I discovered Blue Murder last summer on a drive back home. Suggested by what I was listening to on Spotify. I was totally blown away. I remember thinking how the guitarist sounded like the guy from Whitesnake. LOL... Thank you Spotify!
Vai tanked Whitesnake. His style of playing lacked the strong masculinity of Sykes' approach. It came out sounding limp wristed and overthought. Where Sykes was a biker bandanna, Vai was a silk hanky with frilly lace.
Sykes is a F#%KING MONSTER player!! He is really the quintessential rock guitar player. He can play with restraint and then just BOOM rips your head off!! He's got the chops of a metal guitar player but manages to keep it in a heavy rock/blues style. Really, for me, one of those guys where when I listen I'm thinking "That's exactly how I want to play!". Still can't but haha
Can’t agree with you enough, wish blue murder got the recognition they deserved such an underground Gem of an album. As controversial as this might be I think I actually prefer Sykes’s vocals to Coverdale
You did such a good service with the John Sykes history, he’s so underrated and way. wayyyy better than most. His voice and how he can sing and do everything on guitar is so unmatched it’s insane! And his solo career has so many amazing hidden gems! Highly Recommend!
Love this guy the way he gives out a short history of an artist whose licks he is going to play. Very precise, no gibberish, just licks, riffs and amazing sounds. Great videos! Thank you.
John Syke's Blue Murder! Phenominal! Saw live on tour Baltimore, MD. One of best rock albums ever. Awesome guitar work. Nothin But Trouble great also. Whitesnake who? 😎😎
Yeah, Coverdale's a greedy POS. But, he made great music with Sykes.... both albums! I saw WS 2x with the '87 lineup. Don't get me wrong, Adrian and Vivian are great guitarists in their own right, but they're just NOT Sykes.
@@drill2.087 that's true also yes devon is probably the second best singer that also shreds on guitar. It seems to me like this would be a much more common occurrence, but I'm just a singing drummer. What do I know? EDIT: also I really like Devon, but let's get real for a second. He's not good looking like John. John Sykes was completely gypped by the record industry. He should be up there with Plant, Freddy, Lou Graham, and Steve Perry as "the greatest rock singers of all time" but we all know the world isn't fair.
Gary Moore had awesome tone, a melodic style as well. His singing wasn't bad either. I used to cover "Still Got The Blues" in an old band back in the day. Very soulful singer. Imagine if the two of them had ever joined forces! Woah!!! :D
Dude, you've GOT to do another lesson on Sykes! I don't think enough of these younger folks really appreciate, or even know that much ABOUT him and how badass he is. As always, LOVE LOVE LOVE your lessons on here, man! Keep up the great work! \m/>
Sykes is one of the most underrated of the 80s. He was such a huge part of Whitesnake's 1987 mainstream breakthrough with the self-titled album, and casual fans had no idea because he was gone by the time the videos were made. Coverdale was a fool for getting rid of him.
Coverdale is one charming guy. But he really screwed John and others over. That whole band was killer! Serves DC right that the follow-up wasn't nearly as good nor were the songs of the same caliber...yet John Sykes did Blue Murder. 'Nuf said!!!
Thank you so much for this outstanding lesson David,you really did justice to Johns playing,such lyrical phrasing and tone ,the bonus lick is stunning. BTW the BlueMurder album has been re issued and is worth getting . I always thought it sounds like the natural successor to 1987 .
I bought the Rock Candy reissue. I say to anyone reading this, please support that company. They continue to get the rights of some really great classic stuff!
Man I loved Blue Murder.. Kudos to you for picking John Sykes licks for us to chew on..Great job! Blue Murder had Still of the night-white snakish rythems n lyrically .A 3 man band where the Lead Singer is also the Lead guitarist n rythem guitarist.Man, Sykes is a very well rounded musician! Thanks man for covering this unsung 80s hero....valley of the kings? Pssssshhhhh guy was awsome at every position he's played.Deserves more credit but we got u John!
This is one of the best videos on Sykes’ playing I’ve ever found! I would love to see more of these, as John’s the reason I picked up the guitar, but I’ve always had trouble analyzing his playing.
Another example of a sideman who’s too good - he upstaged Coverdale. Then was a victim of the times/bad marketing. Blue murder was killer. I don’t like Carmine’s drumming- overrated. Tony is a beast
You can add Tangier's two albums with Tora Tora, the Electric Boys, Damn Yankees, Lynch Mob, The Scream just to name a few rare guitar shredding gems to the list.
funny as a kid I asked to see Great White and Tesla live on a tour because Badlands was supposed to open, but sadly they didn't show, but Tesla ripped the asses out of Great White live
I stood 5th row in front of John Sykes on the "Slide It In" tour when they supported Quiet Riot in Jan '85. Whitesnake came out with barely a stage show, jeans and T-Shirts and KILLED it! Quiet Riot had spandex, lasers, the whole 9 yards. They got smoked by the Brit boys.
YYESSSSS!!!!!!!!! Gonna love this!! I met Sykes in 84...got his autograph - was so excited to meet him....Monster guitarist AND killer vocalist! Blue Murder 1 was going to be the next Whitesnake album after 1987...imagine that....THANK YOU !!
Yes john sykes so underated ,amazing riffs you picked out hope you do another john sykes video so glad i dicovered your channel yesterday im loving all the content
Damn you’re killing it!!! Great lesson. Super examples of melodic arpeggios. Got to see him in 89 at Rock n Roll Heaven just after moving from small town Ottawa to big city Toronto. Even caught a Carmine Appice drumstick lol!!
Yeaaaa!! I love John Sykes. Really cool note choices and scales. Sometimes I don’t know how he gets those sounds. Big inspiration for me, as I’ve only been playing about two years now.
Definitely Sykes was pretty much overlooked by mainstream audiences. Great player and rightly so bitter about being fired. His guitar playing and style defined that entire album. I heard he got paid though. That’s a good thing.
That debut Blue Murder album is a spectacular album and all the performances by Sykes, Martin (can't believe I wrote this, meant Tony Franklin obviously!!!) and Appice are just killer on this album.
Yep, fantastic album, hugely skilled player and vocalist. One of the best tones out there too..I remember right in this time period I was living on Maui, and was listening to 24-7 Spyz, Blue Murder, and....my favorite still, Loudness. Akira Takasaki chords and licks?
Coverdale didn't just get rid of Sykes he also fired Murray and Dunbar. I am thinking this was a record producer douche move. But I loved Whitesanke non the less. But yeah, that was rotten .
Very good stuff right there, Dave. I wish Coverdale would have had Sykes and Vandenberg on the '87 album. How killer would that have been? Huge mistake when he canned Sykes especially after seeing Blue murder do so well with there debut album. Speaking of mistakes, I thought it was weird how Coverdale had Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach in Whitesnake and Reb was always taking a backseat to Doug. Yeah Doug is a killer player but I feel Coverdale should have showcased Reb's talent alittle more... Anyway my two cents
I think the reason is ostensibly Aldrich is a "bluesier" player (though some major shred back in the band Lion) and has the look of Sykes with the blonde hair and such lol. Coverdale knew where his bread was buttered
When I hear name John Sykes, Thin Lizzy's Bad Reputation immediately pops in my head. Got me since the first time hearing it, masterpiece hard rock song.
Hi, great lesson,thx! I'm a huge Sykes fan,love the Blue Murder, the 1st cd is just ridiculous and the 2nd is pretty damn good too.Not only is the guitar playing out of this world, he's a killer singer as well. Way better than Coverdale. He really doesn't get nearly enough credit. Tons of soul , crazy chops and just a killer instinct on those climactic bends. More please.
There are a ton of great guitarists that do ONE THING good but John sykes does it all good he is one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time....and if guitar legend GARY MOORE LIKED HIM HE MUST BE GOOD......Gary was not known for being over generous with praise exept when talking of KOSSOF,RHOADS,BONNAMASSA.
I really enjoyed the Gary Moore video and when I found your site prob less than a month ago you had 4k subscribers, it has more than doubled in that time. Congratulations ! There is a guy out there we all know, who I won't mention, who has a million subscribers and he mostly just wings his vids and he is longwinded and generally a waste of time. You are very concise and your lessons are always prepared. Thank you for your effort. It shows !!
My personal opinion here...he's the best lead vocalist/lead guitarist in rock and metal. I love Dave Meniketti of Y&T, Sammy Hagar and others. But none of them out-sang AND out-played John Sykes. BTW, there's new material coming soon from him working with Tony Franklin. Tony has been hinting about this on his Facebook page recently. So...you better look out! :)
Blue Murders second and last album "Nothing but trouble" is excellent as well, although aside from Sykes it's a completely new line up. I love John Sykes, him and George Lynch are neck and neck for my all time favorite Guitarist.
I'm a Sykes addict! Incredible, soulful player. Great work on this video. You really do a fantastic job capturing the tone and technical aspects of these players! Thanks much!
I think the most overlooked part and the biggest kick in the nuts for Coverdale, was that Sykes was a also a bona fide rock vocalist too. A better vocalist than Coverdale in my humble opinion. Sykes is simply awesome in every way. F#*k it, I'm getting a Les Paul....
there are two versions of slide it in. the UK version is quite a bit different in its mix,..and sykes played for more than just beefing up tracks.Great playin'!
When you analyze the piss out of it, no fun. Sykes always said He plays by ear. May deter others...like me. I do not need to know max theory. Because the heart and head do not study theory. Sounds good...it is good! Simple. God Bless.
I bought that blue murder album the minute it came out,,I was a big fan of John Sykes from that last album with Thin Lizzy. He's got some tasty guitar licks,,,not the norm
When you have someone like David Cloverdale who is the front man thespot light can't be shared. Sykes is overall to much of a threat to Cloverdale. Let's face it people who know music and the business of it know the real players. John Sykes is a legend.
You were absolutely right about that Blue Murder album, it’s awesome! I can’t believe I never heard it until you mentioned it in your video. In 1989 music was changing so fast so I guess I just missed it. Love your videos, looking forward to your next one.
John Sykes is an unsung guitar hero . I know he gets a lot of respect but I think he should get more. I'm trying to research back into players like John Sykes michael shenker if anyone can recommend any more guys like this would be cool I'm trying to polish my playing for a more mature sound
Your arpeggiated lick between c-sharp minor B major & A major .. and at the very end in which you bend a d sharp to e - lydian -. It's all over the whitesnake album he recorded prior to being fired .. what are created guitar
That video had audio from the desk, but images from an audience member.... it’s a band absolutely on top form and it’s a crying shame there was never any pro shot imaging to go with the audio. It would have been a great dvd..
Sykes and Jake E Lee both got shafted bad in the 80s.. Those Sykes Whitesnake riffs I heard when I was a teenager are one of the reasons I play guitar.
I wasn't sure about that but Wikipedia states that "all songs written by Coverdale/Sykes" except for 'Here I Go Again' which was Coverdale/Marsden. Interesting. I never actually looked that info up. : )
Be sure to watch the "Guitar Tone & Amps" episode from the Brewster's Millions of Rants series on this channel to learn more about the amp I use in these videos. Thanks for watching! : )
@@LateNightLessons Your playing is on-point and effortless. I am learning quite a bit from you; thanks for responding. You like all the same players I like and are an amazing teacher. Subbed!
Such a great album man! I have been in love with it since it's release. And that little lick you did from "All out of love" Just so damn good. Sykes can really play with emotion. He comes up with some of the best stuff, whether a ballad or pumpin' stuff. If you haven't heard it, I would recommend checking out his work on the 2nd BM album and the solo to "Save My Love" That sustain goes on for days ;-) So good!
Not only that. Despite not being involved in the writing of most songs of Thunder and Lightning, he still played rhythm and solo on many of them, like in my second favourite song from the album, Holy War.
Keep coming back to this lesson - just superb David- a genius job on this lesson you've done great with the lick selection too , love Johns vibrato too . Blue Murder has been played constantly since this lesson - interesting if Ray Gillen had sang on the album( always ray had a killer vocal delivery, ( as he was also lined up for the Lynch Mob -Wicked Sensation album) .
Bad boys live is also a great album and he sings and sounds like Coverdale, the 89 album the riff are huge and very zeppelin influenced but the solos he was pick tapping doing the Randy rhoads chromatic slurs, arpeggios and fast pentatonic runs just killer guitar playing, I believe Adrian vandenberg played the here I go again solo, another good whitesnake album is starkers in Tokyo very cool just vandenberg and Coverdale all acoustic
You read my mind! I was going to request some John Sykes and then it showed up!! Nice work as always. Wouldn't mind hearing more Sykes if you don't mind giving us more (like you did with Vito). How about some licks from that Valley of the Kings solo? Amazing stuff.
Bro, I watch your videos just for the pure enjoyment they bring me. You play so effortless and your knowledge of music is impressive. I wish you all the best. Saludos from PR.
Nice to find a tribute guitar lesson on Sykes. Blue Murder was one of our favorite records back on the day we where doing the garage band trip. Some of us became professional musicians, and we still trip to that record, something we share! That was an amazing power trio, Carmine Apice, and that barefoot amazing bass player, and Sykes, such a gifted rock guitarist! nice video, congratulations on your channel, you rock on guitar!
I enjoyed the discussion about Sykes at the beginning more than the actual lesson/licks. I didn’t know all that info. So interesting. Would like to hear more from you, and your knowledge of other guitarists. (Just downloaded the Blue Murder album-thanks!) 👍
I remember the band Blue Murder, but they were never on the radio up here in Canada, just listened to the solos now and Sykes is one of those really good players from that time for sure. Some great playing for sure. I remember him mostly from Whitesnake , which I got into when Vai joined. You could do a video on Vai on that album alone. Amazing playing on that one. Good choice David.
I love the some of the albums that followed with Vai and Reb beach etc but I wonder what could have been if Sykes had not been fired. Such an underrated guitarist!
Compare Sykes´ massive sound on Whitesnake´s 1987 album to Steve Vai´s pathetic, thin tone on its follow-up, 1989´s Slip Of The Tongue. Most underwhelming successor ever.
I really like Vai, but I agree and 'Judgement Day' was the only song on that album that really did anything for me. The rest of it was all kinda "meh." : )
great lesson dave i think john is very underrated from the 80's guitarists the blue murder album one of my all time faves!!! thanks again love the les paul!! ... \m/ \m/
