John Sykes

portobear_65

Very sad news, he was a wonderful guitar player.

He's left us an incredible body of work but I always felt that he had so much more music in him, hopefully there's some stuff in the vaults that may now see the light of day.

Woodandwires

Really sad news, I saw him in Tygers, Whitesnake and Lizzy, for me the absolute epitome of a Rock guitarist, fantastic player. Today is a sad day, heartfelt good wishes to his family and friends for their loss.

stratman3142

That's a shock. Really sad news.

LessPaul

R.I.P John, a true inspiration.
https://youtu.be/MBCdastdtKI?feature=shared

Darren

Very sad news indeed.

Seen him quite a few times over the years and had the pleasure of meeting him in 2005 when he was fronting Lizzy. Purchased a poster from the show which John and the rest of the band - Scott Gorham - Marco Mendoza - Michael Lee (RIP) all signed. It's been on my man cave wall for 20 years.

Such a phenomenal player that will be sadly missed.

Caffeine_Vampire

Oh man... saw him live... extraordinary. RIP.

axisus

Sad news. A great guitarist and one heck of a good lookin dude! He did lots of good stuff but the thing I liked best was Blue Murder. Excellent band.

ZenOvertone

Fantastic inspiring rock player with probably the best rock vibrato around, a big influence on many (ZW for example), like many on here I was looking forward to more stuff from him.  The total packagfe, guitar, voice & songwriting - he really made his mark with WS who never recaptured the success of the 1987 album with John (IMO). 

Currently listening to Ptolemy (Blue Murder)  

HerrMetal

There were a couple of shows on TV in the early 80's beamed directly into our living room that made me think "I want to do that".  One was Rock goes to College featuring Gillan with Bernie Torme - he was just so cool and such a talent. The other was BBC Sight and Sound, Thin Lizzy from the Regal Theatre Hitchin.  John Sykes really had the look, the moves, the effortless cool and just everything. Of course there was also the songwriting, the riffs, the solo's.

I never got close to any of that of course, but they provided so much inspiration.

A great legacy. RIP.

Danny1969

Amazing guitarist who played with a lot of attitude but always with some melody too. He was also an amazing singer with a great voice and a natural frontman for a band. 

James1981

Inspiring player and a genuine source of top level song writing. His influence cannot be understated
Just listening back on some of the whitesnake contributions - absolutely superb playing. 

RIP - Safe to say his legacy in music will live of indefinitely 

Redlester

There are some lovely tributes being shared here. 

I saw this reported online in the Guardian and I was really upset by it. I loved the Whitesnake 1987 stuff at the time, although I didn't know it was him. My real appreciation of him has come in later years, when the internet has made music and information generally more available to us all. 

Great to see JS getting appreciation here. Funny you used the word 'monster' @Reverend. That was the word I picked when I was telling my 13 year old about JS's passing. He loves his rock and always asks me about players, and I described JS to him as a real monster- big tone, big talent, big heart and pretty big hair in the 80s too! So important we keep this music alive, even though the players are slowly leaving us. God they were fun days, and the playing still raises a smile of enjoyment and appreciation from me. 

Will give Blue Murder and 1987 a play tonight in his memory. 

Kebabkid

This is a pretty cool breakdown of parts and like EVH and Nuno, I loved his rhythm work

Axe2Grind

I'm so sad to hear of John's passing today. He was a massive influence and inspiration to me. He's why I play a Les Paul. 
Rest easy John, thanks for all the great music and that wonderful tone. Legend.

icu81b4

Very sad news, saw him with Lizzy at Preston Guild Hall. Rest easy John. 

Bellycaster

Very sad to see another legend pass away. Unreal talent.

Moleman

Late to this thread as I've been still processing this news. Re. BBC Sight and Sound, Thin Lizzy from the Regal Theatre Hitchin - watching this over and over (taped on the then, new-fangled, Panasonic VideoStar VHS recorder), is what made me nag my dad to buy me an electric guitar...

In a funny kind of way, this has hit me as hard or harder than Jeff Beck's passing as John Sykes's meteoric rise in music industry/ guitar circles coincided with teenage years. Saw John fronting the reconstituted Thin Lizzy in the 2000's.