“Honestly, I wanted to grab my guitar and smash it through the wall!”: Zacky Vengeance on being put through his paces by Synyster Gates on Avenged Sevenfold’s latest album
Avenged Sevenfold’s 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’ discography.
And in a new podcast episode with YouTuber Nik Nocturnal, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance reflects on trying to keep up with his co-guitarist while recording the band’s sprawling prog-influenced latest album, Life Is But A Dream…
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“Dude, I’ve got to be in a band with fucking Synyster Gates!” he jokes. “That dude, he comes up with the craziest jazz chords – and he’s got long-ass fucking fingers… He can span seven, eight frets. And he can play faster than almost anyone. He just can.
“I always say there’s certain shit I cannot do. The same as you can’t run faster than [Jamaican sprinter] Usain Bolt at the Olympics. I can’t 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.
Zacky continues: “Even with Life Is But A Dream, I had to learn stuff that I’ve never even fathomed and chords I can’t even – but it’s fun! But at first, I mean, honestly, I wanted to grab my guitar and smash it through the wall. But once you’ve got it, you’re happy you did it.”
A highlight of Synyster Gates playing on Life Is But A Dream… comes with a ludicrous solo at the end of third track Nobody. Check it out below:
Elsewhere in the interview, Zacky Vengeance reflects on writing the riff for Waking the Fallen track Unholy Confessions, which remains one of the band’s biggest songs, and is often argued to be one of the quintessential metalcore riffs.
“It kind of blows my mind because having written that riff, I was a kid, you know? I was, like, 20 years old,” he says. “And you have no idea that it’s gonna have an impact when you’re writing it. It was a riff I was playing when I lived in my parents house, when we were touring in a van – running through it at soundcheck.
He explains that he wrote the riff as a byproduct of learning to play guitar. “I was a punk rock guitarist in high school – I grew up learning punk songs, like Bad Religion songs, Pennywise songs, and stuff like that.
“And then when me and Matt started Avenged, he started showing me stuff like At The Gates, Children of Bodom, In Flames, Pantera – shit that I wasn’t fully used to. And I was like this shit’s fucking awesome. I don’t know how to play it though. I can’t play this shit.
“So I was practicing and practicing. I’ve 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’t think there’s ever not a learning phase. I’m still learning.”
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.
The post “Honestly, I wanted to grab my guitar and smash it through the wall!”: Zacky Vengeance on being put through his paces by Synyster Gates on Avenged Sevenfold’s latest album appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
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