I know little about bass guitar but my brother-in-law plays and I thought this would be a perfect area to buy him a gift for his upcoming birthday. Can anyone advise me on what would be most appreciated by a bass guitarist?

CDs are great. Find a Victor Wooten or Stanley Clarke CD perhaps. Find out what kind of music he likes. New strings are always wonderful. Or just a gift card to your local music shop. That'd be good times. I know giving a gift card can feel thoughtless, but going with him to the guitar shop would more than make up for that. Plus, it's worth it to give a musician ANY excuse to head to a guitar shop. Seriously.

Duh! I can't believe I didn't think of the gift card idea on my own. He knows all the staff at the local music shop by name as he's in there so much. Thanks for the tip - that will work nicely.

I feel the same way. I prefer to give a gift card, especially f it is in an area I am not familiar with. It can be difficult to pick out a gift for a person when you nothing about ther hobby or interests.

Some people are very picky with their hobbies, I think I would much rather receive a gift card for a huge music store than end up feeling bad if someone picked out something I would not purchase for myself.

My brother gets most of his equipment second hand and rarely has the money to actually go to a guitar shop and buy something new. For Christmas and birthdays, my sister and I both give him gift cards to his favorite shop. Yeah, he always knows what he's getting but he always looks forward to getting it.

I agree that you have to be careful not to purchase something that the person is not going to use. A gift card to an online shop is a great idea. I'd much rather have someone give me a gift card than something that I say "thanks" for and then put it in the back of my closet....