Famous for his complex and melodic guitar solos, Gates mostly writes solos based on the guitar technique called "sweep picking", which is a fast-playing technique. In the early years, Gates appeared with his long hair, black eye make-up, tattoos, and a fedora hat.
Synyster Gates, or the real name Brian Elwin Haner Junior, was born on July 7, 1981 in California. His father, Brian Haner, is also a musician and guitarist. Gates is the lead guitarist of the band Avenged Sevenfold.
Avenged Sevenfold is a music group founded in Huntington Beach, California in 1999. It is also known by the abbreviation “A7X”. It was founded by Matt Shadows (vocals), Zacky Vengeance (rhythm guitar), Synyster Gates (lead guitar), and The Rev (drums), who were still high school students at the time. The band plays metal and hardcore style music and became famous thanks to this.
Brian Elwin Haner Jr. (born July 7, 1981), better known by his stage name Synyster Gates or simply Syn, is an American guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. He ranks No. 9 on Guitar World's best metal guitarists of all time. Gates was voted as Best Metal Guitarist in the World by Total Guitar in 2016 and once again in 2017.
Especially the complex guitar solos written by Synster Gates and Zacky Vengeance and performed successfully in live performances made the band famous. The band's first album, "Sounding the Seventh Trumpet", was released in July 2001. The band members were only 18 years old when this album was released. Synyster Gates gave a very successful electric guitar solo performance in the song "Warmness On The Soul" from this album and won the admiration of many music lovers.
Their second album “Waking the Fallen” was released in 2003. This is the first album recorded with Johnny Cristin, who is currently a bassist in the band. Synyster Gates played much more complex and melodic solos in this album compared to the first album.
"City Of Evil", the band's third and one of the most popular albums, was released on June 7, 2005. The most popular and famous songs of the album are “Bat Country”, “Beast and the Harlot”, “Burn it Down” and “Seize the Day”. Synyster Gates is remembered with the solo he performed on the coffin in the music video for the song Seize Day. The Flamenco-style guitar solo at the end of the song "Sidewinder", which is also included in the album, was played and recorded by Synyster Gates' father, Brian Haner. The songs in this album have also been used in many computer games (Ex: Need For Speed: Most Wanted). The group made a name for itself with the album City of Evil, selling 785,000 copies in America and over one million worldwide.
The group has DVDs covering behind-the-scenes and life stories. In All Excess, they tell how the group came together, their comments about each other, and information about the people in their lives. On October 30, 2007, the band's self-titled album "Avenged Sevenfold" was released. Thanks to the songs "Almost Easy" and "Afterlife" in the album, the audience increased and the songs became popular. Apart from these, songs such as "Dear God" and "Gunslinger" from this album also received great acclaim. In addition, the band recorded the "LBC" concert they gave after the album and released it as a concert album under the name "Diamonds In The Rough".
December 28, 2009 went down in history as the saddest day in the group's history. James Owen “Jimmy” Sullivan, stage name “The Rev”, one of the founders of the band and Gates' closest friend in the band, was found dead in his home. On June 4, 2010, it was announced in Rolling Stone magazine that the cause of death was acute poisoning caused by ethanol (alcohol) taken with drugs called oxycodone, oxymorphone, diazepam / nordiazepam. After Revin's death, Gates started using a guitar with "REV