The Stocking Stuff of Legend

Choosing holiday gifts for the musicians in your life is always a bit tricky. Our advice: Unless you like embarrassed silences, stay away from novelty and buy something useful. Renewables (strings, reeds, cleaning supplies) are always appreciated, provided you can discreetly discover players’ preferred specs. Don’t guess; spy on them, or get the info via intermediaries. If you’re squeamish about espionage—or think of strings and reeds as the musical equivalent of socks and underwear—all is not lost! Books, tools, small (but decent-quality) instruments, and useful tech could stock our stocking any day. For example, take any of the following 10 nifty products.

Chic Click

Available in doesn’t have a swinging arm, but its traditional shape and onboard display lets players use sight and sound to find their groove. Beats per minute can be set between 30 and 252 either manually or using the tap tempo feature. Users can choose among eight metronome sounds or play along with 19 onboard patterns. Korg says the onboard speaker is strong enough to fill a practice room, while the 1/8" headphone jack doubles as a line out that can feed a sound system for group rehearsals.