Synyster Gates Quotes

“I think, back when I was younger, I was a lot more confident about certain things that I would write, and I didn’t need the band’s blessing or agreement; I would just kind of fight for it ’cause I knew it was good. And then the problem with getting older, especially when there’s some success involved, you have a different measuring stick.”

― Synyster Gates

“We’ve had some huge moments. But we’ve always been on a steady, gentle, upward slope, and I think that keeps us grounded. There’s been no overnight success here, and we haven’t dealt with a whole lot of hot and cold.”

― Synyster Gates

“If you want to do things right, you have to dig deep for that inspiration.”

― Synyster Gates

“I am a product of an amalgamation of different teachers. If it was just one teacher, even just my father, I would be half the player that I am today.”

― Synyster Gates

“We wanted to do something really, really different, something next level, and use new technology and things.”

― Synyster Gates

“Just based on the primary adage of the necessity breeding innovation, it was just like ‘Well, what makes me the guitar player that I am?’ and I feel like I listen to so much different music, and I’m a student of so many genres of music, and I feel like it’s fun to apply those things and anything super applicable to any type of music.”

― Synyster Gates

“I don’t like being locked in a cage on the creative scale. I need an outlet.”

― Synyster Gates

“We really wanted to circumvent that online learning curve, where it’s virtually impossible to use words to explain music.”

― Synyster Gates

“Our singer, Matt, was reading Stephen Hawking and other physics-related books, and I was reading entrepreneurial books, and we all started discussing the new technologies that were taking over the world, from 3-D printing to space travel. These conversations starting leading us to think of how we could portray these things in a musical way.”

― Synyster Gates

“We listen to a lot of hip hop. They’re the ones that are trailblazing. It used to be rock, but it’s really turned to hip hop, and they’re doing really unique and cool things, and we wanted to do that, too.”

― Synyster Gates

“My favorite punk rock song is ‘Linoleum’ by NOFX. That’s pure harmony, the coolest chord changes.”

― Synyster Gates

“Rolling Stones came later for me. I was a Beatles guy. All of us were pretty much more along the lines of Beatles guys than we were Stones or Elvis.”

― Synyster Gates

“Korn is great friends of ours, so to be on tour with friends is usually our number one. We’ve been very blessed to meet a lot of great bands, successful bands, that we can go tour with.”

― Synyster Gates

“I find that drummers are the coolest people in the world. I play a little bit of drums.”

― Synyster Gates

“The thing about me is that I’m very fortunate to have had the opportunities with Avenged Sevenfold in songwriting. I really think it’s helped to bolster my guitar playing as well.”

― Synyster Gates

“I try to, at least, think very melodically, and my band forces me to think very melodically.”

― Synyster Gates

“We kinda were a radio-rock band. We were still pretty technical, but I think the prog people hated us because we didn’t do a bunch of weird time signatures… which are cool at times, but I’m more interested in progressive harmony.”

― Synyster Gates

“We’re more about other things over odd timings: orchestration, composition, horn/vocal arrangements – that’s where we get super weird.”

― Synyster Gates

“I’m not a big-effects sort of guy – I like to keep it simple.”

― Synyster Gates

“We interact with the crowd, turn it into a party.”

― Synyster Gates

“We listen to a lot of classical and a lot of jazz, and so you get some funky notes here and there. And we get a little experimental in some of the deeper tracks.”

― Synyster Gates

“We have a lot of fun. There are no holds barred when it comes to writing music for us.”

― Synyster Gates

“We’re not gonna write a fusion song for Avenged Sevenfold, obviously, but I love having those elements and blending it in, and having the eclectic arrangements and stuff like that.”

― Synyster Gates

“It’s very important to focus on the music first. That’s always number one. But after that, it’s extremely important to just have fun with what you’re doing.”

― Synyster Gates

“I wouldn’t be one-third of the player I am today if it wasn’t for Avenged. They’re an inspiring group of guys, and I’m constantly challenged to write things beyond my ability and then figure out how to play them.”

― Synyster Gates

“In a studio situation, I’m able to dig deep and come up with stuff that all the guys think fits the vibe of the song. And I think that’s partly due to the fact that I grew up listening to just about everything under the sun. I’m very open to music, and I like to do things in a traditional and musical way.”

― Synyster Gates

“I don’t really play a lot of slide in general, but it was fun getting into that style and exploring it.”

― Synyster Gates

“We have to do everything a hundred and ten percent when we’re doing it. If we’re on tour, we’re constantly thinking of different ways to make the show better, or whatever it is.”

― Synyster Gates

“We don’t ever spread ourselves too thin. And sometimes it’s a little bit to the chagrin of our fans; they don’t get albums… I mean, The Beatles were doing two albums a year at one point.”

― Synyster Gates

“I don’t feel like we have that Paul McCartney gene, and I think the cool thing about us is that we know it.”

― Synyster Gates

“Sometimes, with more progressive songs, you lose that feel somewhere along the line, but ‘This Means War’ never quits – the energy is always there.”

― Synyster Gates

“All of my solos were improvised initially – I would go in and get my bearings and see what I came up with.”

― Synyster Gates

“Lyrically, ‘Planets’ is the precursor to ‘Acid Rain’; it’s about a meteoric, intergalactic war that results in an apocalypse and the human species aligning together to go fight something much better than us, our individual trials and tribulations.”

― Synyster Gates

“I think if you go to ‘Strength of the World,’ a song like that, the chorus isn’t that great, but you go into the bridge and other things and the catchier parts and the better melodies we were really focused on.”

― Synyster Gates

“I’m obsessed with great endings and crazy intros and stuff like that. I think we all are from what we’ve listened to and stuff, so I’ve always focused on great bridge melodies that just kind of naturally fit, or like a crazy ending at the end of ‘Seize the Day,’ something like that.”

― Synyster Gates

“Lyrically, ‘Nightmare’ is an absolute masterpiece to me.”

― Synyster Gates

“My father was a studio musician, played for a lot of people like Frank Zappa and a lot of R&B bands, and was always gone doing that. Then when he was home, he was practicing. And so I always saw it, and I always wanted to do what he did.”

― Synyster Gates

“Everything from the lyrics to the production, solos to the writing – it’s all democratic. At the end of the day, you know, when you’re all done with the grind – which it is always an incredible grind for us to write records – I think it makes it that much more special to hear the final product.”

― Synyster Gates

“We’re fans of stuff like Maiden, but I think we generally get it from weirder places. For me, the Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’ represents one of the most brilliant harmony approaches to music. Boston did it very well, too.”

― Synyster Gates

“If I’m proud of one thing in my playing, it’s being able to slow it down and focus on the melody.”

― Synyster Gates

“Some people will basically just shred all over everything, even a ballad. I’m glad I wasn’t born with that genetic chip – the need to just wheedle-whee all over the place.”

― Synyster Gates

“We spend a lot of time with MIDI keyboards and various processors, and we just figure it out. And all those things you hear in our songs work as submelodies and countermelodies, and everything has to fit.”

― Synyster Gates

“When we try and blend the two together, the songwriting and the touring like we did before, it doesn’t really work. We tend to become very focused on what we are doing. And we tend to be a little bit one-track-minded.”

― Synyster Gates

“We’re very much perfectionists, so when we’re putting on a huge show and want to play to the best of ability, we rehearse intensely. And I have a guitar pretty much in my hand for at least five hours before doing a show. I’m just noodling and mucking around and working on some of the songs here and there.”

― Synyster Gates

“As you get a little older and start drinking a bit more coffee, you start talking about big-boy things a little more.”

― Synyster Gates

“I’m a huge Weezer fan, and ‘Pinkerton’ is just a crazy, crazy neurotic album.”

― Synyster Gates

“I can’t imagine doing anything cooler or better than what we did on ‘The Stage’ and felt like we’re firing on all cylinders.”

― Synyster Gates

“There is no doubt in my mind that I was going to do what my father did, but it wasn’t kind of a family-business thing.”

― Synyster Gates

“I think it’s beneficial to practice with a metronome or drum machine in order to strengthen your sense of time. It will help your concept of time and improve your feel.”

― Synyster Gates

“When practicing, it’s great to break a part down into its different elements, start slowly, and then try to build up the speed until you’re playing as fast as you possibly can.”

― Synyster Gates

“I hate to debunk the myth – kids don’t wanna hear it – but as songwriters, you have to polish your craft a little bit and hone it as much as possible.”

― Synyster Gates

“Usually when we go in to cut demos, one of us will lay down some mumbling sort of stuff for the vocal melodies because the lyrics don’t come until later.”

― Synyster Gates

“I used my Schecter for all my rhythms and most of my solos, certainly the fast solos.”

― Synyster Gates

“There’s nothing like having some healthy competition. We really strive to think outside the box by taking the standard approach the then twisting it a little, all the while trying something new.”

― Synyster Gates

“We’re fortunate that our fans worldwide have really embraced our evolution. We know how lucky we are. We want to change people’s lives. I’m not saying we’re God’s gift, but we’re trying to make a difference.”

― Synyster Gates

“We’re trying to leave no stone unturned, to push forward in every aspect of what it means to be a band. Because this really matters to us. Metal matters to us. And we know exactly how much it means to kids out there, too.”

― Synyster Gates

“I hope we’re not the last of the Mohicans when it comes to putting on a big, crazy, over-the-top theatrical rock show.”

― Synyster Gates

“When kids invest their time and money in coming to see us, we owe it to them to give them the best night of their lives.”

― Synyster Gates

“My fans, they know my dad as Guitar Guy or whatever, and he’s kind of just this shredder that plays on my records sometimes. But they don’t know his ear and how rich his harmonic scope is.”

― Synyster Gates

“Breaking Benjamin, they’re such incredible songwriters.”

― Synyster Gates

“Maybe we’ll do some fun stuff here and there, but I don’t want to record any more songs.”

― Synyster Gates

“Bullet for My Valentine, we’re bros. We’ve been in the trenches with those guys.”

― Synyster Gates

“Breaking Benjamin, talk about songwriting, I mean, some of the greatest songwriters of the modern era. And, obviously, it’s a little heavier.”

― Synyster Gates

“We’re happier when we’re with friends on tour.”

― Synyster Gates

“We spent a lot of time in the studio. I mean, we’ve spent a lot of time on tour, too.”

― Synyster Gates

“He happens to be my father and an incredible musician. When he gets lucky, we let him into the studio for 20 minutes to hear a song which has been previously written for him.”

― Synyster Gates

“During our formative years, it was all about, ‘What did Metallica do?’ and ‘How do we do that?’ and then you try and find an identity of your own, but they’re still… They were the pioneers and the trailblazers.”

― Synyster Gates

“Everybody’s lost somebody, and I think they all miss them incredibly.”

― Synyster Gates

“It’s really fun to just get on a bike and just go and, I guess in a way, to be able to leave the tour and not be confined and all that kind of stuff.”

― Synyster Gates

“We tried our best for so long to make the heaviest record we could make.”

― Synyster Gates

“For the first two weeks after he passed, we were done as a band. We were just done. And because of the fans and Jimmy’s parents and relatives and stuff like that, they just demanded that we continue on and spread the legacy that is, you know, the crazy James ‘The Rev’ Sullivan.”

― Synyster Gates

“My little brother played drums, so we had a drum set over at my house.”

― Synyster Gates

“I use Bogner amps and custom-designed Schecter guitars with Seymour Duncan Invader pickups. I beef up my tone with a Boss CS- 3 Compression Sustainer. It’s kinda like my secret weapon.”

― Synyster Gates

“I don’t like using fourths and fifths. Instead, I’ll come up with a harmony line made up of major and minor thirds above the melody, then I’ll drop it down an octave so that the melody is on top and the harmony line is major and minor sixths below it.”

― Synyster Gates

“I learned sweep picking from a variety of sources. One was a Frank Gambale instructional video, but he executes his sweeps a little differently.”

― Synyster Gates

“I was living out of my truck for a short while. My dad wanted to emancipate me at 16 and send me to music college.”

― Synyster Gates

“If you write a country song, and it’s the best song you’ve ever written but throw it out because you’re a metal band, you’d be an idiot.”

― Synyster Gates

“We make sure we have total artistic control with our albums. We were working with Interscope Records, and they had a hard time with us having all the control. So when we signed with Warner Bros., we told them we would be working hands-on with our producer, and they were cool with it.”

― Synyster Gates

“There are those people who try to change what you’re doing. We don’t like that. When we went into the studio for ‘City of Evil,’ we had 99 percent of the songs finished and ready to record.”

― Synyster Gates

“When we do find someone we trust, like our tour manager, they become an official part of the band. We take our time to make sure whoever we trust has our best interest in mind.”

― Synyster Gates

“Our music is being played on MTV and the radio. That’s something that still blows us away. And we did it our way.”

― Synyster Gates