He is remembered with the solo he performed on the coffin: Who is Synyster Gates?

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 <3" written on the fretboard.

The band's 5th and first album without "The Rev", "Nightmare", was released on July 27, 2010. Mike Portnoy, former drummer of Dream Theater, played drums on this album. According to the statement made on the Avenged Sevenfold website, it was stated that the recordings went well and Rev would be proud. This album includes the song "So Far Away", which was written for "The Rev" and is one of the band's most famous songs. In the video of the song, we see our band members in a mental hospital. The clip begins with the "Death Bat" on Matt Shadow's hand, which resembles Rev. The clip ends with a surprise prepared by Avenged Sevenfold. The video for So Far Away depicts the band members' friendship with Rev. The clip was very emotional for both Avenged Sevenfold and the fans.

In the statements made by Avenged Sevenfold and Mike Portnoy on 17.12.2010, it was said that they would part ways in 2011. It has been announced that Avenged Sevenfold will continue as a group of four members from now on, and that there will be a drummer, but he will not appear as a band member and will only play in studio work and concerts. The reason is that the band already has a drummer: The Rev. In 2013, it was announced that Arin Ilejay joined the group. The band's second album without Rev, "Hail to the King", was released on August 27, 2013. This album is Arin Ilejay's first album with Avenged Sevenfold, and he also appeared on stage with the group during their concert tour in 2011.

Guitar Technique

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. Over time, he added techniques such as bending, dive bomb and alternate picking to this technique. Although his solos are mostly based on speed, he played very heavy and emotional solos in the songs "Seize the Day" and "So Far Away". Apart from solos, he is also considered very successful in writing riffs.

Private life

Synyster Gates married the twin sister of his childhood friend and bandmate Matt Shadows' wife on October 1, 2009.

In the early years of Sevenfold, Gates appeared with his long hair, black eye make-up, tattoos and a fedora hat. He cut his hair after the City of Evil album. During the Hail to the King album, he changed his hair style and stopped using eye make-up.