"In order to get somewhere in life, you need to have a vision. The vision brings you to the table. Without a vision, you just do what everybody else does and you are just there"
About this Quote
Schenker is talking like a lifer in music, not a TED Talker: vision isn’t a mood board, it’s your admission ticket to the room where choices get made. “The table” is industry shorthand for legitimacy and leverage. You don’t get invited because you can play fast; you get invited because you sound like you. For a guitarist whose career has zigzagged through major bands, breakaways, and reinventions, the line reads like hard-earned autobiography: in a field crowded with virtuosity, identity is the differentiator.
The subtext is a quiet warning about the seduction of competence. “Do what everybody else does” isn’t laziness; it’s the default setting of a scene that rewards imitation until it doesn’t. Rock, especially, runs on lineage and homage, but Schenker draws a boundary between influence and copycat comfort. Vision, in his framing, is what keeps you from being merely “just there” - present, talented, and ultimately interchangeable.
There’s also an implicit critique of how careers actually move. He doesn’t say vision guarantees success; he says it gets you to the table. That’s a musician’s pragmatic realism: the world won’t hand you meaning, you have to arrive with it. In an era where algorithms flatten taste and brand advice pushes artists toward proven templates, Schenker’s point lands as both defiant and tactical. Vision is the thing that makes risk legible - to audiences, to collaborators, and to yourself.
The subtext is a quiet warning about the seduction of competence. “Do what everybody else does” isn’t laziness; it’s the default setting of a scene that rewards imitation until it doesn’t. Rock, especially, runs on lineage and homage, but Schenker draws a boundary between influence and copycat comfort. Vision, in his framing, is what keeps you from being merely “just there” - present, talented, and ultimately interchangeable.
There’s also an implicit critique of how careers actually move. He doesn’t say vision guarantees success; he says it gets you to the table. That’s a musician’s pragmatic realism: the world won’t hand you meaning, you have to arrive with it. In an era where algorithms flatten taste and brand advice pushes artists toward proven templates, Schenker’s point lands as both defiant and tactical. Vision is the thing that makes risk legible - to audiences, to collaborators, and to yourself.
Quote Details
| Topic | Vision & Strategy |
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