Shorty Show Christmas edition. This week, Bart and Joey talk about the top gifts you can gift to the guitar loving person in your life.
What can I buy the guitar nerd in my life for around $100?!
Now I chose $100 because Amy and I have a deal, if I want to buy something around 100 bucks, I can buy it, otherwise I ask permission. So here’s a list of a bunch of things I use almost every day that you can buy your guitar person. I would recommend www.sweetwater.com, www.amazon.com or www.guitarcenter.com they are all great places to buy these kinds of things, all the same price or at least close.
First up we have DiMarzio. These cats make the best pickups and all things guitar parts. My fave thing they make is their guitar strap. It’s the one with the clippy connecters. I bet I have this strap on 40 guitars. I love them. Wish they could figure one out for acoustic guitars.
Korg sh-pro is hands down the best clip-on tuner on the market. I freaking love this tuner. Put it on backward so its hidden, bright, accurate, great package!
Keith McMillem Batt-o-meter. I was turned on to this freaking great gadget by Mike Hickey, Joe Bonamassa tech and a wonderful guy. If you have to live and die by 9 volts, this is your buddy. In or out of a thing, guitar or stompbox, easy to use. Mike taught me to check em and then write in Sharpie what the voltage is that’s left so you can re-use them with confidence! I got this from Stewart MacDonald. They have tons of guitar things, especially if you wanna work on your own guitars.
D’Addario—Cable ties. These things come in packages of 10 I think. So great for wrapping cables of any length. You’ll never regret a correctly wound cord, promise.
Capo’s - I use 3 different capos depending on my location. Sounds stupid huh? I use the G 7th capo at home because its tuning is perfect but it doesn’t travel well. No place to put it when it’s not in use. The Paige capo is my go-to everyday capo. Looking around Disgraceland Music, I see Paige capos on at least 10 guitars. I love these capos. They keep yer guitar in tune pretty well, they move good, and they stay on yer guitar really well. Love em! Kyser Fantastic capo especially if your changing strings on a guitar that has a Bigsby virbrato. Kyser also make the Lifeguard, which is an awesome acoustic humidifier. You can also chop up an apple and use that. Way under 100 bucks☺).
Music Nomad. Just heard about these cats. String winder, string cutter and a wonderful little fella that pulls end pins out without mucking up the tailpiece of your fave acoustic. Everything has a soft rubber feel to it. Love their stuff!
Strings! Alright, now here’s one of the most important things to a guitar player. Strings determine what yer guitar plays like because they determine how your fingers and the pick if you use one hit the string. I use for electric D’Addario XL Nickel wound strings in the super-light gauge. They’re .009--.042. I know this is light so I figured out a new way to play and a new way to set up my amp so I don’t think I lost much in the way of tone. For acoustic strings, Elixir Phosphor Bronze Nanoweb coated strings. Changed my life. I think I have 10 acoustic guitars out and ready to go and they all elixir’s on em. Love em. I don’t think I’ve ever broken even one Elixir!
I have experimented with picks for a while. Gordon Kennedy gave me his V-picks Gordon Kennedy model pick. And he put the idea in my head about how much the pick makes a difference. Since then, I’ve messed with about 20-30 picks at any time. I seriously think I can hear the difference depending on strings, fretboards, amps, acoustic, electric, all of it. It’s aggravating but its kinda fun messing with it.
One last little thing is for your throat. They are these little licorice tasting things called Vocalzone. Man oh man, they save your throat so much. I saw Tom Jones on Top Gear, the good one, and Jeremy Clarkson asked Tom what was in his mouth, and he explained that he almost always has a Vocalzone lozenge in his mouth. I tried em and I love em.
I guess the last this I can encourage you to get any guitar player would be almost any Merle Haggard cd. Also go back to our Top-5 debut album show and buy any of those albums, they’re all under $100, I think!
Merry Christmas! I hope this gift guide was helpful! Come find us on INSTAGRAM and let us know if you got the guitar person in your life anything off the list!