-Guitar Hero is all the rage for consumers.

-Need to take a break from searching for the latest gear during The NAMM Show? Here are some celebrity appearances and parties to check out.

-Attendance increased at Music China and Prolight + Sound, and Kenny G made a big splash.

-Improving next month's NAMM Show is like making the 1972 Miami Dolphins better. But NAMM is certainly not resting on its laurels.

-We reveal all of the manufacturer nominees for Music & Sound Awards to be handed out next month at The NAMM Show.

-Counterfeiting on MI products, particularly guitars, may have received minimal national press, but the problem is real and not going away.

-Find out how to sell products your customers are probably not looking to buy.

-M&SR features its second annual independent retailer roundtable. What's on dealer's mind's this year. Are things better than last year?

-Females playing musical instruments now outnumber males, according to a NAMM/Gallup survey.

-Industry leaders paved the way for the next 10 years.

M&SR: When did you pick up your first instrument?
Flansburgh: I took piano lessons but I didn't really connect with the piano. Later in high school, a friend gave me his first guitar as a gift. It was a shockingly cheap Japanese Telecaster copy. Even the most budget-minded instrument today is a thousand times more playable than that guitar was. It was really a bear. I was pretty much self-taught for a couple of years. I bought a four-track TEAC tape recorder. I started writing songs and learned how to play guitar by writing those songs. I was such a home recording enthusiast and spent about a million to a billion hours on it.

M&SR: What were some of your favorite music instrument stores growing up, and now?
Flansburgh: Throughout the '80s and '90s, there was a great guitar shop in New York City called Mojo Guitar that was often compared to Floyd's Barber Shop on the old Andy Griffith Show. It was a really interesting spot to hang out where people gathered to talk about instruments...people who would never be in a band together just hanging out and talking about gear. There were a lot of purists in that room, and it was a very inspiring place. There's a great place in Brooklyn now called Main Drag that's kind of become my go-to place. They're like an old-fashioned music store with new stuff and old stuff, repairs, and a do-it-all retail store. I really enjoy (and need) the service being that I'm so involved in music making.

M&SR: Being left-handed, was it hard early on in the '80s to find guitars you liked?
Flansburgh: It was difficult, but I'm really grateful for being left-handed. If I were right-handed, I'd be completely broke spending money on vintage guitars. I'm appreciative that Gibson, Fender, and others make the small amount of left-handed guitars they make. In recent years, I've had some custom instruments made. That was really expensive and not the path I would have taken if I were right-handed. On tour, I've been able to find some really good instruments I could play. There's something very disorienting about playing a right-handed instrument. We can't all be Jimi Hendrix...it just feels wrong, like playing in reverse. I'm happy in a way to not have had a million choices with lefty instruments. There are more now than ever before, and makers seem to acknowledge that there are left-handed players on the market.

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