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" 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
Doing
Year
Two
Related Quotes:
" 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
Together
Doing
Focused
" I used my Schecter for all my rhythms and most of my solos, certainly the fast solos. "
Synyster Gates
Rhythms
Fast
Most
" We're happier when we're with friends on tour. "
Synyster Gates
Tour
Friends
Happier
" 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
Practice
Feel
Will
" Lyrically, 'Nightmare' is an absolute masterpiece to me. "
Synyster Gates
Absolute
Masterpiece
Me
" 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
Great
Speed
Start
" 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
Think
Guitar
Me
" Bullet for My Valentine, we're bros. We've been in the trenches with those guys. "
Synyster Gates
Guys
Been
Bros
" 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
Push
Band
Forward
" 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
Because
Will
Down
" All of my solos were improvised initially - I would go in and get my bearings and see what I came up with. "
Synyster Gates
Up
Get
See
" 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
Some
Talk
Mean
" 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
Hotel
Me
Music
" 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
Getting Older
Good
Success
" 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
Write
Like
Love
" We really wanted to circumvent that online learning curve, where it's virtually impossible to use words to explain music. "
Synyster Gates
Learning
Music
Words
" 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
Evil
You
People
" 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
Weird
Think
People
" 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
Music
Me
Living
" Everybody's lost somebody, and I think they all miss them incredibly. "
Synyster Gates
Miss
Somebody
Think
" 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
Like
Boss
Weapon
" 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
Hard
Us
Time
" 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
Line
Down
Drop
" 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
You
Talking
More
" 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
People
Need
Some People
" 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
You
Here
Funky
" My little brother played drums, so we had a drum set over at my house. "
Synyster Gates
House
Brother
Little Brother
" 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
Legacy
You
Know
" We're more about other things over odd timings: orchestration, composition, horn/vocal arrangements - that's where we get super weird. "
Synyster Gates
Odd
Things
Weird
" 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
Doing
People
Always