Nate Lopez has always been surrounded by music. Born in 1979 in California, his mother often sang and played piano, always encouraging creativity and open-mindedness. Nate took piano lessons in his youth until becoming frustrated with his piano teacher's rigidity, at which point Nate quit the piano lessons and started studying on his own. Nate's Uncle Ricardo on his father's side was an incredible Mexican folk guitarist, exposing Nate to two handed tapping, hammer-ons, and many other styles of guitar. When Ricardo died in 1992, he left his guitar to Nate's father, Marcus, who then gave it to Nate. The guitar immediately made sense to Nate, and as soon as he began to experiment with it he realized he was playing bass lines on it, at which point he got a bass guitar that he played for many years. Nate studied western music at Solano College and North Indian Classical music at the Ali Akbar School of Music. Over time, Nate has acquired a broad array of musical interests and skills, and is always exposing himself and others to different sounds and styles.
Nate has been gigging professionally in the Bay Area for more than 15 years, and continues to play often with many different types of groups. Nate has been a featured artist at many venues such as The Catalyst Club-Santa Cruz, Ghiradelli Square-San Francisco, Hopmonk-Sebastopol, 19th and Broadway-Fairfax, Watermelon Music-Davis, Laguna Art and Music Festival, Napa Valley Film Festival, Sonoma Art and Wine Festival, Mustard Festaval at COPIA, City of Santa Rosa, Marin County Fair, Sacramento City College, Sonoma State University, Solano College, to name a few. Currently Nate Lopez has been playing his custom Novax 8-string bass/guitar with loops and effects, as well as a self-modified 7 string acoustic Baritone guitar. Nate produces many styles of music including jazz standards and not so standards, Hindustani music, as well as original music. From Jazz solo and duo projects to Big Band Jazz, Funk, North Indian Classical music, Afro-Cuban, and Hip Hop, Nate's signature style is diverse, lyrical, and absolutely his own. Despite keeping busy with gigs and collaborations, Nate continues to develop and grow musically. To learn more about Nate, hear his music, and download songs for free, go to http://www.natelopez.com, or visit http://www.myspace.com/natelopeztrio
