During an appearance on the January 21 episode of SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman paid tribute to legendary English guitarist John Sykes (TYGERS OF PAN TANG, THIN LIZZY, WHITESNAKE, BLUE MURDER, SYKES),who died earlier this week at the age of 65.Friedman said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “John Sykes was a big influence to me when I was developing — when you’re a teenager and you’re developing your sound and what it is you wanna do in music. 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.”Somebody could maybe correct me but I think that John Sykes was the first guy, as a lead guitarist, at least the first guy who was under my radar, who was just playing mind-boggling guitar in that context,” Marty continued. “I mean, at that time it was like really cool rhythms and the solos were just kind of like just your basic regular solos that fit the songs fine. But when John Sykes came out on TYGERS, the ‘Spellbound’ album, this 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.’ And it was an extremely important influence to myself and a lot of the people that I’ve met over the years playing metal. So I just wanted to say that, and that I wish all the best to his family. And I know that everybody in the world of heavy metal and hard rock and guitar owes a lot to him. And I just wanted to get that off my chest, because it’s really sad to hear that type of thing. He had such great things to contribute.”Elaborating on what it was about Sykes’s playing that immediately stood out, Friedman said: “He was a simple dude. He’s not a dude that lives and dies by effects and strange sound textures. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that — some people have talents in that area, which I admire very much — but I think one thing that I was influenced by him is just [that he was] a straight plug-in guy, and it’s the hands and the sound and the touch and the intention. And so I think at that point, it was probably subliminal for me to pick that up. He wasn’t a guy who relied on tricks; he was a real player’s player. And 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, because I loved New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. And the lead guitar parts were always, for lack of a better word, kind of pedestrian. They definitely weren’t at the level of John Sykes. You had to really be a player to be like that. So when I heard him, it kind of opened up a lot of things for me mentally to try to be more like that and when the solo comes, 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.”Sykes, who performed with THIN LIZZY and WHITESNAKE in the 1980s, died following a battle with cancer, a statement posted on his verified Facebook page said on Monday (January 20).John’s best-known work was when he joined WHITESNAKE and co-wrote the band’s self-titled seventh studio album, released in 1987. It produced a major power ballad hit, “Is This Love”, along with the No. 1 hit “Here I Go Again”. The album was a major crossover hit, eventually selling over eight million copies in the U.S. alone.Sykes co-wrote nine of the tracks on “Whitesnake”, including mega-hits “Still Of The Night” and “Is This Love?”Sykes found himself thrown out of WHITESNAKE, alongside bassist Neil Murray and drummer Aynsley Dunbar, even before the album had been released. WHITESNAKE singer and leader David Coverdale then assembled an entirely different, MTV-friendly group to tour the record.Sykes announced his departure from THIN LIZZY in July 2009, explaining that “I feel it’s time to get back to playing my own music.”BLUE MURDER was formed by Sykes and released two studio albums — 1989’s self-titled effort and the 1993 follow-up, “Nothin’ But Trouble” — before calling it quits.