John Sykes passed away in December at the age of 65, to the shock and dismay of many. He first came to prominence in the early 80s with NWOBHM act Tygers Of Pan Tang, though within a few short years he had replaced Snowy White in Thin Lizzy, before moving on to Whitesnake, most notably co-writing the 1987 self-titled album at the peak of their US success.
John’s fluid, skilful playing combined the passion of Gary Moore with riffs inspired by Zeppelin and Deep Purple, plus unexpected melodic twists like Ritchie Blackmore and squealing pinched harmonics that pre-dated Zakk Wylde getting the Ozzy Osbourne gig.
“When John Sykes came out on the [Tygers Of Pan Tang] Spellbound album, it was like, ‘This was a game changer for me.’” Marty Friedman told Eddie Trunk earlier this year. “He was the first guy in that genre that I heard that I was like, ‘Wow – these lead guys can really take an exciting part of the band’s sound.’”
John was also known for getting huge rhythm tones, some of which were created with the help of producer Bob Rock, who went on to produce Metallica’s ‘Black Album’ a few years later.
Though John settled in the US later in his career, he never lost the ‘Britishness’ in his playing – and while he was most certainly a rocker, he always retained a certain melodic blues feel, which set him apart from the shredders.
The guitar John is most associated with is his 1978 Les Paul Custom/Black Beauty with chrome hardware and a mirror pickguard, which he used throughout his career. He would generally plug straight into his amps, which at various times were Mesa/Boogie, Jose Arredondo-modified Marshalls and EVH 5150s.
John liked his high-gain tones, and like Gary Moore he was adept at silencing the guitar/avoiding unwanted feedback by zeroing the volume knob between phrases.
The example phrases are a challenge – earlier this year, in his personal tribute to John Sykes, GW's Nick Bowcott described being left “choking in his dust” – so working through them methodically will definitely raise your game.
They appear in sequence as if played in a single pass, but they were recorded separately, so don’t feel you have to play the whole thing from beginning to end!
Example 1.
Starting with a melodic E natural minor based lick, this example then shifts to a shape 1 E minor pentatonic/blues scale run that descends in an almost haphazard way to the final pinched harmonic on the fifth string.
Though it is faithfully transcribed here, allow yourself a little leeway. The most important consideration is to come out on time for that final note. You can allow it to drift ‘off time’ if you want, which is also very effective.
Example 2.
Switching to the neck pickup (something John liked to do frequently), this example is the opposite of Example 1 in that it starts fast and furious with the Gary Moore-style alternate-picked lick, then slows down for some melodic held notes with a slowish vibrato. John liked to create drama with unusual note choices and this is one of the qualities that set him apart from other ‘flash’ soloists, especially in the early to mid-80s.
Example 3.
The picking pattern for bar 1 of this example is very specific. The first and second note of the first triplet pattern are picked with a single downstroke, with the third note hammered on.
This is then reversed, using a single upstroke to play the first two notes followed by a pull-off. This is probably easier to do than to explain! The rest of the example is mostly conventional alternate picking, but keep an eye on the position changes as you descend.
Example 4.
This rapid-fire blues lick is generated with a similar technique to Example 3 but this time in groups of four. The first two notes are played with a single downstroke crossing from the third to second string.
The third note is then played with an upstroke, with the fourth generated by a pull-off. It takes a while to get this under the fingers, but then it becomes surprisingly relaxed – as long as you don’t overthink it! The final sliding intervals are similar to John’s solo in the Blue Murder track Riot.
Hear it here
Thin Lizzy – Life
Released in 1983 following their final album, Thunder And Lightning, from that same year, this live collection features a couple of rockers from that album alongside various Lizzy classics.
Sykes’ solos on Cold Sweat and The Holy War show that he was able to play all the supercharged blues licks and modern techniques but with a keen ear for melody and interesting note choice. His take on the Gary Moore/Brian Robertson solo on Still In Love With You is also well worth a listen.
Whitesnake – S/T
This album, also known as 1987, showed the band shifting to the heavier end of the blues-rock spectrum. MTV-friendly hits such as Still Of The Night and Give Me All Your Love featured videos with Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell playing guitar, but, in truth, Sykes had co-written and recorded the whole album.
It’s also nice to hear him add his powerful rhythm playing and electrifying solo to a re-recorded version of Crying In The Rain, which had first appeared in 1982.
Blue Murder – S/T
After his exit from Whitesnake and before having the chance to tour the Whitesnake album, John was keen to show who had been largely responsible for its ‘widescreen’ sound – check out Riot, Valley Of The Kings and the title track, and the message is loud and clear.
As well as an abundance of incendiary solos, John is in fine form on lead vocals here, too. However, sadly for the band, grunge was waiting just around the corner and was about to change the musical landscape…
- This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
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