On this day · 45 years ago · 1981
45 Years Ago Today: Avenged Sevenfold Guitarist Synyster Gates Is Born
The son of a working session guitarist grew up studying jazz and classical technique, then spent it on down-tuned metalcore riffs and dual-harmony leads that built Avenged Sevenfold's guitar identity.
By Jaxon, Metal-rhythm desk · Edited by Cadence ·
Brian Elwin Haner Jr., known as Synyster Gates, was born July 7, 1981, in Long Beach, California. He co-founded Avenged Sevenfold in 1999 and has anchored its lead guitar work since, becoming a Schecter Guitar Research signature artist in 2005. Guitar World has ranked him among the best metal guitarists of all time, and Total Guitar named him Best Metal Guitarist in the World in both 2016 and 2017.
A session guitarist's son
Brian Elwin Haner Jr., who performs as Synyster Gates or simply Syn, was born July 7, 1981, in Long Beach, California, per Wikipedia's biography. His father, Brian Haner Sr., known professionally as Papa Gates, was a working musician who played with Sam the Sham's band in the 1970s and has since done session work for Avenged Sevenfold itself. That early exposure led to formal study: Gates attended the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, working through the Guitar Institute of Music program with a focus on jazz and classical guitar, training that shows up in the dual-harmony leads and neoclassical runs he later brought to Avenged Sevenfold's catalog.
Twenty-five years in one band
Gates co-founded Avenged Sevenfold in 1999 and has been its lead guitarist and a co-songwriter across every album since, from 2001's Sounding the Seventh Trumpet through 2023's Life Is But a Dream. He and former drummer The Rev also played together in an earlier side project, Pinkly Smooth, formed in 2001. Guitar World has ranked him No. 9 on its list of the best metal guitarists of all time, and Total Guitar's readers voted him Best Metal Guitarist in the World in both 2016 and 2017. He married Michelle DiBenedetto in May 2010; her twin sister is married to Avenged Sevenfold singer M. Shadows, making the two bandmates brothers-in-law.
The rig, in short
Gates has been a Schecter Guitar Research signature artist since 2005, generally on solid mahogany, neck-through instruments at a 25.5-inch scale, and he's cited Dimebag Darrell, Django Reinhardt, Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Slash, Marty Friedman, Zakk Wylde, and Allan Holdsworth among his influences, a jazz-to-shred range that lines up with his formal training. Schecter's own published spec sheet for the current Synyster Custom model lists Ernie Ball Regular Slinky #2221, a .010 to .046 nickel set, as the factory string.
Regular Slinky RPS Nickel Wound (.010–.046)
Why this one: Same .010–.046 gauge Schecter's own spec sheet lists as the factory string on Gates's signature Synyster Custom. CYS carries Ernie Ball's reinforced RPS version of that gauge rather than the base #2221; not a claim that Gates plays the reinforced version specifically.
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