Impress your singer-songwriter friends this holiday with these cool gift ideas

Sometimes the best holiday gifts you can give happen to be the most practical. After all, you know that if you give the singer-songwriter in your friend group presents like smart journals to jot down lyrics, a vocal microphone they can simply plug into their smartphone or music production lessons from today’s biggest industry tastemakers, they’ll be put to good use. 

So if you’re in doubt about what to give the singer-songwriter in your life this holiday season, look no further than these six cool gift ideas, guaranteed to not be regifted this time next year. 

MasterClass Online Course, $90 available at masterclass.com

If your friends are going to learn how to songwrite, sing or perform from anyone, who better than some of the biggest names in the industry? Meet MasterClass, a hub for online courses taught by A-list celebrities and tastemakers. In the music category, they have the likes of Christina Aguilera teaching singing techniques for a variety of genres, Timbaland on the ins and outs of production and beat-making and Carlos Santana giving students insight on capturing the heart and soul of the guitar.  

Shure Motiv MV5 Digital Condenser Microphone with USB and Lightning Cables, $79 available at guitarcenter.com

While most plug-and-play microphones don’t have a good reputation, this device from Shure Motiv has won the respect of many customers with its intuitive controls, smart technology, and ability to capture audio quality like a pro. 

Rocketbook Wave Smart Notebook, $17.80 available at amazon.com 

On the surface, the Rocketbook looks like any spiral-bound notebook. But in reality, it’s a smart notebook that can take all your handwritten notes and immediately save them into the Cloud, Google Drive, your email and more. That way, all your song lyrics will always be backed up digitally. And when you’ve filled up all the pages, simply microwave the notebook (yes, you read that right) and the ink will disappear, allowing you to start all over again. 

“The Complete Rhyming Dictionary” by Clement Wood, $5.99 available at amazon.com

Help your friends get through their next bout writer’s block with this handy rhyming dictionary, which works just as well for songwriting as it does for poetry or performance art of any kind. 

Sennheiser PX500 550 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones, $199.95 available at nordstrom.com

A pair of noise cancelling headphones are a must for musicians, especially when it comes to focusing on the tracks they’ve just written. These devices emit soundwaves that block out any incoming distractions from the outside world, so that all they end up hearing is their songs in perfect clarity. 

Beltbox Vocal Dampener, $49.95 available at amazon.com

For artists just starting out, their jam sessions, vocal practices and warm-ups all tend to be done in the comfort of their own home. If they’re self-conscious about noise levels or want to be able to sing at the top of their lungs without distracting others, a vocal dampener (like this one from Beltbox) can reduce their singing by up to 30 decibels. Better yet, it’s also waterproof so they can even bring it along to their morning shower karaoke sessions.