How NOT To Play Sykes Licks

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[@kr7436]

FINALLY someone who gets John Sykes !! He’s a LEGEND with insane talent. Tragically under rated.

[@guitardoug12]

You’re a humble guy, but don’t sell yourself short, you’re an amazing guitar player. Anyone who loves John Sykes and plays a $5000+ guitar is no slouch! Love it!

[@bradleybriscoe2608]

Sykes has the most incredibly awesome vibrato in music! That big, wide and even vibrato is second too none. Sykes and Gary Moore have/had the most killer vibratos in rock music.

[@ch3nz3n]

Liked and Subbed. Sykes songwriting style, playing and tone on "Still of the Night" is MY definition of "rock guitar". That BIG slide down the neck at the beginning stopped me in my tracks when I was a little metalhead. His playing style continues to be a MASSIVE influence for me. Thanks for spotlighting the guy!

[@dalesdrumchannelzero1802]

John Sykes playing on the Tygers Of Pan Tang albums Spellbound and Crazy Nights is pretty awesome too.

[@nicholastotoro7721]

That ‘87 album was such a HUGANTIC moment for me. I was 14 and had just started playing electric guitar earlier that year (Christmas ‘86, really). I was at that weird age where I had no concept of Whitesnake pre-‘87, how Whitesnake was basically Deep Purple MkV in the earliest days, separate UK and US mixes/releases of “Slide It In” or anything, much less Thin Lizzy or Tygers of Pan Tang. I had only learned about the latter two when Blue Murder came out a couple years later and was soaking up all I could in magazines about John Sykes.

[@codacreator6162]

Your tone is f--king killer, dude. Sykes is my favorite guitarist. I hesitate to say "influence " because that implies I could play ANYTHING of the sort!

[@snoo50]

"Before puberty hit me with a vengeance... I was this pale, skinny, hard rock fan bla bla bla"...

[@umyes5246]

Ahh John Sykes, what a legacy.

[@davidbaron8330]

Moore/Schenker/Sykes. The holy trinity of Dino style.

[@0421072]

I have been in to Blue Murder a lot lately. Beast!

[@toneranger]

Great to see him getting credit. Absolute gentleman when I met him and he signed my guitar, thank you John!

[@lifeisnice23]

John Sykes, the greatest unsung guitar hero from the 80s, imho the best brit guitar after Jimmy Page, a total package monster player, what a man! 😍👍

[@JeffKastner]

Great stuff, Leon! Reminds of something I heard when I first started playing guitar... "Make the easy stuff look hard and the hard stuff look easy".

[@gerryjamesedwards1227]

According to Rick Beato, it's not sloppy playing. It's Vibe. Apparently.

[@prs149]

I met him in 1989 just before closing of guitar center Hollywood I was in my car and a car pulls up and( we're the only two cars in the Lot ), all of a sudden John Sykes and Tony Franklin get out of the car, just as I'm getting out of my car John walks up to me and asked what band was I listening to ,just then I realize it was with him accent and all. He's was my all-time favorite at the time, I talked to him a little bit inside the store he told me they were working on songs for the next Blue Murder album, he said nice to meet you .The End

[@gabrieljohannson6777]

Man.........Thank you from the deepest corner of my heart for this video. John Sykes, the original triple threat, was a massive influence on me growing up & at the age of 49 (yeah, I should not be commenting on KZbin Vid's) still is an influence. Thanks for this again Leon. Great work mate. Great work. Love your stuff.......

[@robotx4242]

Live and Dangerous was my gateway drug into Thin Lizzy. I was familiar with the studio single Boys Are Back in Town. It was a pop hit on the radio. I thought it was a cool song but didn't really know anything about the band beyond that. Live and Dangerous came out and the local DJ played the "Cowboy Song/Boys are Back in Town" together and described the album cover as awesome. I was hooked. Ran out and bought the album. It greatly exceeded my expectations. Been a hardcore Lizzy fan ever since.

[@richb6291]

Excellent video Leon - what a sensational tone you got and cool licks too . Love John Sykes playing such great choice of notes and killer vibrato - you nailed it !!! . I always thought the first Blue Murder album would have been awesome as the follow up the 1987. Great video.

[@stevenmgyori3826]

Thanks for sharing your inspirations! Be Well Leon!