Microphone System With MoveMic Receiver

The Shure MoveMic Kit makes podcasting—and other recording situations—easy and cable free with two wireless lavalier mics and a receiver that interfaces with recording devices (even mobile phones and DSLR cameras). While the MoveMic Kit is a compact solution for content creators who podcast and livestream, the mini mic and receiver combo can also be used to near invisibly record singer-songwriter gigs, indie film and documentary sound, and stand at the ready when an extra mic or two is needed for recording sessions.

Explore More: Check out some professional podcast studio strategies

Best Keyboards and Controllers to Gift Musicians

Arturia MiniLab 3 Special-Edition Mint Hybrid Keyboard Controller

What Makes This a Great Gift: Complete compact controller for music production that includes two banks of eight backlit pads, eight knobs and eight faders.

Things to Consider: 25-note velocity sensitive keyboard with aftertouch.

Shop Now: Arturia MiniLab 3 Special-Edition Mint Hybrid Keyboard Controller

Enhance and accelerate your musician’s artistic workflow by giving them the Arturia MiniLab 3. This super-compact powerhouse integrates seamlessly with most digital audio software, letting creators control many recording functions (up to eight DAW presets) and virtual instruments via one work surface. The result is that the MiniLab 3 limits the operational hassles of ping-ponging between sound creation and audio recording. The generous amount of velocity sensitive pads means a musician can trigger drum samples with real-world dynamics—say, ghost notes and full-on power swacks on a snare sample—and the keyboard is also velocity sensitive, which likewise provides a way to coax sampled bass lines, piano parts, keyboard atmospheres and synth melodies into human-like realism and vibe. It’s not all about work, either. The minty green finish is way cool and the MiniLab 3’s 14x9x2" footprint lets you drop it into a briefcase and take it anywhere.

Explore More: Find the perfect keyboard controller for your style and needs.

Yamaha SEQTRAK Music Creation Station

What Makes This a Great Gift: Portable, always-ready device to capture musical inspiration wherever and whenever ideas strike.

Things to Consider: Includes more than 700 sounds and loops in tons of musical styles.

Shop Now: Yamaha SEQTRAK Music Creation Station

Guitar players can hum riffs into the recorder of their mobile phone—likewise for songwriters, who can sing melodies and lyrics into a recorder. (Or, they can go big and use the Zoom H1essential.) But more production-based music requires a bigger notepad, and that’s job one for the Yamaha SEQTRAK. The SEQTRAK offers creators a bevy of incredibly useful compositional tools, from drum loops and synth sounds to samples of strings, pianos and other instruments. If a particular option isn’t included in the SEQTRAK’s 2,000 presets, a musician can record their own sounds with the onboard sampler. This miniature music-making marvel also includes a step sequencer, onboard effects and wide-ranging editing capabilities.

Explore More: Get a deep dive on the Yamaha SEQTRAK.

Portable Presents for Musicians

Bose SoundLink Flex Portable Speaker (2nd Gen)

What Makes This a Great Gift: High-fidelity Bluetooth speaker for playing music on the go.

Things to Consider: Waterproof with an abuse-proof silicone-wrapped exterior.

Shop Now: Bose SoundLink Flex Portable Speaker (2nd Gen)

What follows is a common annoyance for musicians that you can solve with the gift of a Bose SoundLink Flex portable speaker. A band is working out a song to cover, or reviewing their own composition from a previous rehearsal. Someone asks something like, “Is that what you played last time?” or “What’s the transition between the verse and chorus again?” At that point, a mobile phone is usually positioned against a microphone to play a Spotify track or, if it exists, an arrangement recording of the original song in question through the rehearsal room P.A. None of this is very productive. However, if a tiny playback device is paired to the SoundLink Flex, the music is suddenly reproduced with deep bass and high-fidelity midrange and treble frequencies. Even nicer, if a player needs to hear a specific part a little more clearly, the Bose app offers adjustable EQ. 

Positive Grid Spark GO 5W Battery-Powered Combo Amplifier

What Makes This a Great Gift: Tons of tones for rehearsing, creating and having fun.

Things to Consider: Built-in Smart Jam generates AI-powered backing tracks for realistic personal jamming and practicing.

 

Shop Now: Positive Grid Spark GO 5W Battery-Powered Combo Amplifier

The Positive Grid Spark series of digital amps has transformed guitar tone and editing capabilities for personal practice, live performance and recording. The series has been well reviewed by Guitar Player, Guitar World, Guitar.com, Sound On Sound and other music media. We picked the Positive Grid Spark GO, because it’s an extremely portable personal amp with a rechargeable battery (eight hours of battery life per charge) and more than 50,000 tones available via the company’s ToneCloud app. The immersive experience through headphones is astounding, and Spark GO also offers AI-generated backing tracks you can jam to, learning tools (such as Auto Chords, which analyzes songs from Spotify and Apple Music to create chord charts) and a video capture feature that lets you post content online. The list goes on. Spark GO can act as an audio interface for recording, deploy its 5-watt amp and speaker for working out songs with band mates, and even be used as a guitar preamp through powered Full Range Flat Response (FRFR) speaker to play big shows.     

Explore More: Dig petite powerhouses? Check out How to Choose the Best Small Guitar Amplifier.

Zoom H1essential 32-Bit Float Stereo Recorder

What Makes This a Great Gift: High-quality recorder for documenting gigs, rehearsals, songwriting sessions and more.

Things to Consider: Records at ultra-clear digital resolution of 32-bit float.

Shop Now: Zoom H1essential 32-Bit Float Stereo Recorder

Musicians have used portable digital recorders to document songwriting ideas, band rehearsals and cool environmental sounds (to later craft into unique samples) for quite a while. But we’re thinking most of those devices didn’t reach the exceptional digital resolution of 32-bit float offered by the Zoom H1essential. Audio quality aside—it’s stunning, by the way—32-bit float delivers massive dynamic range, which means you can use the Zoom H1essential to record something as excruciatingly loud as an industrial act banging on metal pipes and taking chain saws to anvils without any concern the audio will clip or otherwise distort. This is an opportunity to give your musician a truly a no-fear stereo recorder.

Explore More: Get tips on how to use portable recorders in Five Ways to Record Your Next Gig.

Top Pedals and Accessories for Giving Musicians

Eventide Blackhole Reverb Effects Pedal

What Makes This a Great Gift: Powerful reverb workstation for lovers of ambience and mystery.

Things to Consider: Eventide Device Manager expands preset capabilities and keeps the Blackhole up-to-date with software updates.

Shop Now: Eventide Blackhole Reverb Pedal

A player doesn’t have to be a disciple of Brit-influenced shoegaze music to be obsessed with otherworldly reverb. From surf to soundtracks and from rock to reggae and beyond, reverb is an important component of atmosphere, vibe and sonic impact. The Eventide Blackhole pedal offers such an enormous level of control over reverb parameters that it would take a novel’s worth of words to list them here. Suffice to say that whatever style of music your musician plays, or virtually any ambience they can dream up, the Blackhole has the power to create it. 

Explore More: Consider a number of different reverb pedals and/or get hip to the history of reverb pedals.

Hal Leonard Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Brew 20 oz. Cappuccino Mug

What Makes This a Great Gift: Pink Floyd fans can rock up their coffee breaks.

Things to Consider: Dishwasher and microwave safe.

Shop Now: Hal Leonard Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Brew Cappuccino Mug

A musician doesn’t need to take their coffee as dark as the dark side of the moon to get a kick out of sipping their morning brew up from this Pink Floyd-inspired cup. The Hal Leonard Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Brew mug is not just for cappuccino or coffee—you can also use this 20 oz. cup to slip into the comfortably numb with calming sips of hot cocoa or a relaxing drink of chamomile tea.

Hercules GSP38WBK PLUS Auto-Swivel Yoke Wall Mount Guitar Hanger

What Makes This a Great Gift: It’s a secure way to mount—and show off—your instruments so they are always at the ready for practice, recording, songwriting and playing.

Things to Consider: AutoSwivel yoke automatically adjusts to different neck widths.

Shop Now: Hercules GSP38WBK PLUS Auto-Swivel Yoke Wall Mount Guitar Hanger

For a lot of musicians, storing guitars, basses, ukuleles, banjos, mandolins and other acoustic and electronic instruments at home typically means leaving them in their cases. While that strategy will prevent a playful Golden Retriever from trampling an uncased instrument, it also makes it a significant hassle to grab the right case and retrieve, say, a favorite Les Paul every time a musician wants to practice, write a song, record a track, or just play around. The Hercules GSP38WBK PLUS Auto Swivel Yoke wall-mount guitar hanger gets an instrument out of hiding and displayed like a work of wall art, which also makes it much easier to grab and play. 

KORG TM-70T Combo Tuner/Metronome

What Makes This a Great Gift: Top-selling double-duty device for essential tuning and timekeeping applications.

Things to Consider: Generously sized LCD. Built-in mic for tuning acoustic instruments.

Shop Now: KORG TM-70 Tuner/Metronome Black

Two things every musician needs to master are how to play in tune and how to play in time. The KORG TM-70T Combo Tuner/Metronome helps with both. For tuning, the large LCD needle meter ensures quick response times so you can spot pitch variations as you play. To keep your grooves tight, the metronome produces a clear tone across a wide tempo range. You can set tempos with buttons or use the handy tap tempo feature. Both the tuner and metronome can be used simultaneously, and the ultra-portable TM-70T is smaller than most cell phones. 

Explore More: Good with tempo, but want to see more tuners? Take a peek at How to Choose the Best Guitar Pedal Tuner.

Don’t Forget Our Gift Cards

Shop Now: Eventide Blackhole Reverb Pedal

If the search for the right gift is getting fatiguing, keep in mind you can take a break and still give your musician an awesome gift by providing them the means to choose their own perfect present with a Guitar Center Gift Card.