HOW JOHN SYKES DOES IT! - Pro Level Guitar Technique Lesson

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BY POPULAR DEMAND: Former Whitesnake guitar slinger John Sykes has one of the most instantly recognisable styles in all of rock guitar history. His incendiary guitar work on Whitesnake's self-titled 1987 album is the stuff of legend, and essential listening for every guitar player.
In this FREE live guitar lesson, Nick Jennison will show you how to emulate Sykes's distinctive bending and vibrato styles, as well as how to dial in that signature ultra-fat lead tone. You won't want to miss this!
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[@elitecombatfitnesscentral6170]

I am so happy that John Sykes stood his ground and make sure he got the royalties for the 87 album he and his songwriting skills are what made David Coverdale household name in the late 80s.

[@heavymetalhero08]

Love Sykes... All time favorite guitarist

[@smokinvalves]

That opening improvisation is just astoundingly authentic.

[@TheAgentAssassin]

It's a shame I associated Vivian Campbell with these riffs regarding Whitesnake-Whitesnake 1987. Vivian certainly wrote some great riffs with DIO. When I saw him in Whitensake I assumed he wrote these riffs. Even when they filmed the videos for that album they tended to focus on Vivian more. What a shame. John Sykes deserves all the credit IMO.

[@alc8114]

John Sykes deserves all the credit for guitar on 1987 album but was fired with the other band mates! Adrian Vandenberg is on the music video playing lead guitar! Vivian Campbell is a great guitar player and now with Def Leppard I think was just there to fill in and deserved more!

[@ginopanteristabootpim7346]

SYKES IS THE KING OF VIBRATO

[@crimfan]

One of the greatest rock guitarists, ever. Brilliant player and writer.

[@JackMcLeodJr]

This was great man, you got as close to the Sykes sound and feel as I've ever seen, regarding Whitesnake overall I think Doug Aldrich did a GREAT job playing Sykes stuff (and his own with the Forevermore/Good To Be Bad albums too of course). Fantastic lesson, massive respect. I especially liked that mention of Sykes not being in a rush to get to the notes in his soloing. That's so damn true, I'd never clicked on to that before now but you were so right haha. Once again, thanks for the lesson. I'm watching in September 2023 a few months later on but with this site it's never too late. Rock on all 🎸

[@drjay73]

I'm a huge Sykes fan so thank you for this!

[@todd-1]

You nailed the tone on this! Dude, you're a monster player.

[@bienvenidovelasco6834]

This is Sykeslandia!!!

[@crimfan]

The connection to Peter Green isn't that weird... Sykes is blazingly fast and Green rarely demonstrated his speed, but both are incredibly precise players, expressive, and deeply rooted in the blues. Green also wrote some of the best proto-metal in the form of "Oh Well" and "The Green Manalishi".

[@enki9006]

Christ…how do you bend with such ease? Mega strong fingers…..

[@jimmyupson1959]

Nick, you did an excellent job of covering the sound and technique!

[@matteobertani9447]

Amazing. Thanks Nick!

[@lorettahookano6139]

Of all the slow hand tastiest solo’s out there, John Sykes & David Gilmore !

[@Its6string]

Yeah, that was definitely straight outta the JS play book!!! Nice Job…

[@V8LC100]

Hey Nick, great lesson as always. Would love to see chapter markers on this KZbin vids if possible to make it easier to navigate. Cheers mate.

[@odinemmanuel8745]

The solo that you played at the beginning was an improvisation or a John’s solo?

[@MK-tj5bf]

Thanks for the video! Was wondering if you think Friedman BE-OD Deluxe pedal would fit to the sound of Whitesnake 87 sound? Thanks!!!

[@momboklaut..4442]

what string gauge is that?

[@TheArgus1000]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@lono3332]

John sykes made whitesnake. After he left Coverdale could Never regain the status of what John brought.

[@edwardfischer6019]

Did John have any Charvels with whammy bars?

[@ScottHatfield-bc7jh]

Yes. It’s hard to find, but there’s a picture floating around of John Sykes with a Charvel that Gary Moore gave him.

[@edwardfischer6019]

Thank you.thats baffled me for years,I know I hear whammy bar.On a few of John's dynamic fills

[@petewelsh9978]

@@edwardfischer6019you’re right there are definitely whammy parts on some 1987 solos. There is a Charvel on JS’s website gear section

[@megaduck7965]

I can’t remember if it’s Japan or Brazil but there’s a video of him playing a clean solo that builds into crying in the rain which . He does the build up solo with a Strat of some description

[@jimmyupson1959]

What part of England did you grow up in?

[@crackedblackpepperandrocksalt]

Would Sykes and other guitarists write their chords, licks, riffs all that down to remember them? Are all plate reverbs the same? Can you get as good a plate reverb out of a pedal like you would from an amp / tone head?

[@vincevandergraff1508]

coverdale ruined the band that recorded that 87 album moments after it was tracked. i know there's different accounts of what happened from everyone involved, but he had to do alot of storytelling to david geffen to get "his band" back on track with new members and more financing, as it was being released. to this day, the WS87 album was the best ever made by a band using that name. WS never topped that album, however the next one with Vai could have been a contender if the songs would have been half as good. nothing against Vai, but the 89 WS album was nowhere close in the songwriting department. from there, they (WS and coverdale) fell off the map. from that moment forward, WS became "has-beens". and from a musician point of view, who would have wanted to take the gig as a new member after that? (crickets) ... who was going to write as good as sykes, or play as good as sykes or vai? answer: noone. coverdale dug his own grave with pure gluttony.

[@ulfdanielsen6009]

16:14 ....and we´re finally getting around to something that actually has to do with actual guitar playing. The 16:14 minutes proir to that was basically just one long self promoting commercial. Damn, what a waste of my time and my life. Hope the rest is going to have some substance to it.

[@DC7ify]

Thank you sir!

[@paulgeary531]

Yeah, long winded otherwise. Thnks

[@LysanderLH]

I still don’t know which gain pedal to buy to get that tone. Ideas?

[@MrIgorek13]

If you check John insane solo Crying in the rain in Rio he didn't use any pedal!

[@DevinRyanVitek]

A lot of people like the Friedman BE-OD to run into a clean amp

[@Acekorv]

Many players in the 80s used some sort of boost pedal in front through a marshall plexi 100 (or some other amp head on the distorsion channel) with 4x12 cabinets. Pedal could be a tube screamer or something like a rat dist. Pedal. Something that pushes the amp a tone extra.

[@loraljohnson]

A note to new guitarists. Do NOT overuse effects like reverb. It is very annoying to seasoned players. If you are just playing by yourself in your basement or bedroom, fine. BUT, if you are playing live or with other musicians, you need to learn not rely on a chorus and reverb to mask your playing. In a live setting, the sound engineer will apply reverb. Learn to play dry and to use effects in moderation.

[@antonbegley]

How dare you annoy a ‘seasoned’ player. I’ve been playing guitar for 27 years, so I’d consider myself ‘seasoned’. (whatever that’s supposed to mean), but you sound like an absolute tool. An arrogant one into the bargain.

[@JJDon5150]

Yea, if you're playing with a sound engineer or at a big venue, which 99% of most players aren't. If you're playing in a bar, with friends, or a small venue, you probably have to handle sound yourself. Reverb makes a dry guitar sound huge during a solo as long as you can boost your guitar enough. Also, plenty of songs use chorus and other effects during the song. Everything you said is completely song and venue dependent.

[@ruskolnikov7211]

Meh, I’ll go ahead mask bad playing

[@tommyapocalypse6096]

Of course, this advice does not apply if you are in a shoegaze band.

[@CCHPOUNDER420]

Worry about your own tone, poser.

[@k2sparks]

Good but John played things we have to be spot on with picking! Your great at hammer ons but no where close to the original. Sounds good just not what he played

[@nc1969]

this guy has serious picking chops as well... check out his YJM lesson

[@donarmando916]

Very cool woman tone..

[@b.scottfarthingsworth]

waffle front to back

[@loraljohnson]

Although this guy is good, there's a difference in playing the right nothes, and *playing* the notes. At times in the beginning, he looks like he'd rather be somewhere else instead of doing an instructional video. Ruined it for me..... Flame away, but watch his facial expressions.

[@GuitarKilf]

Don't agree with this sorry Nick is a Pro and very enthusiastic. Also a very approachable guy as I met him at the guitar show earlier this year..top bloke

[@newname363]

He does appear to be thinking about his shopping list while soloing, but there's nothing wrong with multitasking.

[@seanmiller7889]

Where's your John Sykes video?...

[@richardblack3385]

Trying too hard and overdoing it. I do the same thing tbh

[@fatherdirt2866]

What efx does he use..,

[@JTFSIX]

axsys212