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Groupology

  • Tygers of Pan Tang
  • Thin Lizzy
  • Whitesnake
  • Blue Murder
  • Sykes

Jurassic

Watch John Sykes in Action at the bottom of this page!

Famous / Infamous for

Long, golden blond hair and a black, 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom with a mirrored pickguard, and probably the sexiest finger vibrato in the business. He's also famous for being the last, great Thin Lizzy guitarist and for co-writing and playing on 99% of the 1987 Whitesnake album that became a huge commercial success. Unfortunately, by the time the album broke big, John was no longer in the band. It took two guitarists to replace him on the tour, and they never replaced his songwriting contribution on follow up albums.

Influences

Obvious: John Sykes was a graduate of the Thin Lizzy School of guitar players and had British, rock blues-based roots. Though John certainly had his own thing, you can pick up a Gary Moore influence in his lead playing, particularly in the Lizzy material. Compositionally, he clearly learned his craft listening to all of the great classic British rock metal groups: Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath. Add to that, the influence of actually working with Phil Lynott in Thin Lizzy, and being in Whitesnake, and it's quite clear where John Sykes' music came from.

Not-so-obvious: Dig a little deeper and there was also a big Beatles influence at play in John's melodic sense and compositional style — there's something Beatle-like about the way his chord progressions resolve themselves so beautifully and logically. While this is true of all of John's songs, it is easiest to detect the Beatle influence in the ballads on things like Loveland.

Strengths

What the hell wasn't a strength of John Sykes?

He was the all-around total package. If you want a baseball analogy, he'd be Willie Mays. A phenomenally flashy and tasty guitar player, yet his greatest strength was his songwriting. John was just a brilliant songwriter. He had a fantastic melodic sense that is apparent in all aspects of his music — from the song composition, to the guitar playing, to the vocals. To this melodic sense, he added an innate, compositional understanding of what works in a song vs. what doesn't, and why. He was a master of song dynamics and a very good lyricist. He was equally facile at writing fast, frantic rockers, heavy, riff-laden grinders, or stunningly beautifully melodic ballads. And he was an absolute master of creating majestic, Dinosaur Rock riffs in Drop-D tuning. Great examples include Valley of the Kings, Blue Murder, and Talking Bout Love. On his 2000 CD, Nuclear Cowboy, John proved it possible to lay heavy guitars over hip-hop rhythms without without sacrificing balls, or melody. More importantly he never lost himself or any aspects of his guitar style in the process. If that weren't enough, John was a great singer too — better than 99% of the singers out there who don't even play guitar! He had an expressive voice, plenty of range, and ability to add a melodic and dynamic vocal element to his music. He sang Still of the Night quite well! Need more? I found out recently that John was also an accomplished pianist. On top of that he had got the classic, rockstar/guitar hero looks too. It's just not fair!

And oh yeah, did I mention he was a total monster on guitar? I did? Well it's worth repeating: A phenomenal lead and rhythm player. He was fast and flashy, but he tempered that with lots of slow, emotional, melodic playing. He can tear your head off or break your heart.

Weaknesses

Sorry, I can't find any musical weakneses. That said, John never delivered new music after 2000's Nuclear Cowboy. His 2005 Bad Boy Live album was terrific, but John Sykes fans wanted new music from him! Unfortunately for us, the Whitsnake 87 royalties ensured that John only worked when he wanted to. And he really didn't want to. Without ever stating it, John Sykes retired long before he died.

Tone

John's base tone was almost always Les Paul - Marshall (modded 50 watt JCM800s) Though he used Mesas too, John's tone has remained pretty consistent over the years. (For details, see the excellent gear section at www.johnsykes.com.) He typically used a lot of gain, but not so much that his tone was buzzy — more than Gary Moore, less than Steve Lukather. He typically used chorus on his rhythm sound, but whether you heard John live or on CD, you were hearing stereo, and the chorus effect is subtle — used to add overall depth rather than to create a chorus effect.

Though he had many guitars (including some beautiful, vintage Les Pauls), John was most closely associated with his black, 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom (shown above). This guitar featured a mirrored pickguard, chrome hardware and a brass nut. John had Gibson Dirty Fingers pickups in the guitar for many years — including the Lizzy, Whitesnake, and Blue Murder periods — but the pickups eventually crapped out and were replaced with a lower output Gibson PAF re-issue pickup a few years ago. In 2006, the Gibson Custom Shop unveiled a Limited Edition John Sykes signature model Les Paul based John's black Custom as part of their Inspired By series.

The thing to note about John's gear choices is that he has crafted a tone that is truly perfect for showing off the best aspects of his guitar style. The gain of the modded Marshalls let him produce all of his 80s metal flash tricks with ease. The natural sustain of the Les Paul and the characteristic thick sound of its neck pickup enhances John's slow, melodic lead work and vibrato like no other model guitar would. The Custom's ebony fingerboard and maple neck combine with the Marshall's top end to provide enough bite to cut through the mix and provide definition on complex, muted rhythms, and very fast lead runs. Yet there's still characteristic Les Paul warmth, and no glaring trebly harshness.

In addition to his signal processing effects, John actually used a fair amount of wah, but he was usually subtle about it.

Guitar Style

John's rhythm playing never got the credit it should have. John was a fantastic rhythm player. His rhythm work featured several stylistic trademarks that were uniquely his. John often sought out ways to voice his chords to add more flavor and individuality to his music. For example, instead of playing a G bar chord, John often played a G5, using his thumb on the low E string so he could leave the G string open. John very characteristically voiced his C chord as a Cadd9, add #11. (x34030 / C, F#, G, D, E). Ben Eller aptly named this chord "the Sykes C."  You hear it in Is this Love and Crying in the Rain among others. Similarly, John frequently voiced his F chord as an Fsus2 (x33011)  — basically a root 1 F with an open G. You hear this chord in Still of the Night.

However, most of John's rhythmic flair came from his right hand's alternate picking prowess. Many of his songs such as Holy War, Bad Boys, Billy, and We All Fall Down, have complex, rhythmic parts based on muted, single-string, double-picked 16th notes. These constructs are particularly characteristic Sykes rhythmic trademarks. Amazingly, John had the independence to play such rhythms while singing lead vocal parts featuring completely different melodies and phrasings.

Another John Sykes rhythmic trademark is using very melodic harmony lines. Though this device comes straight from his time with Thin Lizzy, John often used these harmonies as a structural enhancements to underlying clean, arpeggiated progressions. You can hear this device used to great effect in many of John's ballads, such as Is this Love, Don't Hurt Me this Way, and I Need an Angel. His duet with Glenn Hughes, Heaven's Missing an Angel features a great example of these harmonies, as well as many other John Sykes trademarks.

There was a ton of sex in John's lead playing. He aimed for the crotch, not the brain. It's hot, emotional, and tasty rather than a chops/technique clinic. He combined melodies with layovers and repetitive licks rather than playing stuff that sounds like scale exercises. He was an alternate picker — not much legato, and definitely not a sweep picker. He stayed primarily in the Major/Minor pentatonics, blues, Dorian, and Aeolian minor scales, though he sometimes used some harsher sounding scales to introduce a purposely discordant flavor or tension.

His solos were composed, and tended to mirror the overall song flavor. On fast songs, you get fast, furious solos. However, one of John's biggest strengths was his ability to play beautifully, slowly — as demonstrated in any live version of John playing Lizzy's Still In Love with You. On mid tempo songs, John often began with slow, beautifully melodic phrases that really show off his vibrato and his fat Les Paul tone. He then built to a fiery crescendo. Great examples of this approach include songs like Blue Murder, Itchycoo Park. You don't get endless wanking. He got in, blew his load, and got out. Occasionally, he'd take a longer outro solo, but in general, John didn't over-play.

That said, he played fast and flashy as hell. He used all of the 80s metal tricks in the Guitar Hero arsenal: pick scrapes, heavy palm muting, squealing false harmonics, rapid-fire pulloffs and even the occasional two-handed tap. One particular Sykes flash trademark was squealing the false harmonic on the A string, 5th fret, and bending the hell out it with finger vibrato. The resulting sound is a sort of a wuh-wahh-wahhhhhh sound that John probably used too frequently — particularly live. It was like John's personal, Les Paul version of whammy abuse. But John was also a very mature player who was afraid to play slow. Some of his most beautiful solos feature slow, soaring melodic playing. Like many Les Paul players, John typically liked using the neck pickup for lead work above the 12th fret to achieve the characteristic fat sound.

Vibrato:

John Sykes had the sexiest finger vibrato around. Slow, wide, even and controlled, it is an instantly recognizable trademark. While present on all of John's songs, you'll hear it to its best effect in the ballads like Still in Love with You and all over the Loveland CD. The ballads typically feature slower solos. And with more room to breath, John often takes the opportunity to really milk that slow, sexy vibrato. Combined with a fat, Les Paul tone and endless sustain, it's positively devastating.

John Sykes in Action

Video file

Recommended listening

Thin Lizzy

Whitesnake

Blue Murder

Sykes

Profile by Dinosaur David B. Copyright ©2002 All rights reserved.