4 Evergreen Gift Ideas for the Music Lovers in Your Family
Every family has at least a few of them: aspiring singers, guitarists, rappers, producers, and people who live and breathe music. You won’t find them without a pair of headphones covering their ears and their feet tapping quietly to the beat.
Whether it’s Father’s Day, the 4th of July, Thanksgiving or Christmas, buying gifts for these music lovers is usually a delight. How else will you get to scour classic LPs and dig for the latest in speaker technology?
To make your search easier, we’ve shortlisted a few evergreen ideas for all the music lovers you know:
- MIDI Keyboards
For people who can play music, there are few gifts that can surpass a great musical instrument. Be it a guitar, a piano, or a set of drums, a good instrument will put a smile on any music lover’s face.
The problem? High-quality instruments cost an arm and a leg. An electric guitar from a respected manufacturer like Fender can set you back by a thousand dollars or more. The same with pianos – even an affordable digital piano will cost a few hundred dollars or more.
This is why MIDI keyboards make such a great alternative to acoustic instruments. Unlike acoustic guitars or pianos, MIDI keyboards don’t produce any sound of their own. Rather, they reproduce any sound you load into a digital audio workstation (DAW).
Since you can technically program the DAW to play virtually any sound imaginable, a MIDI keyboard can work as several instruments. You can reproduce sounds from $10,000 Steinway pianos and $5,000 MOOG synthesizers, all from the same keyboard.
Buying a MIDI keyboard can be complicated. This article has a good list of MIDI keyboards to start your hunt.
- Online Music Lessons and Courses
There was a time when learning to play an instrument meant shelling out thousands of dollars for weekly classes. You’d have to take time off work, practice regularly, and if your instructor wasn’t any good, you’d have nothing to show for your time and effort.
Thanks to the internet, this isn’t true anymore. There is an incredible range of courses online covering virtually every instrument imaginable. From the banjo to the bongos, if there is an instrument you (or your family members) want to learn, you can probably find online lessons for it.
These lessons also make fantastic gifts for music lovers. You can often complete courses on sites like Udemy and Coursera that will teach you the intricacies of the instrument as well as music theory. They range greatly in their price and expertise level. But the best part is that you can learn at your own pace.
- Turntables
Know someone who regularly collects vinyl records? Or maybe there is an older relative with a secret stash of LPs from the ‘70s?
A turntable would make a perfect gift for such people.
Modern turntables have none of the niggles of your granddad’s record players. Most are plug-and-play. Some even boast Bluetooth connectivity to stream music straight to your wireless speakers.
The best part is that the vinyl revolution has sharply reduced the prices for turntables, while improving the quality. Top-notch audio brands such as Audio-Technica, Sony, Rega, etc. have offerings covering nearly every budget, making this a great gift for all serious music lovers.
- Retro Music Equipment
Speaking of turntables, did you know that there is a resurgence in both the sales and collections of cassette tapes? After the vinyl revolution, it seems that people are turning to tapes for the sake of nostalgia.
Little wonder that retro music equipment – boomboxes, cassette players, old-school Sony Walkmans – are all experiencing a surge in sales. There is a whole range of classic ‘70s, ‘80s. and ‘90s equipment to choose from.
For example, MOOG synths, whose sound once defined the ‘80s, are a much-wanted collector’s item today. The classic boomboxes you’d see in every ‘80s rap video? They’re back on the market in a big way.
If you’re running short of gift ideas for your music-loving friends, these nostalgia-inspired gifts would be a definite hit.
Buying gifts for music lovers can be tricky but fun. You get to immerse yourself in the world of music, find items that bring back memories, and listen to good music while doing it – what’s not to love?!
