What Made John Sykes GREAT? 

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John Sykes can riff hard, come up with face melting solos and sing well. Plus that mane! It's just not fair.

Bob Rock said in an interview that Sykes was the best in studio sounding guitar player he has ever heard. That’s a huge compliment.

The difference between everyone else and Sykes is that Sykes's wrote riffs that FUCKED. Seriously. All his riffs have the guitar equivalent of sex appeal.

Sykes!!! Sykes!!! and MORE SYKES!!!! Dude deserves so much more credit than he gets! So unfortunate that he fell out with Coverdale... sadly he just never could get to that level again. As much as i love Vandenberg, Campbell and Vai.... It was John Sykes playing and songwriting that made modern Whitesnake! Glad your focusing on Blue Murder

Tremendously overlooked and underrated guitarist. One of the very best ever.

Not just a great guitar/guitarist historian, but one of the rare teachers that is more interested in showing you how to do something than showing you how much HE knows...

That first Blue Murder album is FULL of amazing rhythm playing. One of the best sounding albums of all time as well.

A couple things: 1) That C Lydian chord has been drilled into my memory as the In My Darkest Hour chord thanks to Megadeth and whenever I hear it it's immediately unmistakable 2) It's super interesting how much shared DNA Sykes' playing has to Jake E Lee. Jake uses almost all of these techniques to a tee

My wife said, I can only play in the house now. Thanks a lot Ben. 😓

That disclaimer cracked me up. Thanks for doing justice to one of the all time greats.

Love his Blue Murder stuff . Left out of so many guitar god discussions . Thanks for this . 🤘🏻🤘🏻

Extra Beato points! LOL

Sykes is a beast, great singer too.

Uncle Ben where is the Still of the Night solo? Keep the Sykes content coming, I feel that he doesn't get the recognition he should be getting. One of my top 5 players.

Waiting for the "Still of the Night" solo. Surely, Uncle Ben, there have been several rainy days.

Great lesson as always. Sykes is the man.

Hell yeah! Another Sykes video 🙌🏼❤️‍🔥

We need more SYKES!!!

More love needed for the thunder and lightning album ⚡ 🌩️ 🙏🏻

That 1987 album is full of gold.

WOAH.... i'm practicing with your previous dbl picking lessons... and this pops up! Uncle Ben is just the greatest ever!!!

Sykes has a freakish ability to turbocharge a standard chord progressions with energy, excitement and swagger. His riffing, soloing and song writing never sound static, boring or repetitive. It’s just crazy how talented he is both melodically and rhythmically. He can also improvise all night and sound amazing. That is raw talent.

I stood 5 feet away from John Sykes when Blue Murder miraculously came to town. Got to meet him, nice as could be. He had/has the greatest tone I've ever heard. Plain and simple. That dude is just born to be a rock n roll guitar player. Its a shame we don't have more music to enjoy. Thank you for this video Ben!

John lived in Blackpool, UK for a while - my hometown. His parents had a studio there that I practiced in with one of my bands around 1990. Unfortunately I never got to meet the man himself, but was always hoping he might be there!

I met John Sykes and the two other awesome dudes from Blue Murder in Chicago at the Metro in '88 or '89. I was 16. It was awesome. I played in a heavy rock trio at that time and Sykes was my hero. Great time. Got my poster signed and gave him a demo tape we did.

My mom said I cant watch this...

Never realized how much you playing your Ibanez looks exactly like Sykes and his black LP. Holy ****

Sykes was a master among masters, Unrivaled total package

John was & still is the triple threat. Great vid.

Fair play to Phil Lynott to not stand in Stykes way to leave and join Whitesnake....that Thunder & Lightening album was just at the start of thrash metal and Thin Lizzy were primed with Stykes to capitalize on it....

"Sykes Appeal" made my day. Can't get enough of his playing. Edit: Forgot to mention, would love for you to breakdown the solos to "Looking For Love" and "You're Gonna Break My Heart Again" someday. Just can't get some of the lines right on those 😅

Ty Tabor!

When I think of 80s riffage I love Criss Olivia's - OLIVA, I HATE AUTOCORRECT rhythm also! Savatage has some of the best riffs ever!

John Sykes's playing influenced me almost as much as Gary Moore. Not only a great guitar player, but an incredible singer as well. Blue Murder is severely overlooked. Thank you for showcasing his style hopefully to a new generation.

I recently got to perform Is This Love for an event - bit of a finger twister for me but oh so gorgeous, and slow enough that even I could do it reliably. During a break I rolled my amp case across the hood of my car so all the dudes were impressed on their way out, if not the cougars.

Dude, massive thanks. I too am a huge Sykes / Whitesnake fan and this helps my playing overall. It also helped my double picking (that technique which I am still working on). And it helped me finish a riff I was working on! 🎸🎸☮

I’m a simple man I see a Ben Eller video , I click it

Cackling at the idea of cougars making dust angels on my truck hood. Lol!

Love it. Thanks for the Axefx patch too Big Ben!!

Seriously interesting, something to work on. Cheers Ben 👍

I love what Sykes did with Whitesnake album. Just about everything on it is epic. The playing, the layering.. amazing stuff

Thanks for this fab video - love John Sykes' style so really cool to see how it's done!

thanks so much UB. That was an absolutely awesome lesson.

Man that sounds good! You’re an inspiration.

You Gonna Break my Heart Again. That's a terrific Sykes riff

Awesome video, I saw John Sykes on the last Thin Lizzy your back in 83, he's a monster player.

Awesome lesson Ben!

1987 been a shock to the system for me and love Sykes since then. Wished he had been more prolific. SYKES ME UP !

Man, i loved this video. I love the sykes stuff you put out. Gotta keep them rollin man. so awesome, Ben. Keep it up, Brotha this is badass. it sounds so much like sykes he's got such a distinctive style and sound, and man, you captured it absolutely perfectly!! couldnt have gotten any better man. Stay shreddin, bro! Love it. Sykes is one of my personal favs also

What didn’t? 🔥 taste, tone, technique and amazing sense of melody 🎸 cheers Ben!

You nailed it, Ben Eller. Top man.

Such a great lesson Uncle Ben. That Jem is just so good

What a sick IBANEZ. I just got a second hand Ibanez gio Grgr131dx. Red shark tooth inlays. 16" radius. And compared to the 13.75 radius LTD F-50 I have. This 150$ guitar. 450$ new. That was used twice by the original owner. This IBANEZ is amazing. They make some amazing guitars nowadays with awesome quality control.

One of my generation! Good choice, Ben! 🙂

Sykes is definitely a triple threat! Great singer, slinger and writer!!!

Thank you for this breakdown of brilliant work by the esteemed Mr. Sykes.

John's inverted vibrato is a small thing that a lot of players don't notice but it's pure magic.

Holy crap. Thank you! This and your pencil scribbling technique is the best lesson on picking I’ve ever gotten. Along with the explanations, the close ups of your picking hand were extremely helpful. I started out on upright bass and had formal classical training on that and transferred that knowledge right over to bass guitar but beyond a friend in middle school showing me one of the blues boxes, I’m completely self taught on the 6-string and my picking “technique” has always been terrible. I started wondering recent why I could bow the shit out of 32nd notes with good articulation but I can’t hold down 8th notes on a guitar without flopping all over the place. You’ve made me realize I need to adapt the motions my arm and wrist already know how to do to guitar and given me some tools with which to do it. Thank you again! Just rolling this around in my head for a half a day and then picking up the guitar to experiment for a couple of minutes is already showing improvements.

That patch sounds fantastic!

Very exciting breakdown! Sick tone Ben, Sykes is a riff god, was one of the best from that time. Great examples of what makes his unique approach sound so bad ass 🤘🏼🔥

I remember first hearing him when Thin Lizzy's "Thunder & Lightning" album came out. What an incredible moment that was, for my young, guitar hero tuned ears. From there, i went & grabbed his Tygers of Pan Tang stuff (Spellbound, Crazy Nights), and then we all were blown away with that 1987 WS record. To this day, it baffles me how anyone could fire a player like that, right before the tour. It takes like three incredible guitarists to keep up with a single John Sykes!

Ben always brings it

Great video and acknowledgement of Sykes Riffage...AND that Jem 77FP is sooooo nice!

You´re excellent teacher, that´s rare 👍

Hilarious videos as always, and informative! Sykes is a guitar god! He's my #1 influence, aside from King Ed! Love your explanation of some of John's tricks. This is a part of what makes him sound so huge within the song.

I had a magazine from the 90's with Steve Vai holding that guitar on the cover. Man how I drooled over that guitar as a kid. Congrats man.

In a word...the rhythm parts. Shit, that was three words. But yeah, Sykes and Vito Bratta are prolly the two most underrated players of the 1980s.

Amazing video! 😊 Thanks!

That sounded Really Good!!

Rick Beato bonus points... nice one.

John Sykes is the total package, monster guitarist, vocalist & songwriter. It's a shame that he has basically disappeared from the music scene for the last decades.

For rhythm playing, a couple of other standouts are Steve Clark of Def Leppard and George Lynch. They were both great at writing riffs for heavy guitar that weren't just power chords. George Lynch still is. So they'd make great candidates for videos like this one. This was a good lesson video. Keep it up.

Great video, legendary player

Legend has it that Skyes was created in a laboratory to just be the most incredible...EVERYTHING!

Those riffs and solos on tygers of pantaang were unbelievable.

Awesome Ben John Sykes is a monster guitarist

Craig Goldie...I'd like to see you deeply dive into his style, particularly dissecting "Sunset Superman" from the Dio album "Dream Evil". I learned it back in the 80s in E-flat tuning, but I watched him play it live in standard, and I can't wrap my head around that. It's so much easier in E-flat.

That is such a great guitar tone

Sykes guitar playing on Thin Lizzy's "Thunder n Lightning" album is so hard hitting.

Awesome Riffage & Thunder!!

Thanks uncle Ben!

To see John Sykes live is on My bucket list, don't think it's going to happen though.

What makes John Sykes great? He's John Sykes! Hahaha! Thanks Uncle Ben!

The disclaimer is as good as the lesson itself!!! Hahahahahaha! Awesome stuff, as always, Uncle Ben! Cheers!

Great to see you circle back to Sykes! His influence is heard in the playing of so many phenomenal talents that John Sykes deserves at attention of everyone with that six string fever! Another influential player?-Ace Frehley!

Technique and solos aside, John Sykes' guitar tone is one of the best rock guitar tones of all time. It was full and punchy but had brightness and bite. It wasn't so harsh that it made you want to gouge your eyes out.

Blue Murder is an underrated LP that needs to be remastered to today's tech and rereleased

I got to see him Live in Thin Lizzy back in 2008. It was great seeing both him and Scott Gorham playing guitar. His vocals have perfect pitch and almost sounds like the late great Phil Lynott when he sings.

Congrats.. You've fully internalized Sykes style into your rhythm playing. Love it. Suprised you didn't grab a black Les Paul for this vid but it still sounds killer

Sykes is SICK! Still trying to nail down the rhythm section of "Is This Love" I love how broad a talent he is. He literally uses the entire library a guitar offers.

If you can pick like Sykes the world is yours!

Ykes! ...I'm gonna have some fun with this stuff tonight. It's the weekend, and I act like it. Happy 4th of July. 🙂

Aight Ben. I'll play. FAV John Sykes riffs. Cautionary Warning, We All Fall Down....especially the rhythm he is playing during the chorus. One of my ALL TIME Fav's is Holy War while he was in Thin Lizzy. Especially the live Regal Theatre, Hitchin version. You gotta check that one out. The beginning of the lead is one of those.........HOLY SH*T .......That's how he does that, moments 🙂

Can't wait to learn the pick slant. Perhaps thats been my issue for speed and clarity 😊

That picking is super cool. I could never figure out how he did that double picking or why his hand seemed like it was in such a weird position. Turns out... there's a reason!

Should be playing a Les Paul

HUGE Sykes fan. You nailed everything that makes his playing stand out and apart from the rest. He's another unsung, not mentioned enough, underappreciated hero like Bratta that completely changed the direction of the era with their technique and style. You can literally hear the bands that came out after the Whitesnake album trying to grab bits n pieces of what made it great for themselves. I'm a mostly self taught player, but in my teens in the early 90s there was a guy who played in the local "hair metal" cover band who started offering lessons. My buddy and me jumped on it cause dude was next level for that time. I only went a handful of times but I still have my notes from it. He started to teach me some theory and picking technique. When I asked him what would be a good song to apply what I was learning, he tabbed me out Still of the Night and Decadence Dance by Extreme. (Both helped with my pick squeals I struggled with too). As always more top shelf unique content that you can't really get from other channels. Appreciate the time and effort you put into what you do.

This lesson was so fun. Never cared much for hair metal but am suddenly so interested in learning more about these kinds of players. I know I haven't given them their due credit.

This video could just as easily been names why so many 80's riffs are cool as hell.