Guitar to a guitarist is only a part of the gears. There are a host of guitar accessories that are required for various purposes. In this article, we will go through 25 very important guitar accessories that you cannot do without if you are serious about being a guitarist.
Let’s get started.
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Guitar Tool Kit
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No matter if you are an electric guitar player or an acoustic, you will need a guitar tool kit. From changing the strings to adjusting the truss rod, the tool kit is one of the most important guitar accessories that a guitarist needs to have.
Tool kits normally will have pliers for cutting strings, string winders to help speed up re-stringing, screwdrivers with potentially different head options, Allen Keys for adjusting Truss Rod and saddles, etc, and in some cases a ruler that helps in measuring adjustments.
As you can see this is a small handy little kit which you should have. There are many in the market and I personally love the Ernie Ball Musicians tool kit and the Fender Custom Shop tool kit. Both of these have the right tools and are very compact.
String Winder and Cutter
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This is a part of every guitar tool kit but it makes sense to have an additional pair for each guitar case you have. These help in changing the string on the go. This comes especially handy in cases where you have accidentally snapped a string at your practice pad and need to restring quickly.
You can either get these two components individually or you can get them as one combined unit. The Music Nomad MN226 is a great choice for an individual string cutter and Music Nomad MN221 is a cool string winder. Otherwise, D’Addario all in one restringing tool is a great compact one. I prefer to have them separate and find the music nomads being the best in the market.
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String Cleaner
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Every guitarist will know the joy of playing with a fresh new set of strings. The tension, sound, clarity, and playability are the best with a new set of strings. As we play on the same set of strings, the oil and the debris from the hand settle on the string and they dampen the sound – we don’t get the beautiful ringing sound of a new string as it gets old.
Though this is not completely avoidable but we can delay the deterioration of the strings by cleaning them before and after every use. String cleaners made up of microfiber cloths are the best as they do not leave residue on the string. The Music Nomad MN 205 cleaning tool is a fantastic option. It is all in one string, body and hardware cleaning tool. Highly recommended.
Guitar Maintenance Kit
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A guitar maintenance kit is different from a guitar tool kit.
Unlike the guitar tool kit that has accessories required from the perspective of setting your guitar and changing strings, the maintenance kit is for cleaning and polishing your guitar. It is one of those accessories to keep your guitar looking great and also to ensure your neck and fretboard plays great.
We find Music Nomads MN140 premium Guitar care 3-piece kit to be the best. It contains a fluid called the Guitar One fluid which cleans, polishes, waxes, and enhances the finish of your guitar. The Fretboard F One Oil is made up of natural ingredients and great for fretboard care. It works on every wood including maple. The Kit also comes with a microfiber cloth.
The Ernie Ball Instrument Polish is also a fantastic option. It is an all-in-one solution that covers all your guitar cleaning needs. This provides a no-hassle spray bottle that you can use to clean your body and even the fretboard without having the requirement of the strings to be taken off.
Gig Bag
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In all probabilities, your precious instruments will come with a factory-supplied hard or soft case. Though these are great to store your guitars but they are generally not made keeping in mind the ease of transportation, space to hold different guitar accessories, and ease of carriage.
That’s why it is important that you have the right gig bag which can carry your guitar along with guitar accessories and at the same time does not hurt your back.
In such a case you should not look any further than Gruv Gear Gigblade 2. They have options for both electric and acoustic guitars to suit your needs. It is designed in a way that it makes the guitar feel less heavy.
You can also check out Gruv Gear Tech Backpack, suitable to carry your smaller gears. This is made keeping in mind the requirements of a traveling musician. Recommended.
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Guitar Stands
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A portable and sturdy Guitar Stand is an absolute must for a guitarist. Irrespective of you being an electric guitarist or an acoustic, I am sure you would not want your favorite instrument to be kept lying somewhere and increasing the chances of damage to the guitar.
When it comes to stands, a few things stand out. The build quality, portability, security, and stability of the stand. For shuttling between practice pads you cannot beat the compact size and versatility of the Hercules EZ PACK GS200B. It can literally fit into the pockets of a cargo pant and provide very stable support.
The Fender Universal A-Frame Stand is also a brilliant option that combines compatibility with versatility. This stand can house any electric guitar of any height and shape.
Practice Amp
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While we all love the large amps and to cook the tubes by cranking the volume and gain but we also need smaller amps for practice. A large tube (or any amp) can be very loud and wake up the entire neighborhood if we were to use it to get the kick from it.
The Yamaha THR10 II does exactly the same. It is a small desktop amp perfect for practice but comes with big features. It has 15 tube amp emulation settings, 3 bass amp emulations, 3 mic models for acoustic-electric with great-sounding effects.
The other option is Spark by Positive Grid which has 10,000+ amp and FX presets in a 40 W package. This also offers a great option for practice amps.
Fret Wraps
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If you are one of those guitarists who want to play sublime clean solos then Fret Wraps are for you. These are essentially string muters. You can do the Eddie van Halen or Satriani or Vai tapping techniques and without the dissonance of jarring strings with these fret wraps.
These come in various colors and prints to suit your axe. Get a bunch of them for all the guitars you have. I would say this is a must-have which honestly, I cannot do without. One of those guitar accessories which you cannot do without.
Guitar Picks and Holder
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Guitar picks are a very individual choice and cannot have a broad recommendation. However, the importance of the picks is huge. This perhaps tops the list in a guitarist’s most misplaced or lost objects.
Think of the guitar pick as a pen. It needs to be strong and pointed like a pen to write. Likewise, a firm and pointed pick can help in the ease of playing. I love the Jim Dunlop Eric Johnson Classic Jazz III picks.
Similarly, a pick holder provides instant relief to high anxiety during a live session where the pick falls off the hand. A must-have for a serious guitarist. Both the Jim Dunlop pick holder and LokFy holders are great options.
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Capo
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Guitar capos enhance the sound and create a different feel. The capos are wonderful little guitar accessories that can shift the nut position for a chord to any part of the fretboard. The result is richer sounding chords with enhanced and higher tonality which perhaps would not have been possible in the natural position.
The G7th Performance 3 ART guitar capo is perhaps the best among all. The ART stands for Adaptive Radius Technology which enhances the stability of the tuning. It fits well on the neck and can be easily removed. A great CAPO from a company which specializes in making them. Highly Recommended.
Slide
This is something that folks who love to play the blues would love to have. Slide as the name suggests is a vertical cylinder that can be made up of Glass, Metal, or Porcelain. These go into either your ring or the little finger, leaving the rest of the fingers to play standard notes on the fretboard and use the slide for specific parts for that bluesy effect.
The ones on the ring finger can be heavier while the ones on the pinky are generally the lighter ones. Given below are some of the options available on Amazon.
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Clip on Tuner
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I am sure that all guitar players will have a tuner in some form or the other. If you are an electric guitar player, you may have it built in your effects processor or as a separate pedal on the pedal chain. A clip-on tuner comes in very handy for both electric and acoustic guitar.
You clip this tuner on the headstock and when you pluck the strings, this tuner accurately captures the frequency and displays it on the screen. One of the very important guitar accessories to have. I love the TC Electronic Polytune Clip. It is crazily accurate, the display can be read in the dark and looks very classy. Again, highly recommended.
Guitar Straps and Strap Locks
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Guitar straps can make a huge difference to the player. Having to support a guitar during a live performance for hours can be very taxing on the player. A comfortable strap and one that ensures the weight of the guitar is evenly distributed makes the entire experience a much easier one for the player.
Again, coming back to Gruv Gear a fantastic company that is dedicated to making these apparently small but in reality, huge differences in the life of the players. The Gruv Gear Solo Strap is undoubtedly the most comfortable padded single guitar strap that you will come across.
Coupled with a good strap lock, this makes the guitar secure not falling off the straps while performing. The best ones available are Schaller S locks and are very versatile. One of those guitar accessories that everyone should consider.
Metronome
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A Metronome is a small piece of equipment that gives out audible signals in the form of a click at regular intervals. You can set this up as per your tempo or required beats per second. These are great equipment for perfecting guitar playing.
By practicing with a metronome, you practice to be on the beat and not off it. It helps to inculcate the ability to play in a band with other players in sync. There are many metronomes available but a good one can last for a lifetime and do more than a basic one.
The Boss DB-90 Dr. Beat Metronome is a brilliant choice. It functions as a mini drum machine and has realistic PCM drum sounds, 50 pattern memories, and a host of other stuff. This is a pro time keeping machine.
In Ear Monitor
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In-ear monitors have become hugely popular now and for the right reasons. Being a guitarist, you need to have an accurate representation of the onstage sound. And nothing provides this better than an In-Ear Monitor.
The Shure PSM 300 (P3TRA215CL) is a great option. This IEM is perfect for guitarists in live gigs and has been used by professional musicians all across. This has Audio Reference Commanding, a patented technology that ensures clear and accurate sound. It is super easy to set this up and provide a single touch frequency scan and sync to find a clean wireless channel. Dependable and accurate.
Guitar Cables
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One can have the best guitars and effects which money can buy but if the cables are not able to support a clean signal then there will no difference between the sound of quality gears from basic ones. Guitar cables come in various qualities and sizes. These things do not cost a fortune but can help in having clear and uninterrupted signals. Also the better the quality the higher the longevity of these cables.
Probably the best guitar cable that money can buy now will be the Mogami Gold Series Silent. These cables have enhanced shielding that provides a clean signal. These cables come with a lifetime warranty.
Or you can go for the Evidence Audio Lyric HG guitar cable. These are preferred by the likes of David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, John Mayer. These are able to deliver a pure signal and a true tone. Great cables to own.
Pedal Board
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Any guitarist will require a good pedalboard. Pedalboards are required to ensure your guitar pedals are placed correctly as per the signal chain. The pedalboards provide the player a setup which could be easily moved from one place to another with the ability to plug and play. One of the very important guitar accessories required by any guitarist.
Most pedalboards are intelligently designed to have a space for the power supply neatly tugged in and fixed on the board like the rest of the pedals. It provides a very compact and easy to use set up.
While there are hundreds of Pedalboards available, the two which we like the best are The Rockboard TRES 3.1 and the Voodoo Lab Dingbat Medium Pedalboard. Both of these can hold from eight to twelve pedals. Both of these pedalboards have power supply mounting options. The Voodoo Labs Pedal Board has an option with an inbuilt power supply of Pedal Power 4×4 which can support up to 8 pedals.
Power Supply
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Having clean and accurate power determines the life of your gears and also the noise in the signal chain. If a power supply is not producing clean power that your pedal requires, then it might be lowering the life of the pedals. On the other hand, if you are using a daisy chain sort of a power supply, then it will create the infamous hum and buzz in the signal chain.
What you require is a power supply that provides isolated power outputs for each of the pedals. This means that all pedals will have an individual power source and are not shared. We prefer the Truetone 1 Spot Pro CS12 power supply. This provides isolated outputs for 12 pedals on the pedalboard. It has a combination of six 9v outputs, one 4 to 9 v variable output, two high draw 9v outputs, and two 18v outputs.
Volume Pedal
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A volume pedal gives the guitarist the flexibility of using this pedal to control the volume of his instrument by increasing or decreasing the amplitude of the audio signal. These pedals help to bring in more dynamics to guitar playing. There are two kinds of volume pedals – active and passive.
Active volume pedals are more common and thus are more widely used. These are generally powered by a battery or a power supply. Due to the active nature of these pedals, there is hardly any loss of signal and you get a clean tone.
The Ernie Ball MVP 6182 is a great option among the active volume pedals. The MVP in this pedal means Most Valuable Pedal. This pedal allows you to adjust the bottom range and the top range The top range can especially be adjusted with an additional 20 dB of gain boost. No frequency loss at any volume. A perfect volume pedal to own.
Wah Wah Pedal
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The wah-wah pedal had its admirers from the late 60s when it was introduced. Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile is a classic signature Wah Wah intro which perhaps is one of the first licks guitarists try when they get their hands on a Wah Wah pedal. Kirk Hammett from Metallica and Slash from Guns n Roses are also known for their work on this pedal.
This pedal adds brilliant color to the solos and the pedal has come a long way from what Jimi Hendrix used. The most outstanding among the new generation ones is perhaps the John Petrucci Signature Cry Baby. This wah sounds huge and has a wide expressive range. It Is equally good with single solos or with heavy growling chords.
The other wah which comes a close second is the Slash Signature Series.
Looper Pedal
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Looper pedals are great for layering instrument sections one over the other especially in a live setting. It is also a great tool in the hands of a guitarist who loves to jam on a backing loop created by himself. Generally, looper pedals are easy to operate. They would have a tap to record, tap to stop, and tap to play.
The Ditto X2 Looper Pedal by TC Electronic is a great choice. Though it is an entry-level looper, it does not slack on quality. It is a high-quality pedal, just like what TC electronics are known for. The pedal has a single control for the loop volume and super easy to use.
Distortion Pedal
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Any guitarist will have a few of these. Different pedals offer different colors of these distortions. Some are warm and some are shrill. These are the high gain stompboxes that are very close to the heart of every guitarist. Honestly, it is difficult to have one clear choice over so many others here. So, we will have 3 distortions which are recommended to be in the gear club of any guitarist.
MXR M75 Super Badass Distortion ’75 Distortion is the first choice. It has lots of gain and can make your guitar really chug and at the same time can deliver some insane high gain solos.
Suhr Riot is the second on our list. This is an insanely high gain distortion with great sonic quality. This little pedal can give you the big, fat, and screaming tones. It has three voicing switches, which helps you to customize the sound as per your choice. A super-hot distortion pedal.
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Boss DS1 Distortion pedal needs no introduction and has been the workhorse for many guitarists. The tones vs the price at which this distortion is offered are simply mind blowing. This provides the best value for money.
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Delay Pedal
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Again there are so many brilliant delay pedals in the market that a guitarist ends up owning a few of them. The use of delay is an art. One of the bands which used the delay to its capacity is U2. Songs like “Where the Streets have no name” are a brilliant use of this effect.
Coming to the pedals TC Electronics Flashback Delay is one of the best in the market. This delay is hailed by most of the modern-day guitar players. Flashback 2 can provide that ethereal expression that you are looking for. Now it also comes in a mini version. A must-have.
Reverb Pedal
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You cannot do a guitar rig without a reverb. Dave Gilmour for example uses Reverb (and delay) to create his signature psychedelic sonic experiences which Pink Floyd is known for. Just like the delays, TC Electronics Hall of Fame 2 Reverb is a brilliant choice. It boasts 8 types of reverbs in a wonderful little stompbox to own.
Chorus Pedal
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Chorus as an effect is a tonal modulator. There are different uses of chorus. If you have heard Nirvana’s “Come as you are” is a classic chorus riff. Chorus has been used extensively in hard rock music as well. The clean tones of many of these bands were colored by Chorus, giving the mystical feel to the chords.
The most famous Chorus perhaps is the Boss Super Chorus CH1 but we prefer Corona from TC Electronics. We feel TC Electronics has an edge over the others when it comes to ambient sounding effects. Anyway, both are great options. It takes some time to find your tone with chorus and once you have it, will not be able to live without it.
Conclusion
Having the guitar is just the beginning, you will need different guitar accessories to assist in the maintenance of the instrument, help in your style, and embellish your sound and playing. It is a fun and exciting path to take.
Last update on 2024-05-19 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
