THE BEAST

Photo by DANIEL YAMPOLSCHI

By Shawn Leonhardt for Guitar Tricks and 30 Day Singer

Whether you are buying a gift or looking to spend some holiday money on yourself, it is always nice to enhance your pedal board. Every day it seems there are new boutique pedals that offer a wide variety of sound sculpting abilities and of course there are other accessories that will help you in your guitar journey. Here are some great gift ideas to dial in your pedal rig and expand your guitar sound.

The best gift you can give the guitar player on your list this year is the gift of learning how to play! Grab a gift certificate for the best online guitar lessons – Guitar Tricks . For the holiday season their annual membership is discounted to $99 down from $179. So grab a Guitar Tricks gift certificate today and help someone learn how to play guitar.

Pedals

The first and most obvious gifts are pedals, we all love them, and there are lots to choose from. If you are buying gifts or new to the world of effects units there are some specific categories. 

• A good guitar tuner is essential to make sure your signal is in tune!
• Filters help alter our signal frequency with equalizers, wahs, talk boxes, and envelope effects.
• Dynamics will help change the volumes of frequencies like compressors, boost, gain, and noise gates.
• Distortion and Overdrive also helps boost volume and grit by clipping the signal.
• Modulation helps sculpt sounds with pedals like chorus, flanger, phaser, and ring modulation.
• Delay and reverb are time-based effects that can change our musical space or create echoes.
• Pitch Shifters allow the guitarist to add in new harmonies to expand their sound and even change it drastically.
• Looping pedals are great because they let you record your progress and build layers of music as if you were your own band!
• Unique pedals also exist that don’t exactly fit neatly in the other categories, for example percussion stomp boxes can be used to create drum sounds along with your playing.

And Boutique pedals are great because they often mix various effects above, in fact if you have all those pedals, boutique and custom-made effects units are the next step. By mixing different signal processors, the guitarist has a lot of creative freedom with their soloing and guitar chords . Generally the names of these specialized pedals will give you an idea of what they do.

Pedalboards, Cables, and Power Supply

Once a guitarist gets more than a few pedals they need a method to hold, power, and link them together. These features are often overlooked or rushed; you want to be sure that you have quality materials. In some cases the musician may have reached their limit on an older pedalboard so they may need to upgrade.

• Power Supplies are essential as using batteries can be a pain and are not as efficient as one source to power them all. If there is likelihood that the guitarist will end up buying lots of pedals, then be sure to have a good and sturdy power source to run them.
• Patch Cables are necessary to chain your pedals together, the more pedals one has the more cables you will need. Do not be cheap when buying this pedalboard accessory. You can have incredible pedals that will make amazing sounds, but low-quality cables will not transfer your signal right.
• Pedalboards also need to be sturdy and durable, after all they are going to be stomped on by your feet. You can obviously leave your pedals connected on just the floor, but a pedalboard allows you to neatly arrange everything and keep the cables nice and tidy.

Remember there is no perfect pedal order on your board, it really is all about how you want to sculpt your sound. What is important is having a rig that is easy to set up, move, and play so stick to buying materials that you know will last. Especially for those guitarists in your life who are just starting out with their guitar lessons .

Risers, Knobs, and other Accessories

There are many other major and minor accessories that are suitable as gifts for the guitar player that loves pedals. Some are essential, while others may help with space, cleanliness, or ease of use. If all the gift ideas above are already in their possession, perhaps they could use some items below to add to their collection.

• Pedal Risers are sturdy metal components that allow you to lift your pedal up higher on the board. This may be to adjust the height or give you more space to place other gear underneath the riser. 
• Specialty Knobs are made that allow you to use your foot to adjust the parameters of a pedal. Many of these larger made knobs will also glow in the dark so they are easier to see.
• Fasteners are necessary to attach the pedals to the board, most are as simple as Velcro, get types that are heavy duty and durable. In this same category of fasteners are cable holders that keep your cables neat and tidy.
• Pedalboard Cases and Bags are essential if you are gigging and traveling with your pedals. Of course pedals are worth a lot of money so be sure that they are placed in something sturdy and durable for protection.
• Lighting and LED gifts can help the guitar player see what they are doing onstage. Generally the musician wants something that will be lit in a way that the audience doesn’t notice. 
• Anti-slip Footpads and similar accessories can help keep your pedalboard in the right place. These may seem like simple gifts, but they can be lifesavers in a situation where your board is moving when you step on it!

As technology gets better there are always new ways to connect, attach, and see all the pedals on your board. And over time these accessories and pedals will show their wear and eventually need to be replaced. After all, when you are regularly stepping and stomping on objects, they can quickly get broken even if they are secured and heavy duty. The pedalboard will take a beating so make sure to take care of it!

If you are buying pedals or accessories as gifts for a guitarist, most of these ideas will go over well. Pedals in general are fun and many guitar players can’t get enough, there is always room for more. If you know someone who is just learning how to play guitar , stick to the basics above to get them started. If they have quite the pedal collection then stick to specialty boutique pedals and interesting accessories and you will certainly make a musician happy!