Ben Harper on his first guitar, 1999

I was nine at the oldest when I got my first guitar. I wanted to play, and I kept reaching for my mom’s guitars, which were quite nice--Gibsons and Martins and such. I was like, "I want a guitar like yours, Mom." She was like, "No. I will get you your first guitar." So she gave me a bottom-feeder nylon-string--very basic, plywood, orange top, brown sides--and I played it and I played it.

My brothers and I were heavily into BMX, and we were making double-sided ramps that we would jump off one side and land on the other. Out in front of the house, we were getting everything but the kitchen sink to jump over--there was everything from Big Wheels to phonographs that didn't work anymore. I came home from school one day, and there was my guitar in the pile of stuff they were jumping! I just nutted up, “Nooo!” I grabbed it. It had been good and scuffed, but it was still working. I was like, "Oh my God!" I was furious.