What John Sykes Taught Me
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RIP John Sykes, one of the greatest players to ever pick up the instrument.
January 20, 2025, we lost a legend, the amazing John Sykes, who we all know and love from Tygers of Pan Tang, Thin Lizzy, Blue Murder, and of course Whitesnake. I heard the news while abroad Shiprocked, and knew I had to do my best to pay tribute to one of my favorite players ever. In this video, I’m going to show you a handful of his signature licks, tricks, and techniques that I learned from listening to his playing, especially from the 1987 self-titled Whitesnake record. Come along for the ride and honor the memory of the man himself with your good buddy Uncle Ben!
Playing my Gibson Les Paul Custom into a Digitech Bad Monkey, through the Marshall JCM800 with Legendary Tones Mr Scary mod, into the UA OX.
What’s your favorite John Sykes moment? Let me know in the comments!
#johnsykes #ripjohnsykes #whitesnake
#John #Sykes #Taught
Originally posted by UCcLsvLJOecfCL6RplXhaO4Q at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnLAj6czYmY
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Saw John Sykes a couple times in clubs, he was definitely a beast on guitar and a helluva singer to boot.
I heard that Zakk Wylde was one of the first who abused pinch harmonics but I think John Sykes beats him to the punch 😉
Started learning Still of the Night and the rhythm parts behind David singing are interesting. Sykes has a very cool way of playing I never knew. This video was insightful and scary. How did google know I wanted to learn how Sykes played?
16:57 good analogy I worked out was for the full 6 string barre chord was ur big brother chord. 3 string triad is ur wee brother chord
Dont diss Mel Bay man!????
I have to do this, we are still waiting for the solo for Still of the Night lesson.
RIP John Sykes. I agree that John was one of the best guitarist of all time. John is one of my all time biggest influences. The first like I learned on guitar was the great like for the verse on Still of the Night. Like you said Ben, his rhythm playing was simply amazing. All the small details he put in songs, triad’s, little licks, double picked notes, chord phrasing and his vibrato! That vibrato was perfect. His sound, every guitarist I knew was trying to get his sound back in the late 80’s. John wasn’t just a world class player, he was a world class song writer too. His voice was often over look by his playing, but the man could sing. And yes, his solos were unbelievable. Thank you for helping his memory to grow Uncle Ben.
Hard to pick a fave Sykesism, but maybe among: "Black-hearted Woman," "Ptolemy," "Straight for the Heart," "Shouldn't Have Let You Go," (any of several from Lizzy's THUNDER AND LIGHTNING), "Story So Far?" Tragic loss, imo.
#johnsykeslegend ❤
Just found your channel. Subbed.
I also have been a fan of John since I saw a Thin Lizzy live show on TV in my childhood. I'm glad there are other players out there how appreciate his work
Great overview, Ben! A lot of players are influenced by John Sykes whether we know it or not.
Great stuff! Another Sykesism is how he would slide chords back and forth for dramatic effect to connect song parts..like the dramatic build in Valley of the Kings chorus. Also speaking of tics…the almost obsessive way he would constantly hit his toggle switch and check his volume knob…while playing and singing at the same time lol a total master of doing four things at once lol. ????????????
LOVED this one!! ????????????????????????
Gary Moore was a huge influence on John
RIP John Sykes ????????????????
F*ck Cancer!
Great tribute vid Ben!
Zakk ripped him off on those pinched harmonics. Lol
Your awesome dude
Is
Cold sweat was fucking amazing for the 2 minutes it lasts
Thin Lizzy Thunder and Lightning, the entire album. I never cared for so called "shred" till I heard John Sykes. He was in a class all his own. I got to meet him in 2002, such a nice person. Saw him 2 nights in a row from the front row. He was a pleasure to watch. I usually don't care about celebrities, but this one hit hard.
Apparently Coverdale said “we need a second guitarist” and Sykes was like “why? I can do all of it”. Bloody legend
Ben has the rainy day came were you break down the Still of the night solo????
The best record on which Sykes worked that I know of is the last Thin Lizzy studio record Thunder and Lightning. Thin Lizzy is a band with history of virtuoso guitarists like Eric Bell, Brian “Robo” Robertson and Gary Moore (plus solid guitarists like Scott Gorham and Snowy White) and in my opinion Sykes was the best one in the whole company. They all appeared on the way less famous but way more better than Live and Dangerous Thin Lizzy live – Life Live.
Love his style, love his tone, which along with the Rockman is my favorite 80s tone to emulate. To be fair I love to jam along to Cryin' In The Rain, but don't forget the original version on Saints And Sinners is much more bluesy, which Sykes took and made it his own. My favourite riff that stuck with me is probably the title track of the Blues Murder album, which I still remember hearing on the radio when it came out. Thank you John ????
Thanks for the Respect. Sykes had an unmistakable style, awesome technique and killer tone. Gone way to soon.
My dad used to say such a body has died bloodyhell and I would say who was they. Last five years its been my turn to loose those celebs I liked.
Literally the night before he passed, I was telling my old man about his vibrato and phrasing.
RIP
The tone is killer
Uncle Ben, my fellow weekend wankers….I am a huge John Sykes fan…..and I mean HUGE…and I was both blindsided (and crushed) by his passing. It was just a few months ago when I was messaging Tony Franklin via “X”, asking about if he’d made any progress convincing John to finally go into the studio with Blue Murder once again. They’d jammed with Carmine, but nothing ultimately came out of it. Sadly, now we know why.
Favorite John Sykes moment?
Hearing “Valley of the Kings” for the very first time, way back in the summer of 1989 when MTV premiered it as their Hip Clip of the Week. I was absolutely blown away, and went out and bought the debut Blue Murder cassette the next day. It is to this day my favorite heavy metal song of all-time. Nothing else sounds like it:
John Sykes’s heavy as hell riffing, his fantastic vocals (and I’m not overstating it when I say that he’s also one of my favorite all-time metal vocalists), Tony Franklin’s melodic fretless bass line, and Carmine Appice’s frantic, thunderous drumming….and not to be overlooked, Nik Green’s keyboards, with that gorgeous Egyptian synth motif. But the chef’s kiss, “cherry on the sundae” was John’s blistering solo. He was THE shred master, yet there was great melodicism to his lead work, too. I incorporated his exaggerated vibrato heavily into my own plying.
I can’t play a Les Paul for shit. I’ve always been a Strat body guy, with Ibanez S and RG Prestige models being my axes of choice. The Les is just too heavy for me; and there’s something about the bridge height that I just cannot get comfortable with. But seeing the “Valley” video was one of the major influences on my first picking up the guitar about three months later, after I moved to Texas.
I love Whitesnake’s stuff. I’m a long time David Coverdale fan, going all the way back to his work in Deep Purple. As big as the Whitesnake album was in 1987, John was the driving force behind its success. That was the album that made me a mega John Sykes fan, and when I heard that he was putting together his own band after being fired from Whitesnake, I could barely contain my enthusiasm.
While Eddie Van Halen is the biggest reason why I started playing, John, along with a small group including Brian May and Steve Lukather, were huge influences on my decision.
I feel like most of us don’t find our true callings in life. John was meant to be a rock star. He blessed us with his music, and wowed us with his incredible talent. While I mourn his passing, I take comfort seeing how many other people loved him, and were influenced by his recordings. There was nobody like John, and his passing leaves a hole that cannot be replaced.
RIP John, and thank you for sharing your amazing talent with the world.
John made 1987. HIs parts and tone were perfect in every single way. Him and Bob Rock really did create the holy grail of tone when they spent so much time and money on it. Coverdale tried to Erase John from the album and got Dan Huff to try and overdub everything but even Huff admitted that it was impossible. He simply couldn't improve on any of the tracks either playing or tone wise.
My favorite Moment was getting handed a pick from John, who is the reason I play guitar and was my absolute Idol at that time, in 2005 when I was 12 at a show with the reincarnated Thin Lizzy. It's the best musical moment of my life and the entire fucking band were giving me picks and high fives all night. Other than that I'd say Still of the night since John Wrote the entire thing and it is so fucking hard and heavy when he goes into full Led Zeppelin mode, but also his version of Still in Love with you from the One Night Only Thin Lizzy live album where he turns that great ballad into something truly his own and he sings and plays his as off.
I'm gonna miss you so much John. Thank you.
i caught your cover with buck cherry on the boat! you rock dude! and now i'm here because other people on the boat sort of convinced me to pick up guitar.
Yolo Milkshake? I almost choked laughing lol. Good one.
Ben your breakdown of his playing opened my eyes to how good he really was. Much respect.
That's such a beautiful guitar Ben!
Thank you Ben for such a great tribute to one of my heroes!