{"id":2315526,"date":"2026-03-06T13:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2315526"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:26:09","slug":"zacky-vengeance-on-being-put-through-his-paces-by-synyster-gates-on-avenged-sevenfolds-latest-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/zacky-vengeance-on-being-put-through-his-paces-by-synyster-gates-on-avenged-sevenfolds-latest-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Zacky Vengeance on being put through his paces by Synyster Gates on Avenged Sevenfold\u2019s latest album"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-io-article-url=\"https:\/\/guitar.com\/news\/music-news\/zacky-vengeance-on-being-put-through-his-paces-by-synyster-gates-on-avenged-sevenfolds-latest-album\/\">\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/guitar.com\/artists\/avenged-sevenfold\/\">Avenged Sevenfold<\/a>\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/guitar.com\/artists\/synyster-gates\/\">Synyster Gates<\/a> has solidified himself as one of the most technically proficient and wildly creative guitarists in rock and metal music in the last 25 years. Known for his devilishly accurate sweep picking and fretboard-spanning rapid-fire solos, his face-melting guitar work is present across the Huntington Beach metallers\u2019 discography.<\/p>\n<p>And in a new podcast episode with YouTuber Nik Nocturnal, rhythm guitarist <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/guitar.com\/artists\/zacky-vengeance\/\">Zacky Vengeance<\/a> reflects on trying to keep up with his co-guitarist while recording the band\u2019s sprawling prog-influenced latest album, <i>Life Is But A Dream\u2026<\/i><b\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDude, I\u2019ve got to be in a band with fucking Synyster Gates!\u201d he jokes. \u201cThat dude, he comes up with the craziest jazz chords \u2013 and he\u2019s got long-ass fucking fingers\u2026 He can span seven, eight frets. And he can play faster than almost anyone. He just can.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always say there\u2019s certain shit I cannot do. The same as you can\u2019t run faster than [Jamaican sprinter] Usain Bolt at the Olympics. I can\u2019t play shit as fast as he can play it, no matter how hard I try. I can set the metronome, I can try and try and try.<\/p>\n<p>Zacky continues: \u201cEven with <i>Life Is But A Dream<\/i>, I had to learn stuff that I\u2019ve never even fathomed and chords I can\u2019t even \u2013 but it\u2019s fun! But at first, I mean, honestly, I wanted to grab my guitar and smash it through the wall. But once you\u2019ve got it, you\u2019re happy you did it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A highlight of Synyster Gates playing on <i>Life Is But A Dream\u2026<\/i> comes with a ludicrous solo at the end of third track <i>Nobody<\/i>. Check it out below:<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Avenged Sevenfold - Nobody (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UjrRTY2UDjw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Elsewhere in the interview, Zacky Vengeance reflects on writing the riff for <i>Waking the Fallen<\/i> track <i>Unholy Confessions<\/i>, which remains one of the band\u2019s biggest songs, and is often argued to be one of <i>the <\/i>quintessential metalcore riffs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt kind of blows my mind because having written that riff, I was a kid, you know? I was, like, 20 years old,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd you have no idea that it\u2019s gonna have an impact when you\u2019re writing it. It was a riff I was playing when I lived in my parents house, when we were touring in a van \u2013 running through it at soundcheck.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Avenged Sevenfold - Unholy Confessions (Original First Cut Music Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3FZlG8Jztxk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>He explains that he wrote the riff as a byproduct of learning to play guitar. \u201cI was a punk rock guitarist in high school \u2013 I grew up learning punk songs, like <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/guitar.com\/artists\/bad-religion\/\">Bad Religion<\/a> songs, Pennywise songs, and stuff like that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then when me and Matt started Avenged, he started showing me stuff like <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/guitar.com\/artists\/at-the-gates\/\">At The Gates<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/guitar.com\/artists\/children-of-bodom\/\">Children of Bodom<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/guitar.com\/artists\/in-flames\/\">In Flames<\/a>, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/guitar.com\/artists\/pantera\/\">Pantera<\/a> \u2013 shit that I wasn\u2019t fully used to. And I was like this shit\u2019s fucking awesome. I don\u2019t know how to play it though. I can\u2019t play this shit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I was practicing and practicing. I\u2019ve never taken any lessons but I was just trying to play what I heard and come up with riffs, and it was still a full learning phase. And honestly, with guitar, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s ever <i>not <\/i>a learning phase. I\u2019m still learning.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zacky Vengeance on the Early Days of Avenged Sevenfold\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ILPa1liAZ-A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><b><i>Zacky Vengeance is set to release his debut solo record, Dark Horse, on 3 April, 2026. Artistically, the project sees him use his real name, Zachary Baker.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zachary Baker - Dark Horse (Official Lyric Visualizer)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XwmXiyDf4RA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('consent', 'revoke');\nfbq('init', '1000361170607343');\nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n    <\/script><script>\nwindow.loadInstagram = () => {\n  var js = document.createElement('script');\n  var firstScript = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];\n  js.async = 1;\n  js.src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\";\n  firstScript.parentNode.insertBefore(js, firstScript);\n  return true;\n};\nwindow.loadTiktok = () => {\n  var js = document.createElement('script');\n  var firstScript = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];\n  js.async = 1;\n  js.src=\"https:\/\/tiktok.com\/embed.js\";\n  firstScript.parentNode.insertBefore(js, firstScript);\n  return true;\n};\nwindow.loadReddit = () => {\n  var js = document.createElement('script');\n  var firstScript = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];\n  js.async = 1;\n  js.src=\"https:\/\/embed.reddit.com\/widgets.js\";\n  firstScript.parentNode.insertBefore(js, firstScript);\n  return true;\n};\nwindow.loadFacebook = () => {\n  window.fbAsyncInit = () => { FB.init({ xfbml: true, version: 'v17.0' }); };\n  var js = document.createElement('script');\n  var firstScript = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];\n  js.async = 1;\n  js.defer = 1;\n  js.src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n  firstScript.parentNode.insertBefore(js, firstScript);\n  return true;\n};\n    <\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source guitar.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Avenged Sevenfold\u2019s Synyster Gates has solidified himself as one of the most technically proficient and wildly creative guitarists in rock and metal music in the last 25 years. Known for his devilishly accurate sweep picking and fretboard-spanning rapid-fire solos, his face-melting guitar work is present across the Huntington Beach metallers\u2019 discography. And in a new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2315527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[310928],"class_list":["post-2315526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-artist"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Zacky-Vengeance-on-being-put-through-his-paces-by-Synyster.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2315526"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2315528,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315526\/revisions\/2315528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2315526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2315526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2315526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}