Best Memorial Day sales for musicians 2025: grab yourself a bargain with this weekend's hottest deals on music gear

Guitar Center Memorial Day sale: Save up to 35%
Save some serious cash at Guitar Center. Until May 29th, you can save up to 35% on a wide range of guitar gear from big names like Fender, Gibson, Yamaha, Blackstar, and more. So, whether your rig needs an upgrade or you'd just like something new, GC is where it's at this Memorial Day.

Fender Memorial Day sale: Save up to 20%
Grab yourself some awesome early deals with up to 20% off guitars, guitar parts and accessories. As well as premium-level American-made guitars, you can also bag a bargain on Made in Mexico Player series instruments too. If you’re not looking to make a big investment over the Memorial Day weekend don’t worry, you can also get some great deals on accessories like guitar straps and some sweet deals on guitar pedals too.

Musician’s Friend: Save up to 50%
With some of the biggest discounts for guitarists we’ve seen so far for Memorial Day, the Musician’s Friend sale is one of the best places to pick up an absolute bargain. Launching days early it’s also one of the first to get going, making it a great opportunity to grab yourself some big discounts ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.

Sweetwater Memorial Day Pedal & Amp sale: Up to 50% off
With a huge array of pedals and guitar amplifiers discounted for the Memorial Day weekend, there may not be a huge sale at Sweetwater but it’s certainly good for guitarists. We’ve spotted big discounts on well-known pedal brands like Earthquaker Devices, JHS, Walrus Audio, and many more, as well as some huge savings on guitar amps from the likes of Mesa/Boogie, Victory, Ashdown, and others.

Packing 67 bundles into one all-encompassing package, the Waves Platinum Bundle is the perfect place to start your producing journey. Bought individually at full price, they'd total a massive $1,999, but a ginormous 90% discount brings them back into reach of the majority of music makers out there.

NI’s longstanding software bundle series has really benefited from the company’s merger with iZotope and Plugin Alliance. The combination of NI big hitters Kontakt 8, Massive X and Guitar Rig 7, alongside iZotope’s excellent Ozone 11 mastering suite, plus a generous crop of effects and sampled instruments, makes for a really well-rounded package that’s very tempting given the 50% discount. For our money, the Standard package is the sweet spot value-wise, but the more expansive Ultimate and Collector’s Edition bundles are also 50% off.

Another Andrew Scheps signature model, the Scheps Parallel Particles plugin is a brilliant option for enhancing the vibe of a particular instrument that isn't quite cutting it in the mix. Based on Scheps' parallel processing tools, it's a fantastic quick fix for any instrument you like be it a synth bassline, a shaker, or a lead part that needs an extra push to the front. We found it incredibly easy to use thanks to the simple interface and it's one of our top choice saturation plugins.

Native Instruments recently gave its DJ software a long-needed overhaul. New features include AI stem separation, flexible beat grids and a fun mini drum machine. Overall, v4 has a well-rounded feature set and smart-looking interface. Its best feature, however, is that, unlike many DJ apps, there’s no subscription or paid add-ons involved.

TONEX software & collections: Up to 67% off
This is probably the best guitar VST deal we've seen this Memorial Day. For a limited time, MAX out your virtual rig for guitar and bass with up to 67% off your choice of AmpliTube and TONEX titles, including TONEX Tone Partner and Signature Collections.

Use code TXPC50 or TXSC50 at checkout for 50% off each collection.

We've used the Scheps Omni Channel on pretty much every instrument at some point, whether adding a light touch of vibe or totally transforming the properties of a track. It's a 5-module channel strip that features preamp, EQ, de-essing, compressor, and gating, making it a proper Swiss-army knife tool for your productions. There are loads of great presets built into it that make a good starting point for beginners, and if you know your stuff, plenty of options to tweak and shape your sounds.

More commonly known as R-Bass, Waves Renaissance Bass is an essential tool for any producer, and we, among many, many music producers have been using it for years. It may be old but its algorithm is still one of the best in the business for adding richness and punch to instruments in the low end. Whether you want your kick drum to stand out more or you want the bassline with some added rumble, R-Bass is a simple yet indispensable tool for music production.

$450 is one of the biggest discounts on an electric guitar available in the MF sale, and it blends classic LP looks with some more modern appointments. A compound radius fretboard provides a flatter profile the further up the neck you move while the weight-relieved body makes it much more comfortable to play standing up. Two Gibson Tradbuckers deliver a classic PAF tone, making this guitar a great way to get a proper LP for less.

For those after a premium-level instrument, the Fender American Ultra Luxe Strat is an awesome guitar. It’s got a massive $550 off, one of the biggest reductions in the whole sale and offers an upgrade on the already versatile Strat sound with its HSS pickup configuration. The Floyd Rose lets you perform some serious guitar acrobatics, and whether you’re playing hard rock or funk licks it will deliver superb guitar tones.

It's not got the biggest discount, but this Gretsch G5210-P90 was too stunning to overlook this week. At Guitar Center this brilliant budget single cut has got a nice $75 reduction, giving you transparent tones from the dual P90s, and a comfortable thin 'U' profile neck that will handle a range of playing styles with ease.

The Martin Special D is, in our opinion, the perfect mid-range acoustic. The Special D is a limited edition version of the popular D-10 acoustic, which means all solid wood construction, mortis and tenon neck joint, as well as an ebony bridge and fingerboard. With a huge $200 reduction in the Memorial Day sale at Musician's Friend, the price comes down well below the $1k mark, making it exceptional value for money.

With a $100 reduction in the sale, the Fender Player Plus Meteora HH is a great buy for those looking to step up from a beginner instrument. It’s an incredibly cool looking guitar, and surprisingly ergonomic despite looking very different from others in the Fender stable. Two humbuckers help deliver plenty of girthy mid-range guitar tones, whilst the combo of locking tuners and tremolo let you add plenty of personality to your guitar playing.

Okay so it's not cheap by any measure, but this is a stunning, premium-level acoustic guitar that sounds absolutely incredible. It's got a gigantic $1,250 off over at Musician's Friend, which is an absolutely huge discount. The really flat fingerboard makes it comfortable for fingerstyle, and it's got a huge voice that manages to be loud when strumming hard but still delivers balance and clarity.

There are few guitars as versatile as a Tele and with a $280 reduction taking this Fender American Performer Telecaster down to just above the $1k mark, you can get a super versatile guitar for a lot less. It features the classic three-saddle ashtray bridge, Yosemite single-coil pickups, classic-gear tuning machines, and jumbo frets for an excellent feel when bending notes. The Greasebucket Tone System lets you use your volume knob without any drop in treble response too, further adding to this incredibly versatile guitar.

With a massive $340 discount in the Fender Memorial Day sale, this MIA Telecaster is fantastic value for money. The SH pickup configuration offers some unique tones you won't find on many guitars, with a big and warm sound in the neck position while the bridge single coil offers that classic Tele twang and bite.

It’s very much a premium guitar with a premium price tag, but for that, you get an incredibly comfortable playing experience thanks to the forearm rest. The combination of Lutz Spruce and Rosewood makes for a classic tonewood combo that delivers beautifully blooming notes and chords, while Gotoh tuners ensure your tuning is rock solid.

Whether you want to simplify your live rig or just get good quality amp tones for your pedalboard when practicing at home, the Neural DSP Nano Cortex is a powerful way to get better guitar tones. This B-stock model has got a nice $80 discount at the official Neural DSP store on Reverb, which makes it a great deal for a relatively new piece of gear. A recent update has made it a lot more powerful too.

Read more: Neural DSP Nano Cortex review

At just $99, the Pigtronix Constellator is a brilliant deal at Sweetwater thanks to a huge $80 reduction. It's an analogue delay pedal that delivers a luscious warm wash that belies its budget price point. It's a seriously underrated bit of gear, and we love the modulated tones it can deliver, as well as the mini size that means it's easily able to fit onto any board.

If you're looking for a good quality low gain overdrive, we think the J. Rockett Blue Note OD is a hugely underrated option. It's got a massive $100 discount at Sweetwater at the moment, so whether you want to use a pedal to push an amp harder, or add something into your gain stack to really deliver some satisfying saturation, the Blue Note OD is an excellent choice.

This gigantic $100 saving makes it a good chunk more than half price. The Moon Pool Tremvelope is a compact stompbox that can play the role of both tremolo and phaser. It can deliver both traditional and more ‘out there’ sounds thanks to its plentiful and usable controls, and we gave it four stars out of five in our Pigtronix Moon Pool review.

Spring reverb is a hard one to get right, but the Catalinbread Topanga is one of my favorites. Arguably one of the finest spring reverb emulations full stop, it captures that splashy sound of an early 60s Fender spring reverb tank brilliantly, even with the dwell setting cranked. It can do subtle sounds and substantial ones equally well, and with a $33 discount in the Sweetwater Memorial Day pedal sale taking the price down to just $186.99, it’s my top pick if you’re after a spring reverb for your ‘board.

If you're looking for a simple but fun fuzz pedal, the Fender Hammertone Fuzz is a great shout. It's got a cool $30 discount in the Memorial Day sale, and is powered by a pair of silicon diodes. It cleans up beautifully with your guitar's volume knob, and has a switchable octave voice for extra top end.

Read more: Fender Hammertone pedals review

The stock of the UAFX amp modeling pedals has never been higher thanks to The Edge admitting he’s been using them during U2’s Las Vegas Sphere residency. There are plenty of ‘Marshall-in-a-box’ type emulations out there, but little doubt the Universal Audio UAFX Lion is one of the best. The $100 reduction in the Sweetwater Memorial Day sale takes the price down to $299, far less than an actual ‘68 Super Lead and well, if it’s good enough for The Edge…

The Walrus Audio Fathom has got a gigantic $100 discount in the Sweetwater Memorial Day pedal sale, which bring the price down to just above the $100 mark. It's superb value for money and as well as the more 'out there' ambient tones it's got very usable plate and hall settings too.

Probably one of our favorite deals we've seen this Memorial Day, a cool $50 off the Line 6 POD Express is sensational value for money if you're looking for a new practice tool. An entire rig in a tiny footprint, jam-packed with quality tones from the HX series, it can work as a travel rig, practice tool, or even for playing live. You can also use it as an audio interface, which for just north of $100 is an absolute steal.

Read more: Line 6 POD Express review

For just south of the $200 mark, you're getting a hell of a lot of guitar amp with this amazing deal on the Friedman BE MINI 30W. It gives you hot-rodded Marshall tones at usable volumes, and even at full price is affordable for a tube guitar amp head. With $130 off at the Vision Guitar shop on Reverb, it's superb value for an amp that's equally good at home as it is on stage.

Read more: Friedman BE Mini Head review

These Fender Tie Dye leather straps will add some serious aesthetics to your favorite instrument, and being leather you can rest assured they will last for years and years. There are three different colorways available that you can match to your guitar’s finish, and they’re nice and wide to ensure you stay comfortable when playing.

If you already own a Tele but aren’t happy with the sound of the pickups, this Fender Shaw Hot 50s Tele pickup set will give your old guitar a new lease of life. The set currently has a massive $63 reduction at the moment, taking the price down to just above the $100 mark. It’s exceptional value for money for a great-sounding pickup set and can help elevate a Squier Tele or MIM Tele to a whole new level.

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