A lot of people took up hobbies during the pandemic and that included guitar playing!

According to Fender’s CEO Andy Mooney, around 16 million Americans bought a guitar in 2021.

“We actually just completed a very comprehensive research project and found that in the U.S. alone 16 million entrants – seven percent of the entire population picked up guitar, in many cases for the first time, last year,” Mooney told CNBC’s ‘The Exchange.’

“Pre-Covid, the industry was growing at 10 percent,” Mooney added. “At the height of Covid, it had grown at 35-plus percent. We anticipate it continuing to grow at least at the pre-Covid rate, if not more.”

Did you start playing an instrument during the pandemic? What kinds of hobbies did you pick up over the last year?