Certo,
posto la soluzione:
codice:sql = " SELECT category_tbl.category_name, "&_ " COUNT(category_tbl.category_name) AS conta "&_ " FROM category_tbl "&_ " LEFT JOIN products_tbl "&_ " ON "&_ " category_tbl.category_name = products_tbl.category_name "&_ " LEFT JOIN sell_tbl "&_ " ON "&_ " products_tbl.prod_id = sell_tbl.prod_id "&_ " GROUP BY category_tbl.category_name"