[youtube]http://youtu.be/DzOV_FBVORk[/youtube]

By listening to Avenged Sevenfold’s musical output, you can pretty easily tell their influences – Iron Maiden here, Guns N’ Roses there, some Overkill (oh wait, that’s only their logo). You probably wouldn’t put Django Reinhardt on that list, but in a recent video for Guitar Center, guitarist Synyster Gates spoke about “la pompe” (or the pump), the percussive technique that forms the basis of the rhythm for gypsy jazz. He then proceeds to shred all over it on acoustic guitar. You might not be hearing any gypsy jazz in Avenged Sevenfold’s music, but your respect level for the band’s guitarist will likely go up a bit after watching this.