“I found a Gibson Melody Maker but he said, ‘It’s not good enough.’ I said, ‘Take my Flying V.’ When he came off stage he said, ‘I can’t give it back.’ For my brother I did everything… and still failed!” Rudolf Schenker’s 60 years with the Scorpions

Rudolf Schenker was 17 when he founded the Scorpions 60 years ago. He was and is a guitar player – but his dream extended far beyond that. “I wanted to be one of the top 30 rock bands in the world,” he says.

Classic albums like 1976’s Virgin Killer, 1979’s Lovedrive, 1982’s Blackout, and 1984’s Love at First Sting saw Schenker fulfill that dream, and it’s continuing.

“The chemistry in the band is great,” the 77-year-old says. “That’s the most important thing. We haven’t had to suffer. We have the right people, and everything is good.”

That chemistry goes hand-in-hand with the Scorpions’ longevity. His longtime partners in crime are vocalist Klaus Meine, who joined in ’68, and Matthias Jabs, who joined a decade later. Jabs brought harmony to the band after previous guitarists Michael Schenker (Rudolf’s younger brother) and Uli Jon Roth offered anything but.

“This only worked because we have the right team,” Schenker says. “With that, you can make magic.”

What led you to pick up the guitar?

That’s hard to say! I asked my father when I was 16 if I could get a small motorbike and he said, “No way. I don’t want you to kill yourself!” I said, “If you won’t buy me a motorbike, maybe you can buy me a guitar.”

He came to me with a Framus guitar as a present. I ordered a teaching book from Holland and started playing chords. I had a feeling – “I don’t want to be alone on stage with this instrument. I want to be in a band.”

I started rehearsing pieces that were about three minutes long. Near where I lived, there was a club where, every Saturday and Sunday evening, there were bands playing. There was once called The Mushrooms, and that’s when I saw Klaus Meine.

So by 1968 I’d met Klaus and I was talking to him after he came back from the army. He was the right person – I saw immediately that he was my partner. He’s born under Mercury on the sun side and I’m born under Mercury on the moon side, so the cosmos were already with us.

That helped create a great compositional team. From that point on, I was extremely into the possibility of getting a record deal, which we did with Metronome. And then we recorded Lonesome Crow.

At that point, you also had your younger brother, Michael, in the band. What was your vision?

The goal was to become one of the 30 most important rock bands in the world. And the goal was to put people together who would build the right chemistry. Because if you have success, the people in the band can go high, where you can’t catch them anymore. Egos are very dangerous.

Is that what happened with Michael when he joined UFO?

Yeah; my brother left for England to be in UFO, and we had no guitar player, so I had to find a new one. The guy from our publishing company said, “Without your brother, you’re nothing.” I said, “Yeah? Want to see?” And we got Uli Jon Roth in the band.

With Uli, the Scorpions started to break through. You also started working with producer Dieter Dierks, who helped make the band’s sound more accessible.

My feeling was that we had to have a German producer. Uli Jon Roth wanted someone else, but we got Dieter, and he started working with us to get an international sound. We did one album after another, and in 1982, we had a hit with No One Like You, which was killer in America. It was the most played rock song in 1982.

Why do you think things didn’t work out with Uli?

Uli was very into Hendrix. We were playing in England, and we were in a speakeasy in London. While we were sitting there eating, Uli kicked me and said, “Look, that’s Monika Dannemann!” She was the last girlfriend of Jimi Hendrix.

Uli said, “What can I do?” I said, “Invite her to the concert we’re playing tomorrow.” So she went to the concert and Uli was in heaven, playing amazing because he was in love with Monika!

So he started going to think about this solo thing, and we said, “Do us a favor – let’s finish this part of the tour with a live album.” We thought it would be a great testament for later; but he said, “No, no, no!” Then he said, “Okay; because I had a good time with the Scorpions, let’s do it,” and we did it.

What led to Matthias Jabs joining?

I saw him at a concert in England but I didn’t talk to him then because it was too loud. I called him later and asked him to jam a little bit with us. We thought, “It’s great – it’s the perfect person.” Before that we’d checked out around 100 guitar players in London. Matthias was from Hanover, he knew a few of our songs, and he played well.

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Since you had Matthias, why did Michael rejoin for the Lovedrive album?

For Matthias it was a very big step. My brother was on his honeymoon, and I called him, saying, “I’m here in Germany now. Can you come over and listen to the music?” We played him the parts that we couldn’t really fill. He played them, and he got a certain percent of the income from the album, and we had three guitar players on the album – which was very good!

Why did Michael leave again?

My brother couldn’t stay. He’s not a band guy. He’s like Jeff Beck; he’s not a team person. But Matthias is, and that’s what we were looking for. We found out we didn’t need a superstar; we needed a piece that fits into a puzzle. So we went on tour in Japan with Matthias and it worked out perfectly.

What was the recipe for your guitar tone on hit songs like No One Like You and Rock You Like a Hurricane?

The tone is the Flying V and a Marshall amplifier. But I found out that when I play on a Fender amp, it still sounds like me with the Flying V. The way you click the strings of the guitar is part of what makes the sound – that’s something that people always forget. We checked out a lot of amplifiers but the Marshall always sounds really good.

What led you to the Flying V?

I saw a picture of one and I said to my brother, “Do you think it would be too much for a rhythm guitar player?” He said, “No!” He had to go to Hamburg to pick up a Les Paul, which he’d ordered from America. He called me from there and said, “There’s a Flying V!”

It was a red one with the metal plate on it. I went up to Hamburg, checked it out, and thought, “This is fantastic!” I told them, “I have no money,” and they said, “It’s no problem – send 100 German marks until you’ve paid everything off.”

I think there’s a video of me playing that guitar with my brother, who’s playing his Les Paul. But he immediately sold it because it was too heavy! He couldn’t move, jump, or stuff like that.

Is it true that Michael ended up taking your guitar and making it his first Flying V?

We had a gig and he had no guitar. The only guitar I could find for him was a Gibson Melody Maker, but he said, “It’s not good enough.” I said, “Okay, take my guitar, the Flying V.”

Then, I said, “Maybe try a 50-watt Marshall.” So the end result was that I played rhythm guitar with the Melody Maker, and my brother played the Flying V. And when he came off the stage, he said, “I can’t give it back. It’s too good.” For my brother, I did everything I could… and still failed anyway!

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But as the rhythm player, the Flying V was, at the time, making me look like a big deal. That wasn’t my thinking of what music was about, you know? So my brother took the guitar and left. And the first thing I did was buy a Flying V! It was just clear that it’s my guitar – like it was made for me. I started playing, and I thought, “You know, we have something special here.”

That story is a reminder of the relationship that you and Michael had. The perception is that you two don’t get along, but it’s probably more complex than that. Do you wish things were different, and that he’d stayed in the band?

Because I meditated so much, I learned about people. And I learned about my brother, and that he’s not a team player. He shines by himself. You could see it in UFO where he was running away – he was running away from the Scorpions.

And there’s great stuff that comes out of him; great things. But he’s not handleable. He has to make his own vision and his own direction. That’s the way it is with most lead guitar players at this level. For me, the band was about playing and having fun. Having Michael in the band was no fun, and a little bit stressful.

How do you hope to be remembered as a guitarist?

I’ve already won as the creator of the Scorpions! But I want to be remembered as a team player more than for playing. And for composing great, outstanding songs, and playing with the band around the world.

I’ve had people say, “You have to put your money here or there.” I’d say, “No, I don’t want to work with money. I want to work with music.’ If you concentrate on money, you’re losing the connection to the music.

You remember some people for investing money here and there; but I don’t want to make investments and stuff like that. I want to be a musician. I want to have the right people around me and just enjoy life on the planet.

• Catch the Scorpions on tour.