Michael Schenker – HuffPost 1.21.14

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?

Michael Schenker: That depends on the motivation of the artist. An artist is an artist, but why does a person want to play an instrument? It’s a personal thing. It’s what they want to get out of it. If they want to get out of it what I was going to get out of it… I discovered the guitar and was fascinated by what I could do with a single string. That, in itself, was the payoff for me. I love to play and discover. That, for me, is fanatic. That’s where my passion is. I was just being myself, so I kept being myself, and many years later, I started to hear people telling me that I had influenced so many people and so on and I was presented with awards and stuff like this. “What, me? What for? I was just being myself!” I think what’s important is that there’s nothing right, there’s nothing wrong, just do your thing and stay strong and you’ll know when you’re doing your thing. Your thing is something that makes your heart smile, if it’s copying or playing or just consuming, enjoying, listening to it. There is different stuff we prefer to do and each person finds their own spot of enjoyment. I think that’s the most important part. We need to feel that whatever we choose to do, if a person just loves to sit there and copy things and is happy with that and their heart is smiling, we know they’re doing the right thing.