Ben Harper : "I look for new guitars all the time. It's my favorite activity."

"I couldn't even count them. Actually, I could, but I don't want to. I often change guitars because they each have their own voice. They have many things to say. It's as if they had their own life. They want to be treated with care, they want to speak, to be listened to. It's fabulous to pick up a new guitar and to play something that you wouldn't have played with another one. It's a perpetual challenge; there are always new ways to investigate. It isn't always easy but I like that."

"I have many other instruments; banjos, autoharps, dulcimers but also moogs, Fender Rhodes, accordions and drums."

© English translation by Angus Martin
© Photo by Bertrand Jacquot : Guitar shop, La Bastille, Paris, France