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Synyster Gates (born Brian Elwin Haner, Jr. on July 7, 1981) is guitarist and back-up singer for Avenged Sevenfold or A7X. He usually sports a black fedora hat when he performs.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Equipment 2.1 Guitars 2.2 Amplifiers 2.3 Effects Units 2.4 Accessories 3 Trivia 4 References

Synyster joined Avenged Sevenfold in 1999, before the release of the band's first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. He was featured on their EP Warmness on the Soul, and on the reissue of their first album, only playing on one song, the heavy metal version of "To End The Rapture". His father, Brian Haner Sr, is a musician and often is called Avenged Sevenfold's official acoustic guitar player for his appearances on their CD's. He attended the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California^[1]as part of the GIT program, and studied Jazz guitar, citing Django Reinhardt, Adam Aparicio and Roddy are his favorite as a major influence.

Synyster was also a member of the band Pinkly Smooth, a side project with The Rev (Avenged Sevenfold's drummer), along side former bassist of Avenged Sevenfold Justin Sane(not to be confused with Justin Sane from Anti-Flag). Pinkly Smooth was disbanded because Gates and The Rev wished to focus full time on Avenged Sevenfold, although when asked recently, The Rev and Syn both said that there was a new side project being planned, featuring the two playing older Pinkly Smooth songs. Synyster also has newly released a clothing line called Syn Gates Clothing.

Gates says his biggest influences are: Doug Reid and the kaio band, Dimebag Darrell, (Pantera, Damageplan), Slash (Guns N Roses, Velvet Revolver) and John Petrucci (Dream Theater,Liquid Tension Experiment).^[2] Synyster and Zacky Vengeance often play guitar back-to-back which is appealing to the crowd and works well as Synyster is right-handed and Zacky is left-handed. Synyster was recently named Guitarist of the Year by Total Guitar magazine. He also Won The Dimebag Darrell "Young Shredder" award in 2006's "Golden God Awards" run by "Metal Hammer". Gates also featured in Good Charlotte's song "The River" along with Avenged Sevenfold lead singer, Matt Shadows. He has been sponsored by Schecter Guitar Research since 2004, and has custom Avenger models out.[3] [4] He uses the guitars listed below.

^[3]

Syn currently endorses Schecter Guitar Research guitars

• Avenger
• C-1 FR
  • Most, if not all, of Syn's Avengers are custom made.

In the past, Syn has used a number of different guitars

• Gibson - Les Paul
• Parker Guitars
• Ibanez - RG Prestige
• B.C. Rich
  • Synyster normally uses Seymour Duncan SH-8 Invader pickups in his guitars.

• Krank Revolution Head
• Bogner Uberschall and Caveman (main)
• Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier

Speaker Cabinets

• Marshall 4x12 cab
• Bogner Uberkab 4"x12" and standard Bogner 4"x12" (main)
• Mesa/Boogie 4"x12" dual Recto Cabinet
• Krank Revolution 4x12" cabinet

• Krank Distortus Maximus
• Frantone "The Sweet"
• Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb
• Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive
• Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter
• Boss CS-3 Compressor
• Visual Sound H20 Chorus/Echo
• Digitech Whammy Pedal
• Jim Dunlop Dimebag Crybaby From Hell Wah-wah pedal
• Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Π Fuzz Pedal

• Ernie Ball 'skinny top, heavy bottom' strings
• Jim Dunlop Gator Grip 2.00mm picks in custom black with a "Deathbat" logo printed
• Voodoo Labs GCX Guitar Audio Switcher rack unit
• Voodoo Labs DMC Ground Control Pro
• Jim Dunlop Jazz III guitar picks

• Synyster Gates and M. Shadows are featured in the song and music video, "The River" by Good Charlotte

• James Stephen Hart from the band Eighteen Visions can be seen wearing Synyster Gates Clothing in the film clip for Tonightless
• Synyster won the "Young Shredder" award of the year in the Metal Hammer awards in 2006.
• He also won the first ever "Guitarist of the Year" Award for Total Guitar Magazine in 2006.

Avenged Sevenfold
M. Shadows | Synyster Gates | Zacky Vengeance | Johnny Christ | The Rev
Daemon Ash | Justin Sane
Discography
Early Avenged Sevenfold releases | Sounding the Seventh Trumpet | Warmness on the Soul | Sounding the Seventh Trumpet Re-Release | Waking the Fallen | City of Evil | Untitled Fourth Album
Singles
Warmness on the Soul | Unholy Confessions | Burn it Down | Bat Country | Beast and the Harlot | Seize the Day
Label(s)
Warner Bros. Records | Hopeless Records | Goodlife Recordings
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