Watching him run around the stage on the Thunder and Lightning concert DVD. Pure energy and enthusiasm. I only saw John live once. He was a golden God. RIP John Sykes💔
Thank you for this Leon! Johns passing really shocked me. He is my all time hero… look at my avatar. Its one of those 68 ever made Gibson Sykes Aged Guitars. So i call myself a diehard fan 😂😂😂 My best John Sykes moment… Crying in the rain solo. Its just insanely stellar!!
According to Mike Portnoy, they recorded 12 proper demo songs with Sykes & Billy Sheehan, for what supposed to be the band that later became The Winery Dogs. For those who don't know: originally Sykes, Sheehan & Portnoy were working on a record, the whole thing didn't work out, Sykes left the project & Portnoy/ Sheehan eventually got together with Richie Kotzen and became The Winery Dogs. Portnoy would like to see these original demo songs ( which are completely different from the material of the first Winery Dogs album) being released as a last tribute to John Sykes, but he doesn't know how the situation with the legal rights is atm. And apparently, John Sykes had also a complete solo album recorded which was never released. RIP John Sykes.
@@LeonTodd I saw him play twice in 2004 with Lizzy, his live sound was huge, Jose Marshall’s and a Les Paul. My old man played Reading festival with him in 83’ he co/headlined Friday and Lizzy did the Sunday, that would have been one of the last gigs for Lizzy I imagine?
@@SonOfManOfficialMusic Who is your old man? I was at Reading '83, think it was Stranglers, Sabbath and Lizzy headlining. There were some cracking bands in the line up that year!! Probably the best year ever!🤘🤘 (edited) Just looked up the '83 lineup, and judging by your UA-cam channel, your dad was a member of Man I assume! They played a pretty memorable set, though I wasn't actually that familiar with their music, it has stuck in my mind!
I always say that John Sykes was the greatest combination of hard rock guitarist/singer/songwriter ever. He was a limitless player, excelled at everything, and could do it all perfectly live. Not only a riff master and soloist, check out Crying in the Rain live 1984 - the intro on the red Strat is slow melodic mastery (channeling some Jeff Beck). Also remarkable is when he covered Still of the Night live with his solo shows, he's doing the duties of Coverdale and 2 guitarists in one. 👌 I bought the 1st Blue Murder album in 2005, and it immediately became one of my all time favorites.
I am very happy to see so many people in love with his music. He was a huge inspiration in my guitar journey. Especially in the 80’s. I can’t say enough good things about the guy. Unfortunately I never got to see him play live, but man did I play the 💩 out of every recording of his I could get my hands on. Even to this day I’m still playing his music in truck to and from work, at home just jamming away with his cd’s. I can’t get enough. He taught me a lot, and he never knew it. 🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽
Thanks for putting this video together Leon. From the 1st time I saw the "Valley Of The Kings" video as kid John was an icon to me. The ferocious solos, the pinched harmonics, the heavy riffs and the melodies, John brought it all. I consider him and Dan Huff from the Giant days as the best combination of singer/guitarist ever. I love the 1st Blue Murder album with Black Hearted Woman/Ptolemy/Jelly Roll/Blue Murder, but Nothin' But Trouble is right up there. The solo to Cry For Love is extraordinary and tracks like Runaway/She Knows/Shouldn't Have Let You Go/I Need An Angel are killer. Very sad to hear on Eddie Trunk Show that John easily could have put out a lot more material but was destroyed by being fired from Whitesnake and not being able to trust other musicians after the fallout.
Yes, lovely to see so much love for the guy. i love Valley of the Kings from the first Blue Murder album. Listened to Thunder and Lightning as a teenager so much i wore out the cassette.
Hey brother thanks so much for the lesson on how to play these songs you could have not picked a better selection of riffs for me to learn. Billy is one of my favorite songs after work I’m gonna go home and start practicing these riffs John was such a huge inspiration and is in my top five of favorite guitar players along with his singing he was a one man wrecking crew that could play and sing that so captivating. Blue Murder gets played everyday on way to and from work! This is totally a huge loss for me him Eddie and Criss Olivia being gone just sucks. Again thank you for this amazing video.🤟🏻We all fall down is another favorite song of mine!
R.I.P one of the all time greats, such a recognizable feel/tone and vibrato, you definitely knew when Sykes was playing , there's loads but i just keep going back to the solo in Out of Love , has everything , crazy vibrato/melody/some crazy bends and tasteful shred, perfection for some reason thought of you as well when I heard the news, you've 'quoted' him as it were over the years in playing and it's always been much appreciated
My best friend and I had been wondering for years when John would be making more music. All the way back to when he was working with Mike Portnoy (which wound up becoming Winery Dogs), we kept waiting. Then this news came out and it hit like a sack of bricks. I was 14 when the '87 Whitesnake album came out. All I knew of John Sykes was the US version of Slide It In, but I still never even knew what he looked like LOL! Even then, the '87 album came out and it was all him, this mysterious guitar player who was no longer even in the band. I don't even think I heard the non-US tracks from that album until I was like 40 and they were amazing LOL!!! When the first Blue Murder album came out in '89, it was gigantic on MTV. All over the place. You immediately recognized that guitar sound, then you add Tony and Carmine... biggest sounding three-piece next to Rush! Rest in peace, John.
Thank you for doing this Leon, John Sykes was very very much a beloved rock god here is the US. We all knew Sykes created and was responsible for Whitesnakes breakthrough success.
You know I never thought someone would go over Billy. It doesn't have that many streams on Spotify but that syncopated bit coupled with the synths makes it sound so nostalgic. I feel that had the label pushed that song hard enough it wouldve ended up as a much bigger hit than it ended up being. Outside of Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake that one without question is my fav riff John wrote. The solo on that song is also incredible. Man was also singing over all of that. What pushes a guitarist from being a great to a legend imo is being a good songwriter. Thats why I felt EVH and Randy were ahead of pretty much everyone else. John Sykes was the only one who could compete with those two on that level. Such a shame that even though he wrote a lot of stuff that connected with the masses, he never got credited for it properly. Being in my 20s rn, it's actually thanks to youtubers like you and Ben Eller that I got turned on to John Sykes and actually found the player behind the solos I loved so much. Thank you for keeping his legacy alive. ❤
I can't find a favorite moment of John's playing. Whichever I pick, I feel it's unfair for the rest of his work. Everything and anything from him is magic to me. The man practically shoved my first guitar in my hands, I just had to learn how to do it R. I. P. legend 🙏
I was bought whitesnake's 1987 album when i was 13 and i've been metal ever since. It was Sykes playing that made me the metaler i am today. I've never heard "billy" before but there is part of it that reminders me of 'in the still of the night'.
I don't remember much about the night but I saw Tygers of Pan Tang at West Runton Pavillion in the UK in 1980, I believe. It's got me thinking about what a crazy venue that was. In a out of the way, tiny village miles from any cities. It was on the tour circuit for many bands and an odd but wonderful place. It was a time when you could lean on the actual stage. My first ever gig I attended was there for Iron Maiden on their first British tour. I was at the back as an overwhelmed 14 year old. Two months later Maiden came back and was at the front, leaning on the stage where you get face on the dry ice and the sweaty band in reach and right above you. In fact I may have been blessed by sweat drip on me from many icons of that time including John Sykes.
I was 16 and learning guitar. Got the new 1987 record. What blew me away was the slow vibrato on is this love. Any time I hear some one do that I think of him. And I love to do that slow bending vibrato. The guitar sounds were so good too. They blew my mind!! All the Thin Lizzy stuff too, amazing. It was a great time to be into guitar. Yngwie, Young bros, Gary Moore, Jake E, SRV. Just a few other faves. 😎🤘😃👍
Beside all the aformentioned and the obvious Whitesnake songs: Blue Murder - We All Fall Down → love that riff to death To me, "1987" guitar sound is still one the best I've ever heard. I'd put it beside Iommi's "Heaven & Hell" as my favorite ever.
I was in denial for a bit...saw it within an hour of it being posted on his FB page and hoped it was some sick troll. What a loss. Ptolemy is epic as hell and outpinches lobsters.
John Sykes was on the short list of all-time favorite musicians I haven't seen live yet, along with Brian May and Billy Joel. Now he's moved over to the list of those I never will, with Freddie Mercury, Tom Petty and Prince. Thing is, as awesome a player as he was I respect Sykes most as a lead singer and songwriter. A friend once asked if I thought Def Leppard should have pursued him to fill Steve Clark's spot instead of Vivian Campbell (who is also fighting cancer right now btw) and I said yes "but only if half the band wanted to be made redundant". 😄
Something cool I just noticed listening to "Cautionary Warning" here on UA-cam: if you mouse over the timeline to see which part people have replayed the most it isn't that incredible cascade of harmonics at the beginning, nor his tension-building verse riffing, nor that amazing chorus, or even the face-melting solo. No, the most replayed part is the part of the outro where he introduces a whole new vocal line. Just goes to show, it never pays to clock out of a John Sykes song early. He delivers all the way to the end.
Billy is one of my all time fav riffs and Out of Love one of my fav solos…that first Blue Murder album is a masterpiece, and IMO John is a better singer than Coverdale.
Hi Leon!, ive been searching for a japanese les paul custom and i found a Greco js 55 egc 550 for 900€ , and i would like to know if its a good deal and know which exact model and year is yours, because the one i saw has a dark rosewood fretboard and yours seems ebony Cheers from Spain!
LEONTODD, The John Sykes Pitch harmonic Scraps when playing Power Chords or Other chords is pretty much ranking/sweeping across the strings using the guitar pick+flesh of thumb?
John Sykes' double-picking has always been one of the most deceptively difficult guitar techniques. Hetfieldian all-downstrokes? Just alternate pick, nobody's looking at your right hand. Black metal tremolo? Just get the changes right, nobody's counting all those notes. But John's keyboard-esque rhythm parts? Get sloppy on those and the whole song falls apart.
What's your favourite John Sykes moment?
My favourite John Sykes moment is,
His whole life & everything he did
The valley of the king's video! As a kid I remember wait for it to come on MTV, so I could record it on my VHS vid compilation tape🤘
Watching him run around the stage on the Thunder and Lightning concert DVD.
Pure energy and enthusiasm.
I only saw John live once.
He was a golden God.
RIP John Sykes💔
Thank you for this Leon! Johns passing really shocked me. He is my all time hero… look at my avatar. Its one of those 68 ever made Gibson Sykes Aged Guitars. So i call myself a diehard fan 😂😂😂 My best John Sykes moment… Crying in the rain solo. Its just insanely stellar!!
I love Valley of the Kings!
According to Mike Portnoy, they recorded 12 proper demo songs with Sykes & Billy Sheehan, for what supposed to be the band that later became The Winery Dogs. For those who don't know: originally Sykes, Sheehan & Portnoy were working on a record, the whole thing didn't work out, Sykes left the project & Portnoy/ Sheehan eventually got together with Richie Kotzen and became The Winery Dogs.
Portnoy would like to see these original demo songs ( which are completely different from the material of the first Winery Dogs album) being released as a last tribute to John Sykes, but he doesn't know how the situation with the legal rights is atm.
And apparently, John Sykes had also a complete solo album recorded which was never released.
RIP John Sykes.
The insane thing about that incredible syncopated rhythm part in Billy? He’s bloody singing at the same time!!!! 😂
BEAST mode
Yeah! I can’t think of many other singing guitarists that are as great as John 💪🏼
@@LeonTodd I saw him play twice in 2004 with Lizzy, his live sound was huge, Jose Marshall’s and a Les Paul. My old man played Reading festival with him in 83’ he co/headlined Friday and Lizzy did the Sunday, that would have been one of the last gigs for Lizzy I imagine?
@ your not wrong! He was definitely unique
@@SonOfManOfficialMusic Who is your old man? I was at Reading '83, think it was Stranglers, Sabbath and Lizzy headlining. There were some cracking bands in the line up that year!! Probably the best year ever!🤘🤘 (edited) Just looked up the '83 lineup, and judging by your UA-cam channel, your dad was a member of Man I assume! They played a pretty memorable set, though I wasn't actually that familiar with their music, it has stuck in my mind!
John is the quintessential guitarist's guitarist. Godspeed, Maestro.
Couldn't agree more!
I always say that John Sykes was the greatest combination of hard rock guitarist/singer/songwriter ever. He was a limitless player, excelled at everything, and could do it all perfectly live. Not only a riff master and soloist, check out Crying in the Rain live 1984 - the intro on the red Strat is slow melodic mastery (channeling some Jeff Beck). Also remarkable is when he covered Still of the Night live with his solo shows, he's doing the duties of Coverdale and 2 guitarists in one. 👌 I bought the 1st Blue Murder album in 2005, and it immediately became one of my all time favorites.
As the community reacted we now see that he wasn't so underrated. Very nice to see that. Thanks for your music John.
Thank you for paying tribute to John, he was very special. I feel that he had such an awesome groove while punching you in the face with his riffs.
I am very happy to see so many people in love with his music. He was a huge inspiration in my guitar journey. Especially in the 80’s. I can’t say enough good things about the guy. Unfortunately I never got to see him play live, but man did I play the 💩 out of every recording of his I could get my hands on. Even to this day I’m still playing his music in truck to and from work, at home just jamming away with his cd’s. I can’t get enough. He taught me a lot, and he never knew it.
🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽
Thanks for putting this video together Leon. From the 1st time I saw the "Valley Of The Kings" video as kid John was an icon to me. The ferocious solos, the pinched harmonics, the heavy riffs and the melodies, John brought it all. I consider him and Dan Huff from the Giant days as the best combination of singer/guitarist ever. I love the 1st Blue Murder album with Black Hearted Woman/Ptolemy/Jelly Roll/Blue Murder, but Nothin' But Trouble is right up there. The solo to Cry For Love is extraordinary and tracks like Runaway/She Knows/Shouldn't Have Let You Go/I Need An Angel are killer. Very sad to hear on Eddie Trunk Show that John easily could have put out a lot more material but was destroyed by being fired from Whitesnake and not being able to trust other musicians after the fallout.
Yes, lovely to see so much love for the guy. i love Valley of the Kings from the first Blue Murder album. Listened to Thunder and Lightning as a teenager so much i wore out the cassette.
Valley of the Kings is the apex of that genre hey
Hey brother thanks so much for the lesson on how to play these songs you could have not picked a better selection of riffs for me to learn. Billy is one of my favorite songs after work I’m gonna go home and start practicing these riffs John was such a huge inspiration and is in my top five of favorite guitar players along with his singing he was a one man wrecking crew that could play and sing that so captivating. Blue Murder gets played everyday on way to and from work! This is totally a huge loss for me him Eddie and Criss Olivia being gone just sucks. Again thank you for this amazing video.🤟🏻We all fall down is another favorite song of mine!
R.I.P one of the all time greats, such a recognizable feel/tone and vibrato, you definitely knew when Sykes was playing ,
there's loads but i just keep going back to the solo in Out of Love , has everything , crazy vibrato/melody/some crazy bends and tasteful shred, perfection
for some reason thought of you as well when I heard the news, you've 'quoted' him as it were over the years in playing and it's always been much appreciated
Out of Love absolutely shreds 💪
The guy was an absolute beast on guitar. And his singing was great too. I can't pick a favorite.
That double picking technique is insanely propulsive. Just one of the great things about Sykes.
This is great Leon 🙏 the podcast episode was great also, yea John was super loved.
My best friend and I had been wondering for years when John would be making more music. All the way back to when he was working with Mike Portnoy (which wound up becoming Winery Dogs), we kept waiting.
Then this news came out and it hit like a sack of bricks.
I was 14 when the '87 Whitesnake album came out. All I knew of John Sykes was the US version of Slide It In, but I still never even knew what he looked like LOL! Even then, the '87 album came out and it was all him, this mysterious guitar player who was no longer even in the band. I don't even think I heard the non-US tracks from that album until I was like 40 and they were amazing LOL!!!
When the first Blue Murder album came out in '89, it was gigantic on MTV. All over the place. You immediately recognized that guitar sound, then you add Tony and Carmine... biggest sounding three-piece next to Rush!
Rest in peace, John.
Thank you for doing this Leon, John Sykes was very very much a beloved rock god here is the US. We all knew Sykes created and was responsible for Whitesnakes breakthrough success.
What a great loss. A truly inspiration for me. R.I.P. John Sykes.
You know I never thought someone would go over Billy. It doesn't have that many streams on Spotify but that syncopated bit coupled with the synths makes it sound so nostalgic. I feel that had the label pushed that song hard enough it wouldve ended up as a much bigger hit than it ended up being. Outside of Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake that one without question is my fav riff John wrote. The solo on that song is also incredible. Man was also singing over all of that.
What pushes a guitarist from being a great to a legend imo is being a good songwriter. Thats why I felt EVH and Randy were ahead of pretty much everyone else. John Sykes was the only one who could compete with those two on that level. Such a shame that even though he wrote a lot of stuff that connected with the masses, he never got credited for it properly.
Being in my 20s rn, it's actually thanks to youtubers like you and Ben Eller that I got turned on to John Sykes and actually found the player behind the solos I loved so much. Thank you for keeping his legacy alive. ❤
Brilliant tribute posting Leon - class.
Thanks mate
I can't find a favorite moment of John's playing. Whichever I pick, I feel it's unfair for the rest of his work. Everything and anything from him is magic to me. The man practically shoved my first guitar in my hands, I just had to learn how to do it
R. I. P. legend 🙏
I was bought whitesnake's 1987 album when i was 13 and i've been metal ever since. It was Sykes playing that made me the metaler i am today. I've never heard "billy" before but there is part of it that reminders me of 'in the still of the night'.
I don't remember much about the night but I saw Tygers of Pan Tang at West Runton Pavillion in the UK in 1980, I believe. It's got me thinking about what a crazy venue that was. In a out of the way, tiny village miles from any cities. It was on the tour circuit for many bands and an odd but wonderful place. It was a time when you could lean on the actual stage. My first ever gig I attended was there for Iron Maiden on their first British tour. I was at the back as an overwhelmed 14 year old. Two months later Maiden came back and was at the front, leaning on the stage where you get face on the dry ice and the sweaty band in reach and right above you. In fact I may have been blessed by sweat drip on me from many icons of that time including John Sykes.
RIP John. Fantastic musician
R.I.P. John: best in his career: 1987 Album A-Z , Blue Murder: Valley of the Kings, Thin Lizzy: Cold Sweat 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
Sykes was a beast.😮
RIP John.😔💔🎸
Sex Child waa a killer non whitesnake riff tune i dig.
Amazing player, probably best vibrato ever. Much love to John, R.I.P. 🙏❤
Another incredible legend gone. Absolute titan 🤘🤘🤘
I was 16 and learning guitar. Got the new 1987 record. What blew me away was the slow vibrato on is this love. Any time I hear some one do that I think of him. And I love to do that slow bending vibrato. The guitar sounds were so good too. They blew my mind!!
All the Thin Lizzy stuff too, amazing.
It was a great time to be into guitar. Yngwie, Young bros, Gary Moore, Jake E, SRV. Just a few other faves.
😎🤘😃👍
AWESOME! Thanks for this!!!
Nice one mate - cheers. Hope you're ok
Beside all the aformentioned and the obvious Whitesnake songs: Blue Murder - We All Fall Down → love that riff to death
To me, "1987" guitar sound is still one the best I've ever heard. I'd put it beside Iommi's "Heaven & Hell" as my favorite ever.
👌
I was in denial for a bit...saw it within an hour of it being posted on his FB page and hoped it was some sick troll. What a loss. Ptolemy is epic as hell and outpinches lobsters.
Damn Leon what are you using for your tone on this
Always loved Billy!
Rip!! My buddy Lance Lopez did still of the night cover to honor John
I love John Sykes so much. I was really hoping for some new music, not this 😢
Go on Leon! ✌️
what a choice , you could have Dio screw you or Coverdale
John Sykes was on the short list of all-time favorite musicians I haven't seen live yet, along with Brian May and Billy Joel. Now he's moved over to the list of those I never will, with Freddie Mercury, Tom Petty and Prince. Thing is, as awesome a player as he was I respect Sykes most as a lead singer and songwriter. A friend once asked if I thought Def Leppard should have pursued him to fill Steve Clark's spot instead of Vivian Campbell (who is also fighting cancer right now btw) and I said yes "but only if half the band wanted to be made redundant". 😄
Something cool I just noticed listening to "Cautionary Warning" here on UA-cam: if you mouse over the timeline to see which part people have replayed the most it isn't that incredible cascade of harmonics at the beginning, nor his tension-building verse riffing, nor that amazing chorus, or even the face-melting solo. No, the most replayed part is the part of the outro where he introduces a whole new vocal line. Just goes to show, it never pays to clock out of a John Sykes song early. He delivers all the way to the end.
Hellbound maybe is the inspiration to 2 Minutes do Midnight =) Sykes will be missed, the man was a genius.
What about Free ? They dont get a mention in title .
Blue Murder (Self titled) Jelly Roll & Valley of the Kings
Wow
Yes ... R.I.P. John ... I dig that black Les Paul Custom .... what are the specs of that one? 🤟🎸
1990 custom with butstbuckers
Hi Leon great tribute to the late great guitarist 🤘🎸
Ps what's the rig set up for that awesome tone you're using in this ?
Billy is one of my all time fav riffs and Out of Love one of my fav solos…that first Blue Murder album is a masterpiece, and IMO John is a better singer than Coverdale.
Hi Leon!, ive been searching for a japanese les paul custom and i found a Greco js 55 egc 550 for 900€ , and i would like to know if its a good deal and know which exact model and year is yours, because the one i saw has a dark rosewood fretboard and yours seems ebony
Cheers from Spain!
❤️❤️❤️
🤘🏼
LEONTODD, The John Sykes Pitch harmonic Scraps when playing Power Chords or Other chords is pretty much ranking/sweeping across the strings using the guitar pick+flesh of thumb?
John Sykes' double-picking has always been one of the most deceptively difficult guitar techniques. Hetfieldian all-downstrokes? Just alternate pick, nobody's looking at your right hand. Black metal tremolo? Just get the changes right, nobody's counting all those notes. But John's keyboard-esque rhythm parts? Get sloppy on those and the whole song falls apart.