Award Sounds

At this stage, they're probably ditching their first, practice amps for something a bit more mature (typically a nice all-valve/all-tube Fender Hot Rod or similar). It's also about time for an upgrade from the basic guitar, so maybe to a Made-In-Japan Fender or even the Fender Highway Star range. Unless you know them incredibly well and can afford for the guitar or amp to be ignored or sold at half price, then leave this area well alone. There's a very high chance, you'll get the choice wrong. Remember, guitarists are fickle.

One way out is if it's one of your children, maybe offer an upgrade, but cap the price difference or next thing you know and you'll be paying more for the next guitar and amp than you did for their first car. It pays to do some research first so you know if your contribution will be worth anything and if the present contribution idea will backfire. The new price of the kit in this range is roughly £400-500 (I guess that's roughly $600-$800) for a guitar and similar for an amp. Any kit they have to part-exchange will be 30% of original cost at most. Probably nothing at all if it's from a bargain beginner package or has been treated badly.

I've included some easy links for purchasing from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk at the bottom of the page. Don't want to read the rest, then go straight to the gifts in the US or the gifts in the UK.

Once again, Strap Locks are great. Can't go wrong with them, especially if there's a new guitar involved.

Picks

You can still buy a range of picks for the guitarist. Even now, the intermediate guitarist will still be working through what they like. In this case, the more esoteric, the better. They may not like all that you buy, but they'll have fun trying and you may even find their new standard.

Straps

Straps are a good present. Go for something with a bit more flair or style that usual. Maybe get one that matches their guitar.

Amp Stand

I'd expect the player to be playing a few gigs by now. For now, I'll assume they have a 1x12 combo. That's an amplifier with a built-in single 12 inch speaker inside. It will have a handle on top and can be carried in one hand. These amps are good for practices, rehearsals and small gigs. The problem with gigs is that the guitarist may be too close to the amplifier to hear it properly. The amp stands allow the amplifier to be off the ground, allowing the guitarist to hear themselves as well as allowing the amp to project to the audience. You can get stands for 2x12 combos as well (which have two 12 inch speakers side by side). These amps usually take two hands to move.

Pedals

This time, we should be thinking about what they're doing with tone. Pedals are a great way to change tone and every guitarist knows that and part of the fun is the experimentation.

Overdrive and Boost Pedals

So upping the price a bit, we can head towards buying pedals as gifts. As a rule, don't buy them a pedal if they're got one of those types already. It's ok to buy a chorus, if they've only got overdrive pedals. But unless they've a reason for changing pedals, there's no need to have two overdrive pedals.

If they're any good with soldering or don't mind learning, then try a boost or overdrive pedal from Build-Your-Own-Clone. I've got a few of their pedals and each one is awesome.

If they're a bit clumsy with the iron, then we'll have to look at buying pre-built, new or second-hand. Without going into boutique and really high prices, a few I like are:

• Visual Sounds Jekyll and Hyde
• Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive
• Carl Martin Hot Drive'n'Boost MkI

Some of the T.C. Electronic range of pedals can often be found at well below (e.g. less than half) their original Recommend Retail Price. So it pays to shop around.

Each of the pedals above will put an amp into overdrive nicely and provide the guitarist with more tonal options.

Tubescreamer

Every Blues guitarist needs a Tubescreamer. Maybe this is so basic, it should be in the beginner section. However, it's only after a player has master the basics of playing will they often begin the quest for tone, so I've left it here. In reality, it's just an overdrive pedal. The two main pedals that guitarists look for are the Ibanez TS-808 and the Ibanez TS-9. Originals are very expensive as are the re-issues. Again, if they can build their own from a kit, then the BYOC Overdrive pedal is great.

Other Pedal Types

Tremolo - just don't go for cheap (Behringer, Danelectro). Get a decent brand (Boss, TC Electronics, Visual Sounds). As intermediate guitarist, they may already be branching out into boutique pedals, but leave that to them for the moment. Some of the cheap pedals can work out really well, but why gamble? I wouldn't, not for a gift anyway.

Chorus - I love the Carl Martin Chorus. Great quality but probably beyond the price we're looking at. So maybe a Boss chorus instead?

Wah - There are so many different types of wah. There are two main standards for blues guitarists, the Vox Wah and the Jim Dunlop CrybabyWah (GCB95). There are others. Some of the Morley pedals are great, but I've never found them ideal for blues.

Reverb - mainly depends if their amplifier already has reverb and whether they're happy with it. To be honest, I'd avoid these unless you have some inside information.

Tubeman - Can't beat trying to get that original tone of a classic amp. There are other modelling pedals, but this one suits blues guitarists a lot.