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Monday, February 20, 2012

The #81 Guitarist of the Rock Era: Synyster Gates

One of the fastest guitarists in The Top 100 takes position #81:
#81:  Synyster Gates, Avenged Sevenfold
14 years as an active guitarist

Brian Elwin Haner, Jr. was born July 7, 1981 in Huntington Beach, California.  He is the lead guitarist of Avenged Sevenfold.

Haner went to Mayfair High School in Lakewood, California but transferred and graduated from Huntington Beach High School.  He pretty much taught himself how to play guitar by watching music videos and reading books and his father was also a guitarist.  Haner studied jazz and classical guitar in the Guitar Institute of Technology program at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood.  After a year at the Institute, he joined Avenged Sevenfold as lead guitarist after being invited by his best friend who goes by the stage name The Rev when they were both 18.

The group had just released their debut album Sounding the Seventh Trumpet.  The group has released four stuio albums with Gates, Waking the Fallen, City of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold and Nightmare.

Gates has won several awards, including the 2006 "Young Shredder" award from Metal Hammer and the 206 Total Guitar Magazine "Guitarist of the Year".  While he doesn't have near the experience of most of The Top 100 Guitarists of the Rock Era*, he has proven himself to be a guitarist with the talent necessary to make the list in the relatively short time he has been active.

Haner also played in the group Pinkly Smooth as a side project, releasing one album in 2001.  Gates, as he is now known, has also played on several albums by other groups, including providing guitar on "The River" by Good Charlotte. 

Gates prefers Schecter Guitars and they have several signature Avenger models with Duncan SH-8 Invaders and Sustainiac neck pickup sustainer.  He also owns several other Schecters including the PT Fastback, the Banshee and the Cutom C-1 FR, and a Gibson Les Paul, a Parker Fly, an Ibanez RG Prestige and a 1957 Fender Stratocaster Deluxe.

Gates prefers Bogner amps but has also used others including those from Marshall (JVM205H), several Boss amps and Mesa/Boogie.  He uses Krank (Distortus Maximus), the Frantone "The Sweet" Distortion, the Digitech Whammy Pedal, the Crybaby by Dunlop, the Budda Custom Wah, , the Ernie Ball Wah Pedal and several effects from MXR (the MC-401 Boost Pedal, the Carbon Copy Delay and the Custom Comp).


The rapid-fire approach of Synyster Gates...#81 for the Rock Era...

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