Biography

In the Avenged Sevenfold DVD All Excess he recalls that before Avenged Sevenfold, he was in a one time punk band called MPA*, which stands for Mad Porno Action. He implies that they were not successful. He and M. Shadows (who at the time was singer for a band named Successful Failure) formed Avenged Sevenfold. He was also responsible for the creation of the acronym "A7X".[1] He is left-handed. He taught himself how to play the guitar when he was thirteen.

The guitar he first learned on was actually his dad's, who was right-handed. He learned by watching his favorite bands and other people he knew who played and practiced as much as he could. He would also read each edition of Guitar World cover to cover, learning the tabs of the songs published in there and watching the professionals perform it until he got it right. His influences in his style are Rancid, Misfits and Bad Religion. Zacky's favorite bands also include Pantera, Metallica, ELIXIR, and Guns N Roses.

Personal Life
Zacky V.

Zacky released a clothing line called [1]"Vengeance University." He just released a new site called Vengenz.com. The line currently features t-shirts, hoodies, and belt buckles. Many, if not all of the shirts in the line include his trademark "Est. 6661". The site is updated weekly with photos of travels and a "Gangster of the Week". He has a sister named Zina Baker, who is now named Zina Pacheco. His sister has two kids named Gianna and Gavin. He has a brother named Matt Baker, who was with the band Dear & Departed. His parents are named James and Maria. Taught himself to play guitar on his fathers guitar when he was thirteen years old.

Equipment

Guitars
Zacky uses Schecter Guitars, and endorses the company.
* The Vengeance custom S-1
* The Vengeance Standard model
* The ZV special
* The ZV Blade
* "Gynecologist"(blood splatter)
* Zacky has many custom shop S-1 models made exclusively for him.
* All models are loaded with Seymour Duncan JB Pickups

* Zacky has been seen using 2 Fender Telecasters in recent live performances.

Amplifiers
* Bogner Ubershall and Caveman Head
* Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Head
* Marshall JCM-2000

Speaker cabinets
* Bogner Uberkab 4x12 Cabinet
* Mesa/Boogie Rectifier Cabinet

Effects units and accessories
* Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
* Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor
* Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus
* Line 6 Tonecore Coise Constrictor
* Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler
* Line 6 PODxt Pro
* Seymour Duncan SFX-01 Pickup Booster
* Voodoo Lab PEDAL POWER 2
* Voodoo Lab GCX Audio Switcher
* Ernie Ball "Skinny Top, Heavy Bottom 10-52" strings[2]
* Dunlop Tortex Yellow plectrums 0.73mm (Avenged Sevenfold logo)
* White Get'm Get'm Sergeant Stripes Strap