Michael (8) has decided to move from Guitar Hero to the real thing. So, two weekends ago, I took him down to Gulou Dajie, a street downtown with a bunch of music shops. We went through all of them and quickly found a nice little, locally made acoustic for 400 RMB (about USD $60) at a place called Xanders. I must say that everyone at the shops was very friendly and attentive -- not at all like my instrument shopping experiences in the US where the cooler-than-thou musicians/clerks are too busy screwing around with their buddies to deal with newbies like me.

This weekend, Michael had his first guitar lesson and walked out playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. His instructor asked him for a song he likes and wants to learn so he can start working on it next week; Michael made the ambitious choice of The Ballroom Blitz. It's quite a step up in difficulty from Twinkle, but I think he's up for it.

Watch out world! If you thought Michael was a devastating and dangerous ladies man before, just wait until he's a rockstar.