Nate Radley

Teaching Topics and Philosophy

Teaching topics include the following. Fretboard knowledge: the location of scales, arpeggios and voicings across the entire neck. Rhythm: including the development of a good “feel” as well as an understanding of different meters, subdivisions, and groupings. Technique: in particular right hand picking techniques (pick, pick and fingers, fingerstyle) and left hand articulation (legato playing, for instance). Chord voicings, voice-leading and chord melody playing. Studying different styles of guitar for inspiration: jazz, blues, rock, classical, metal, country and others.

The first element of my teaching philosophy is to listen to the student: find out what their goals are, what their learning style is, where they want to go with music. Secondly, I think that because most of the music I teach involves improvisation I think it is important that the concepts studied get applied right away towards improvising. So I use a lot of approaches that I think help take ideas away from being theoretical and try to incorporate them into the natural playing style of the individual. Everybody always adapts ideas to their own style in different ways, and I think that is one of the coolest things about playing and studying music.

Biography

Nate Radley is a guitarist and composer who as been described as “an emerging player to watch” and a “brilliant… player on the New York scene.” He can be heard with a variety of collaborative projects and as a sideman in numerous bands both in the New York area and around the world.

Current projects that Nate is working with include the bands Bad Touch, Akiko Pavolka’s House of Illusion, Marc Mommaas’ Landmarc, the Alan Ferber Nonet, and many others. He can be heard most recently on “Like a Magic Kiss” by Bad Touch, “Winter Fruits” with the Loren Stillman Quartet on Pirouette Records, “Landmarc” with Marc Mommaas on Sunnyside Records, and “Evolution” by Jon Gordon on the Artistshare label.

Nate has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe and played at jazz festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and the Atlanta Jazz Festival. He has performed and recorded with artists such as Matt Wilson, Donny McCaslin, Mark Turner, Chris Potter, Greg Osby, Cuong Vu, Seamus Blake, John McNeil, Maria Schneider, and others.

Nate studied jazz guitar and composition at New England Conservatory in Boston, MA where he received a Master’s in Music. He studied with John Abercrombie, Bob Brookmeyer, Jerry Bergonzi, and George Russell. He also has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Chicago.

Nate has over ten years teaching experience, and in addition to teaching at the New York Jazz Workshop he currently teaches jazz guitar, music theory, and jazz ensembles at the Center for Preparatory studies in Music at Queens College and private guitar lessons at the Bloomingdale School of Music. Nate has also taught clinics at high schools and universities throughout the United States.

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