Michael Schenker: The Complete 1980 MSG Interview

[@tryghanson3260]

I have the Guitar Player issue with this Michael Schenker interview. Great to hear your conversation. Thanks Jas! I’ll have to see if you posted Joe Perry and Brad Whitford GP interviews too.

[@brianwood7237]

Michael's playing on UFO's 'Strangers in the Night' changed everything for hard rock guitar in the late 70's

[@billyshane3804]

Michael Schenker - Champion & Legend

[@bingefeller]

Thank you, this is fantastic. Michael is one of my all time favorite guitarists.

[@melancholyhussar]

JO: “What’s your pedal board have on it?” MS: “Pedal board???? I don’t have a pedal board!” Legendary!🔥🔥🔥

[@herbcanter2114]

Guitar World interview with Schenker: "I love Eddie's playing, you know, he's for me, by far the best guitar player. And even though I wasn't listening to music, you could never get away [from] hearing [it] anywhere... And so really, he was fascinating. I mean, he's my favorite guitar player."

[@derekclacton]

MSG hit the ground running with that tour, with what many (including me) consider the classic lineup. The first three studio albums all have something very special about them. One of the greatest ever hard rock / heavy metal guitarists, with an incredible sense of melody. Those were great days. Michael’s guitar tone on One Night at Budokan is phenomenal 🎸👍

[@melancholyhussar]

This is the one I’ve been waiting for! Thank you!

[@Spawn1-cz6vi]

Love the MS. Love his playing and tone. 🤘🏻💯

[@walterevans2118]

BRILLIANT ❤. Thanks Jas. (Paul)

[@chrisheathcote3697]

Great interview with one of my favorite guitarists of all time!

[@markoRE]

Thanks for this! Awesome stuff! 🙏💯

[@chiefs777]

Incredible to hear this audio interview. I still have the Guitar Player magazine with this same Jas Obrecht interview.

[@gregwong1899]

What guitar player issue is this in month and year?

[@chiefs777]

@@gregwong1899 January 1981

[@JimmyBurkard]

Thanks Jas!!!

[@herbcanter2114]

Michael Schenker Calls Eddie Van Halen His 'Favorite Guitar Player', Shares Thoughts On Yngwie Malmsteen's Playing "I love Eddie's playing, you know, he's for me, by far the best guitar player."

[@andrewbroughton65]

Wowza..what a trip down memory lane that was..can't believe how much I actually recalled..theres even parts I dont recall..I guess there were a few edits huh.That bit about Eddie not being able to play real Guitar was odd..I guess He hadnt heard 'Spanish Fly' yet.

[@herbcanter2114]

A few months later Schenker said this : "I love Eddie's playing, you know, he's for me, by far the best guitar player. And even though I wasn't listening to music, you could never get away [from] hearing [it] anywhere... And so really, he was fascinating. I mean, he's my favorite guitar player."

[@monkeyrater]

I hate how Michael always refers to his amp as a "50 watt", like what model is it?

[@paulkreeft2091]

JMp

[@paulkreeft2091]

JMP

[@paulkreeft2091]

Marshall JMP

[@walterevans2118]

Paul Chapman was credited on Strangers in the Night inner sleeve but that didn't mean he played on Strangers....He played with UFO for a short time in about 1974 during Phenomenon (but never recorded on the studio albums) and he replaced Michael in UFO from early 1979 onwards but it was a popular myth that he was on Strangers.. He wasn't.. It was ALL Michael on the Album. I'd never heard the bit where UFO claimed Michael got the sack & how Michael was locked out of his house with the trouble with UFO. .....Michael left UFO twice in the late 1970s. I understand he left during the Lights Out tour in 1977 because UFO were breaking big in the States & Michael was not even sure whether he wanted 'fame' & as a purist musician it was kind of startling & bewildering for him......And because he was drinking heavily to get rid of stage fright he needed space away from the tour & the band to clear his head.....He re-joined on the suggestion of UFO's manager to record Obsession & Strangers (two brilliant recordings) but the second time he left permanently was partly because of mixing problems with Strangers in the Night and producer Ron Nevison (who wouldn't let Michael choose the best lead break recording of Rock Bottom which was a central improvised piece showing his virtuosity.) .....Also unfortunately there was an violent incident involving Vocalist Phil Mogg who was very cruel to Michael for no good reason... He was a Londoner who had been a boxer who was 'handy with his fists' who liked to fight... whereas Michael was not at all like that but a sensitive creative artist. So Mr. Mogg hit Michael & understandably Michael left the band (in his words -'because if you are living in fear of someone like that then you've got NOTHING'. I have a lot of sympathy for Michael for this because when I was a teen in English private school I experienced the same kind of fear at the hands of bullies when I had epilepsy) Michael was evolving as a brilliant musicians & it was good that he got his own MSG band because exceptional talent needs exceptional latitude. He was constantly evolving & though he really liked the playing of Edward Van Halen Michael was one of the few rock guitarists to keep his own sound identity as a player & did not become another EVH clone like so many of the contemporaries. On the Lovedrive thing later sadly the Scorpions under played Michael's roll on that album (which broke them into the big league in America) I seem to remember another Jas interview where Michael was talking about double tracking the parts in Captain Nemo on the Built to Destroy album about 3 or 4 years later....Interesting what Michael was saying Jeff Beck & practicing too much and playing for the audience as opposed to playing for yourself....I LOVED this interview when I bought Guitar Player in 1981 & the bits which were edited out for the magazine which you can hear on this are fascinating. In 1980 Michael was speaking English more articulately than a lot of people who had lived in England all their lives....lol ....Michael's writing & SOLOS were so much more interesting, thoughtful & structured than most rock guitarists....They were like emotional NARRATIVES like telling a story. Listen to Into the Arena & Captain Nemo or There has to be Another Way......Michael was such a clean smooth slide guitar player that you can't tell if some parts are played with fingers or bottleneck.....& his midrange & tone were things that he spent DECADES refining. Michael is one of the best EAR players in the history of the instrument. (Paul)

[@user-kt5jf1st3x]

Как хорошо и верно вы все написали ! 👍

[@jimshorts125]

he rarely uses the pinky. same as his influences, page, clapton, and leslie barely uses more than two fingers. this is A key to the style. The spacing and requirements to get to the next desired note, when using no pinky, is restrictive and requires a unique solution, whether it be a slide, a bend etc. That forces style. the pinky also has no tone and no vibrato. Leslie only used first and third finger because they are the Tone fingers. Mike also restricts his tone by plugging straight in to amp. The extra struggle is also a style and tone generation mechanism. Same with gain. his 800's have three gain stages and the earlier 4 inputs only two. You need hands and volume to use those amps. Everyone after 1988 or so got all preamp gained up with 4-6 gain stages in the amp, plus hotter pickups etc. This is why music sucks and the tone is just as bad