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John Sykes


Guest JackButler

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Guest JackButler

Stayed up late last night getting some extra woodshed time in after the kids fell asleep...got through and could go to sleep...popped in a dvd that a student dropped of of some recent Thin Lizzy shows and then backed it up with a boot of footage from Japan....WOW!

Sykes is another GIANT influence on me, but this just re-enforced it! Vibrato and chops...complete control all the time.

Wound up back in the woodshed this morning before the crew got up and demanded breakfast and had to tear into a medley of things I stole from him! LOL!

Brought back memories of when I would stay hold up in my room and lose hours just trying to nail his vibrato.

FWIW, on the more recent Thin Lizzy stuff, he was plugged straight in...well, he did have a wah, but nothing else...PHENOMENAL!!!!!

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Sykes has been a major influence for me since that self titled Whitesnake album. I just picked up "Bad Boys Live" and he blows my mind with his playing.

I grabbed his solo albums also but I don't know what Lizzy albums to get.

The only problem with him is he makes it sound easy. I try to learn from it and find that it's not. So I guess the real problem us that he's been dominating my woodshedding time. :blink:

Any chance that DVD will make it to the States?

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"Screaming Blue Murder-Dedicated to Phil Lynott".

If you're a John Sykes fan this is a MUST HAVE cd. It's a live album that came out in '94. KILLER!

-Bobby

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Had Coverdale kept him...he might still have a career..Coverdale I mean..What happened between them anyways...Did a great album with him and then basically put a "cover" band together to tour it? Hmm..cover band..Coverdale...could be sumthin to the name??... lol! :blink:

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he plays on lizzy's last 2 albums "thunder & lightning" & "live/life".

he sounds great on vocals on the resurected lizzy's live "one night only", and on guitar of course. but, that cd sucked IMFO because of tommy aldridge not playing the same kind of feel on the drum parts. brian downey's swinging feel drive those songs, they sound wrong w/o 'em.

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Sykes is an absolute monster. I saw him w/ Thin Lizzy in a local dive last summer here in Tucson. It was a make-up show that wasn't announced until the day before - consequently only about 75 people showed up. They played a full set and I was rooted 2 feet in front of Sykes the whole 90 minutes.

He played a modded JCM 800 (looked like the classic extra gain stage) with a single 4x12 cab. Only had a wah for effects. His tone was monstrous and he was an absolute master. He played his black LP Custom the entire show, except for one song where he switched to a white one.

I'm a huge Lizzy fan from way back, and I'm sorry to say Scott Gorham paled in comparison. He played a Strat (which I couldn't believe, being the classic LP guy) and sounded like he had a chorus on the whole time. He had a killer JMP 1/2 stack that sounded like GOD, but I couldn't get over the chorus effect. He played great, but Sykes stole the show. (I'm certainly not saying he wasn't great - he still rips with the best of them and could show some young players today about touch and tone)

You just can't beat it for 8 bucks. By the way, they did Thunder & Lightning, Still of the Night, and the Cowboy Song to close the set. They really put on a show and looked like they were enjoying themselves. You don't see many bands do that for 75 people. Sykes is one bad-ass guitar player.

I saw him the next night in Phoenix opening for Deep Purple (Steve Morse was incredible) and they rocked the place. They sounded the same and Sykes put on quite a show.

There you go - my own little Sykes story. Cool.

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Hello Sykes fans,

I've seen Thin Lizzy with John Sykes a few times already. I've enjoyed the band playing their set list. I always thought that John Sykes on CD was bad ass. I was completely floored when I saw Thin Lizzy live. His playing, tone, vibrato, speed, technique and approach to hard rock/heavy metal is something that today's players just don't have. Les Paul into a Marshall 50 watt head. You can't get any better than that. If anyone sees that Thin Lizzy is on coming to your town, go see them!! I also saw the "Slow and Easy" video on the Whitesnake w/John Sykes. He was bad ass back then as well. What a shame David Coverdale ditched this guy for guitar players of equal ability, but poor songwriting.

Guitar George

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JB-

Stellar topic--Johnny Sykes!!

Back in the day of '83, played the thin lizzy 't/lightning' lp until it would no longer hold a groove. Sykes added power and life to the dying days of lynott's lizzy.

I have several imports, rare cds and a couple of dvds of sykes with both lizzy and blu-murder and the sykes band stuff.

The pearl jam guitarist stone gossard was/is a huge sykes fan. in late '93, when i drove the van (prior to the tour buses arriving) for pearl jam, i put in an advance copy of the '94 blue murder 'but trouble' release and stone was so pumped! 'kilroy, turn that up until the speakers blow!' was my employer's direct order. I complied with a huge smile. He claimed he and jeff ament went to the '89 seattle king's x/blue murder show, which i happened to have an average vhs copy of that show.

David Coverdale fired the entire band (sykes, etc) prior to the tour following the '87 recording. Sykes is on the '84 'slide it in' whitesnake album, but his guitar work is not mixed well. Apparently, sykes refuses coverdale's offers to rejoin the band. :blink:

kilroy posts...

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I'm a big Sykes fan. I like to sit down, figure out licks, tab them out and really get them into my fingers and brain. I'm a crook, really. Well, Sykes is one of my favs and his playing is about as difficult I've found. Killer chops. He plays some of the most difficult licks I've ever learned with the greatest of ease. Frustrating, of course.

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Guest JackButler

Somebody PLEEEEEEEZZZZZZEEEEEEE give me a head's up on ANY dvd Sykes footage!!!!!!!!! ESPECIALLY Blue Murder stuff!!!!!

I've seen one or two boot VHS that were handheld cam stuff....I'll watch it no matter how crappy! :P

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For those in need of some sykes video action. I have one or two poor vhs of blue murder and two cool dvd of sykes with thin lizzy in the first ever gig in january of '83 and anaheim galaxy '95 sykes shows. i have no dubbing equipment, so give me sometime and i'll get copies made....somehow?!

[email protected]

drop me you snail-mail address so i where to sent them.

:P

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Now that I think about it and went back and listened to some Whitesnake in particular "Still of the night" That is the guitar tone I try to cop...I'm close but for lack of a better term...I just can't get that ferocity??? (sp?)

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