Brian Elwin Haner, Jr. (born July 7, 1981), better known by his stage name Synyster Gates or simply Syn, is an American musician. He is currently the lead guitarist for metalcore band Avenged Sevenfold.
Early
Haner went to Mayfair High School in Lakewood, California and also Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach, California.
Haner attended, but did not graduate from, the Musicians Institute in Hollywood as part of the GIT program, studying jazz guitar. Up until that time he was primarily self taught by watching music videos and reading books, which is surprising because his father was/is a songwriter and guitar player, having played with Frank Zappa during his career. After six or so months of being there, he got a phone call from The Rev (and the rest of the current line up of Avenged Sevenfold) asking him if he wanted to join the band as lead guitarist. Haner joined up with them rather than continuing his education and becoming a studio musician.
Avenged Sevenfold
Brian joined Avenged Sevenfold when he was 18 at the end of 1999, right before the recording 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. He also plays piano for the band on songs such as "Beast and the Harlot" and "Sidewinder", though a friend of the band, bassist Justin Meacham, played the piano on Warmness on the Soul.
In the Avenged Sevenfold DVD All Excess, to emphasize the seemingly random placing of names, Brian stated that his name was thought of on a drunken drive through the park with The Rev. His exact words were: "I am Synyster Gates, and I am awesome!"
He has won numerous awards, including the "Young Shredder" award of the year in the Metal Hammer awards in 2006 and the "Guitarist of the Year" Award for Total Guitar Magazine in 2006.
Pinkly Smooth
Brian along with the band's drummer The Rev formely played in an avant-garde metal band named Pinkly Smooth. They both however quit the band as they wished to concentrate on Avenged Sevenfold full time.
Personal Life
Brian has a younger brother Brent and a younger sister McKenna. His father, Brian Haner Sr., is a musician and comedian known as "Guitar Guy", and is currently on tour with Jeff Dunham.
Haner cites Django Reinhardt, Dimebag Darrell, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, John Petrucci, Adam Aparicio and Francis Canavan as his favorite guitarists and major influences. In June 2008 Guitar World magazine interviewed Brian, reader Shawn Butterfield asked "You're one hell of a guitarist. But who do you really look up to?" to which he responded "Definitely Slash, the Ozzy guitar dudes, Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom, Jimi Hendrix of course, Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin, a lot man!".
Equipment
Gates is endorsed by Schecter Guitars, as is Zacky Vengeance, almost all of his guitars are customised and fitted with Seymour Duncan Invader pickups. He has his own signature releases of his main guitar, The Schecter Synsyter Custom and Schecter Synyster Standard, both of which are avalaible for sale to the public. Also through his time with Schecter Guitars he has had made several variations of his custom models that are not available to the public but can be seen on music videos, the A7X DVD's, and in Youtube videos. Before Schecter made him his signature guitar, he used a Schecter C1-FR as his main guitar. In the "Unholy Confessions" music video, he plays a white Gibson Les Paul. He also plays a Parker Fly guitar which can be seen in a performance of "Second Heartbeat" during Warped Tour 2004. Also, in the "All Excess" video, a footage of the band's early performance sees him play an Ibanez guitar, possibly an Ibanez RG. Most recently, one or a couple of his main guitar has a sustanic pick-up fitted for its neck position.
Here is a list of the different variations of his signature guitar:
* The Original Synyster Custom (Black with Silver Pimp Stripes) (Main guitar)
* The First Synyster Custom (Black with Red Pimp Stripes) (Not available to the public) (As seen in the "Beast and the Harlot" music video)
* The Afterlife Synyster Custom (White with Gold Pimp Stripes) (Only 100 of these are available to the public) (As seen in the "Afterlife" music video)
* The American Flag Synyster Custom (American Flag on the Body with no pimp stripes and a white headstock) (Not available to the public) (Briefly seen in the "Making of Avenged Sevenfold" MVI Video)
* The German Flag Synyster Custom (The German Flag on the body with no pimp stripes and a matching headstock) ( Not available to the public) (Briefly seen in the "All Excess" video)
* The Rebel Flag Synyster Custom (Rebel Flag without pimp stripes with a matching headstock) (Not available to the public) (Briefly seen in the "Making of Avenged Sevenfold" MVI video)
* The Red Synyster Custom (This is the rarest of all his custom guitar, it is possibly an early prototype model of his custom guitar that Schecter build for him) (Red with black pimp stripes) (Not available to the public) Here's a video on youtube of Synyster Gates with it, Synyster Gates - Let Me Be Your Wings Video, at around 2:12.
White 2003 Schecter C1-FR
* Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom strings
* Mahogany body
* Set Maple Neck
* Rosewood Fingerboard
* Black Hardware
* Original Made in Germany Floyd Rose Recessed bridge
* Master Volume Master Tone (push/pull pot on time control for tap on both pick ups)
* 3 Way Toggle Switch
* Side football jack plate
* Schaller Strap locking System
* Floyd Rose R2 locking Nut
* Grover Tuning peg
* Gray Pearl Binding on body
* Dot inlays
* USA Duncan Invader pickups in white
* Black pickup mounting ring
* Black head stock
* Solid White body
* Black Dome knobs on Control
Black Schecter Synyster Custom
Mahogany body Set mahogany neck 25.5" scale Ebony fingerboard 24 jumbo frets Deathbat and gothic-font SYN custom fretboard inlays 2 custom Seymour Duncan Custom Invader pickups Vol/Tone controls 3-way pickup selector Original Floyd Rose tremolo Black binding Grover tuners Black hardware Gloss-black finish with silver pin stripes
(from Wikipedia)
