Comments from two very different types of guitar heroes, Steve Vai and Marty Friedman, show how impactful the late John Sykes’ playing personality was on his peers.
The British guitarist, who enjoyed stints in Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake, passed away last year after a lengthy battle with cancer, it was revealed on January 20. Having earned his stripes in Tygers of Pan Tang, Sykes joined Phil Lynott's Irish heavyweights for their final record, 1982's Thunder and Lightning, replacing Snowy White. He then moved to Whitesnake, where he elevated the band from pub rockers to arena-fillers, starting with the 1984 double Platinum–selling Slide It In.
Issues with frontman David Coverdale saw him leave the band shortly before the release of their 1987 self-titled LP, which paved the way for Steve Vai's trailblazing cameo on '89's Slip of the Tongue. Vai has nothing but respect for his predecessor.
“Whitesnake had gone through different permutations of guitar sounds throughout the years, [but] Sykes didn’t sound like any other previous Whitesnake guitarist,” he says. “His thumbprint is an indelible part of the Whitesnake record he did. The fatness of that record and the rock integrity it had was all Sykes. So I knew I wasn’t going to sound like Sykes and I wasn’t going to try to.
“You cheat yourself when you try to do that and play like someone else, and the audience is a lot smarter than you think,” he extends.
Speaking in the wake of his passing as a guest on the SiriusXM's Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Friedman echoed Vai's sentiments.
“John Sykes was a big influence to me when I was developing,” he offers. “I just wanna say I'm just really bummed out about it, because when I heard Tygers of Pan Tang, I was really into the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and it was very innovative as far as heavy metal and rock rhythm guitar went, and that was kind of the big signature of it.
“I think that John Sykes was the first guy, as a lead guitarist, just playing mind-boggling guitar in that context. At that time it was really cool rhythms, and the solos were just kind of your basic regular solos. But when John Sykes came out on Tygers’ Spellbound album, it was a game changer for me. So he was the first guy in that genre that I heard that was, like, 'Wow, these lead guys can really take an exciting part of the band's sound.'”
Friedman is known for his lead chops, having first broken into the scene in Cacophony alongside another hot-shot virtuoso, Jason Becker. That earned him a spot in Megadeth, where he played a key role in some of their biggest records, including 1990’s blisteringly technical Rust In Peace and its double Platinum–selling follow-up, Countdown to Extinction.
“It was an extremely important influence to myself and a lot of the people that I've met over the years playing metal,” Friedman says.
Friedman says he was also impressed by the simplicity of Sykes' approach.
“He's not a dude that lives and dies by effects and strange sound textures,” he establishes. “There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I think one thing that I was influenced by him is [the realization that tone] is in the hands — the sound, the touch and the intention.
“He wasn't a guy who relied on tricks. He was a real player's player. As soon as you heard his solo, the level of the song all of a sudden went up. And at the time, I was very, very smitten with that. I loved New Wave of British Heavy Metal, [but] the lead guitar parts were always, for lack of a better word, 'pedestrian.' They weren't at the level of John Sykes. You had to really be a player to be like that.
Whitesnake had gone through different permutations of guitar sounds throughout the years, [but] Sykes didn’t sound like any other previous Whitesnake guitarist
Steve Vai
“So when I heard him, it opened up a lot of things for me, mentally, to try to be more like that, and when the solo comes to make it an exciting part of the song. That was something he was doing way, way back, before heavy metal was popular. So I think he left a big mark on a lot of people, not just myself.”
After leaving Whitesnake, Sykes joined up with drummer Carmine Appice and bass player Tony Franklin in the power trio Blue Murder before forging a solo career, releasing five albums.
He was, at varying points, in the running to join Def Leppard, Guns N’ Roses, and the Winery Dogs, and was planning to release his solo album Sy-Ops in 2025.
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