BIO
NATE WEST
PRIVATE EVENT MUSICIAN
Hi, I’m Nate! I’m a solo guitarist/singer, specializing in Weddings, Private Events, and Corporate Events.
Often utilizing live looping, I perform soulful, blues infused versions of your favorite songs from a wide variety of artists including Frank Sinatra, James Taylor, John Mayer, Michael Jackson, Drake, Chris Stapleton, Ed Sheeran, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and many more!
I’ve had the pleasure of performing at over 1,000 events at venues including House of Blues, Downtown Disney, The Roxy Theater, Luxury Weddings, Hotels, Wineries, Corporate Celebrations, Birthday Parties, as well as upscale Restaurants and Clubs.
I’ve learned every event is unique, so I take time to prepare an intentional set and performance, whether you’re requesting ambient instrumental background music or high energy, full volume sing-a-longs, I want to get it right, and make your event truly unforgettable.
reviews
“Nate played at our wedding and was amazing!! He played during cocktail hour and we received so many compliments from guests. Highly recommend!”
““I had the privilege of having Nate play at my wedding last October! I was so grateful when he took on this role for me. I knew I wanted just the perfect guitar piece as I walked down the aisle, yet wasn’t entirely sure what that would be. Music isn’t my strong suit, therefore I appreciated his ability to provide suggestions till we found what I was looking for. His knowledge and skill surpasses so many, and I am forever grateful for the beautiful moment he created for me on such an important day. Thank you for adding such a important detail to my wedding day!”.”
“Nate came and played a surprise party at our house. He was phenomenal! He really added a wonderful ambiance to the party. He was professional and very easy to work with. Would definitely hire him again.”
“Wow! Nate is a fantastic musician with a broad range of contemporary music that he sings in his style. We booked him for my wive’s 50th birthday party and he was stellar. He has a beautiful voice and exceptional musical talent. Everyone at the party raved about his singing and how much they enjoyed his music. Of course my wife was the star of the party, but we could have booked the party just as a concert. He is that good. I highly recommend him.”
“We heard Nate play at a restaurant one night my wife and I were out to dinner. He sounded amazing, and so we took a chance and asked him to play for our daughter’s 3rd birthday party. Luckily for us, he was available. He was the DIFFERENCE in our party. In fact, few of our guests booked him for some of the future parties of their own! Book him while you can folks, because he will go big time. He’s took talented not to!”
“Where to start! Nate has a great, smooth and soulful voice and has a personality to match! We booked Nate to play at our winery twice and was very easy to work with, and flexible with the schedule. Nate is great to book for any musical needs and brought an entertaining energy that is hard to beat!
100/10 would recommend!”
“I have hired Nate several times and at every party, my guests LOVED him. He can pretty much play anything you request and has a voice like an angel. He is great to work with and very responsive to all requests and forms of communication. He is willing to hear what your needs are and create exactly what you want. He is very talented and can play a variety of instruments. I would highly recommend Nate for weddings, social gatherings, background music and mellow poolside or bar performances.”
“We saw Nate play at pink martini and asked if he could do our back yard vow renewal. He was the best! Our guest love him. He was on time, so friendly and made the whole event. we danced the night away with his amazing voice. Thank you Nate for making my day perfect.”
VIDEO
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
Tennessee Whiskey
Fly Me To The Moon
Good Love Is On The Way
Somebody Like You
Contact
Have a question? Want Nate to perform at your next event? Fill out the form below and he'll get back to you soon!
LISTEN
Live Song Requests
Feel free to request a song for me to play during my live sets (see a list below). You can come up in person between songs and let me know what you’d like to hear or you can venmo me a tip HERE and leave the name of the song in the note section. I’ll see it on my screen and make it happen!
$10-$20 recommended tip per song ($20+ Thank You So Much!)
Below are some of my favorites as well as past requests to help you choose:
Adele - Rolling In The Deep
Adele - When We Were Young
Aerosmith - I Don’t Want To Close My Eyes
Allman Brothers - Midnight Rider
Amos Lee - Flower
Avicci - Wake Me Up
Beatles - Come Together
Beatles - Let it Be
Ben Rector - Brand New
Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine
Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are
CCR - Have You Ever Seen The Rain
CCR - Proud Mary
Charlie Puth - One Call Away
Chris Stapleton - Broken Halos
Chris Stapleton - Parachute
Chris Stapleton - Tennessee Whiskey
Chris Stapleton - The Traveller
Chris Stapleton - You Should Probably Leave
Cold Play - The Scientist
Cold Play - Viva La Vida
Cold Play - Yellow
Commodores - Easy
Crowded House - Don’t Dream It’s Over
Daniel Caesar (H.E.R.) - Best Part
David Ryan Harris - Turn Around
Drake - Hold On We're Going Home
Eagles - Hotel California
Eagles - Take it Easy
Eagles - Tequila Sunrise
Ed Sheeran - The A Team
Ed Sheeran - Photograph
Ed Sheeran - Thinking Outloud
Elvis - Can't Help Falling In Love With You
Eric Clapton - Change The World
Eric Clapton - Layla
Eric Clapton - Old Love
Eric Clapton - You Look Wonderful Tonight
Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
Fleetwood Mac - Landslide
Foy Vance - Casanova
Frank Sinatra - Fly Me To The Moon
Grateful Dead - Althea
Guns n Roses - Sweet Child of Mine
Hall and Oates - You Make My Dreams
Harry Styles - Watermelon Sugar
Jack Johnson - Better Together
James Taylor - Fire and Rain
James Taylor - You've Got A Friend
Jason Mraz - I'm Yours
Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower
Jimi Hendrix - Wait Til Tomorrow
John Denver - Country Roads
John legend - All Of Me
John Mayer - Good Love Is On The Way
John Mayer - I Don't Trust Myself
John Mayer - Love Soon
John Mayer - Neon
John Mayer - Queen of California
John Mayer - Slow Dancing In a Burning Room
John Mayer - Something Like Olivia
John Mayer - Waiting on The World to Change
Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
Journey - Don't Stop Believin
Kebmo - Life is Beautiful
Keith Urban - Somebody Like You
Lee Brice - Hard To Love
Leona Lewis - Keep Bleeding
Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World
Marc Cohn - Walking In Memphis
Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved
Michael Buble - Crazy Love
Michael Buble - Home
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Morgan Wallen - Hope That's True
Morgan Wallen - Last Night
Morgan Wallen - Spin You Around
Neil Young - Heart of Gold
Oasis - Champagne Supernova
One Republic - Apologize
Original Music By Me
Otis Redding - Sittin on The Dock of The Bay
Randy Newman (Toy Story) - You've Got a Friend
Ray Lamontagne - You Are The Best Thing
Ryan Adams - Lucky Now
Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy)
Steve Miller Band - The Joker
Steve Winwood - Can't Find My Way Home
Sting - Fields of Gold
Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero
Taylor Swift - Blank Space
The Temptations - My Girl
Thomas Rhett - Die A Happy Man
Tom Petty - Breakdown
Tom Petty - Learning To Fly
Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl
Zach Bryan - Pink Skies
My Gear
Below are my Affiliate Links to the products I use. By clicking on them, you’re supporting me and my content.
Loop Station
My Favorite Looper: Click Here
Almost 20 years ago I had my first experience with a looper. I was immediately hooked on the idea of layering tracks and creating something out of nothing. Starting with a simple guitar part and adding layers until you built a huge sound. It’s the ultimate creativity tool and so much fun. Loopers have come a long way since then and this particular looper wins big for me for it’s relatively small footprint, multiple instrument and xlr inputs, intelligent features, and if you want it to be, a true all in one system from looper, guitar/vocal tones, and mixer.
Wirelss Guitar System
My Pedal Board Friendly Wireless Guitar System: Click Here
If you’re like me, you’ve avoided the idea of a wireless system because of 3 reasons. High cost, reliability issues, and annoyance of needing to charge batteries. This year I decided to try out the Shure GLXD16+ and can confidently say, it was likely the best gear purchase I made all year. This tech has come a long way. The price is super reasonable for a professional grade product that includes a strong wireless connection and long battery life. No more tripping over cables and the ability to walk off stage with your guitar into the audience to sound check yourself as a gigging musician is so valuable to me.
In-Ear Monitor System
My In-Ear Monitoring System: Click Here
I realized for the sake of my performance, enjoyment, and health of my voice, investing in an In-Ear Monitoring System was something worth exploring. Musicians typically like things loud in our monitors and sometimes the venues want things a little more tame. The best solution to this I’ve found is to have your own mix and levels coming directly into your ears. Bonus, feedback becomes a thing of the past for the most part.
Vocal Mic
My Vocal Mic: Click Here
A great mic will not make you a great singer. But a bad mic will certainly get in the way of you sounding your best. After some trial and error with mics that buried my vocals I found one that I feel really cuts through the mix
Mic Stand
My Mic Stand: Click Here
Want to know possibly the worst purchase a live performer can make? A bad mic stand! Whether it droops, cracks, swivels, or completely falls apart, the wrong mic stand can zap the fun out of any performance. I’ve purchased many different stands over the years and after seeing so many pros use this exact stand, I now know why. Amazing components, once tight, it simply will not droop, and somehow both durable and lightweight. The best part is once I set this up, I know I don’t have to worry about it and can get to playing music!
Guitar Stand
My Guitar Stand: Click Here
Please, please, please don’t mess around with cheap guitar stands. After seeing guitars tip over and fall off standard stands, I suggest spending just a couple more dollars on something much more likely to hold up to bumps and stand the test of time.
ipad Holder
My iPad Holder: Click Here
Because some of my gigs can be hours long, I utilize an ipad for the lyrics and chords to some songs I haven’t played in awhile or audience requests. Hercules really nailed it with this product. It can be used with almost any tablet or phone whether you’re gigging or practicing at home. It’s designed to connect to mic stand and is definitely pro grade, like the majority of their products.
Cables
My XLR Cables: Click Here
My Quarter Inch (Instrument) Cables: Click Here
Here’s the thing about cables, you usually only notice them if there’s a problem. I have been pleasantly surprised with the quality and longevity of Mogami Cables. They use some of the best components available and will not compromise your sound. Over the years, I’ve had 2 cables have issues after many many gigs. I brought in the old cables to an authorized dealer and with no receipt, ID, or resistance, and after years of use, they simply took my old cable and gave me a brand new ones, no charge. I so appreciate a company who stands behind their product and can only hope this policy continues. I suggest going with the “Buy Once, Cry Once” philosophy when it comes to cables.
FX PEdal
My FX Pedal: Click Here
If you’re a guitar player today you know just as well as I do how many options you have when it comes to manipulating and enhancing your guitar sound, from giant boards packed with individual pedals to tiny boxes that emulate hundreds of options. I have a soft spot for BOTH. However, what I need most for my performances is with a click of a single button, I can get a usable tone and get into the music. The HX Stomp has continued to hold it’s own against the competition and I am free to plug in my acoustic or electric and get a great sound within seconds. As a plus, I think for everything this device does, it is competitively priced and has a small footprint.
Bass Sound
My Bass Sound: Click Here
In my loops, having the ability to make my guitar sound like a bass is so important. Adding a bass line really fills things out! I use the older OC-3 for now, but if I were to buy today, I’d likely get the new and improved OC-5. Something special about these pedals is the poly mode, where you can set the range of impact. For example, you can set the pedal to really only impact the lower strings, so in a way, you can play both bass and guitar at the same time. Lots of videos on this.
Page Turner
My Page Turner: Click Here
Often times my performance last 3-4 hours. That’s a lot of music! I use an ipad to assist me with lyrics and chords, especially with new songs. This bluetooth page turner allows me to handsfree to scroll through different songs and song sections.
Pedal Board
My Pedalboard: Click Here
I’ve owned this same board and case in 3 different sizes over the years. This is probably considered a medium size that can fit a fair amount of pedals without being a back breaker to carry around. The flight case is very sturdy and doubles as a sign during my performances.
Amazing small mixer
My Mixer/Pre Amp: Click Here
This is another piece of equipment that I bought, sold, and bought again when I realized I just couldn’t live without it. This little box fits on my board is responsible for a warm punch from my acoustic and amazing reverb! Not needing a separate mixer to plug in and find a stand for cuts down on time and it is truly remarkable at what it does.
PA System
My PA (with built-in mixer): Click Here
My PA (without built-in mixer): Click Here
My PA (smaller version with mixer): Click Here
Quick to setup, Easy to Load, Sounds AMAZING, deep lows, crystal highs, and wide dispersion of sound that will suit a variety of venues.
If you have a mixer you’re happy with, get the EV50. If you like the idea of a built in multi channel mixer, get the 50m. If you’re mostly playing smaller venues and this seems like overkill, the 30 will be great.
My Recorder: Click Here
Capturing a quality recording of my performances is important to me and for that I use a Zoom R4.
Recorder
Sampler
My Sampler (Drum Sounds): Click Here
I often loop in my performances and having the option to play samples of real drums brings my loops to a new level. This is an affordable, simple sampler that does the job.
MPC
My All in One MPC: Click Here
In my pursuit of sounding big as a one man band, from time to time you will see me creating and looping using an Akai MPC One. Akai has dominated this space for many years and for good reason. With this standalone unit, you can quickly create full songs without the need to connect an external computer. Every time I use it, I discover something new and realize, if I had to have one piece of gear, this might be it.
Capo
My Capo: Click Here
I’ve collected and tested many capos over the years and find myself going back and forth between a couple brands. However, when I found this capo it seemed to strike the right balance of accuracy and speed I’ve been looking for.
Pick
My Guitar Pick: Click Here
I’ve purchased thousands of guitar picks. All the shapes and sizes in a variety of thicknesses. This is the one that I always seem to come back to. The Dunlop Tortex .73mm.
Guitar Strings
My Acoustic Guitar Strings: Click Here
I remember when Elixir strings came out, guitar players rushed to see what it felt like to play with strings that had a special coating to extend the life of the string, requiring fewer changes. I was initially critical of what I described as a slimy feel and I thought for some reason that it was the cause of string breaks many years ago (which ended up being my guitar’s fault). Since then, these strings have come a LONG way and they now offer a coating (nano) that’s not as thick, so you still feel the string, but you do reduce the squeaks as you slide up and down the frets. Makes sense that several guitar builders ship their guitars with Elixirs!
Guitar Maintenance
My Favorite Guitar Maintenance Tools: Click Here
Sorry guitar players, but most of us can step up our game when it comes to taking care of our instruments. I typically change my string 1-3 times a month. Whether I’m doing a quick change before a gig or really taking my time to properly clean the neck and body, oil the fretboard, and lubricate the nut and saddle, Music Nomad just does NOT miss.
Cart
My Gear Cart: Click Here
Taking multiple trips to my car while loading in was a drag. I bought this cart in 2017 and hundreds of gigs later, it’s still going strong!
Guitar Case
My Guitar Case: Click Here
It took me too long to believe that a soft case of any kind would actually protect my guitars, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the quality, durability, and protection my mono case has provided. Padding is strategic, it’s light weight, wears like a backpack, and most importantly provides great protection (assuming you don’t body slam it or throw it in a wood chipper). This version is for acoustic, they make a version for electric, I have one that holds an acoustic and electric. Buy with confidence.
My Guitar Case Accessory: Click Here
Mono makes an accessory bag that attached to the backpack case and I love it. It perfectly fits my ipad, tip jar, guitar strap, promo cards, picks etc. Having more room to add the items I need for the gig really helps. Expect the same great quality that you get with their bigger cases.
Accessory Bag
It’s Their Day, Not Yours.
What Every Wedding Musician Must Know
Serve The Moment, Not Yourself
Whether you're playing a solo acoustic set at a vineyard ceremony or fronting a full band at a packed reception, being a wedding musician is about far more than just hitting the right notes. You are part of one of the most significant days in a couple's life. Here are the essential things every wedding musician must know to bring your A-game every time:
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1. Communicate Clearly and Professionally
From the very first email or call, communication sets the tone. Confirm details early, respond promptly, and be proactive. Ask the couple or planner what their vision is, what time they expect you to arrive, how many songs they want for the ceremony, and if there are any special cues to know. Clear communication avoids stress and builds trust.
2. Be Early. Always.
On wedding days, there is no such thing as "on time"—you need to be early. Give yourself margin for traffic, parking, unloading, and unexpected surprises. If you're not setting up at least 60–90 minutes before you're scheduled to start, you're late.
3. Be Thoughtful
You're not just a performer—you're part of someone's most meaningful celebration. Smile at the grandparents. Hold the door for a vendor carrying gear. These moments make you memorable and valuable beyond the music.
4. Plan Diligently, Adapt Easily
Rehearse your setlist. Know your cues. Have backups for your backups. But once the event begins, stay flexible. Maybe the bride is running 20 minutes late. Maybe the officiant skips a part and throws off your cue. A great wedding musician rolls with it like a pro.
5. Keep It Tidy
Your gear should be clean, organized, and as invisible as possible. Wires should be taped down. Cases tucked away. The more seamless your setup, the more elegant the experience feels.
6. This Is Not About You
You’re not there to steal the show—you’re there to support it. Don’t dominate the room. Don’t try to outshine the moment. Make the music memorable because it served the moment well, not because it was all about you.
7. You Are a Reflection of the Entire Vendor Team
Planners, photographers, venues—they're all watching, and your professionalism reflects on everyone. When you show up polished, prepared, and pleasant, it makes everyone’s job easier and increases your chances of being recommended again and again.
8. Music Is Deeply Personal and Impactful
You’re shaping moments that people will remember for the rest of their lives. The right chord progression during a walk down the aisle. The right tempo to start a father-daughter dance. You are literally scoring memories. Don’t take that lightly.
9. Attire Matters
Your look should match the tone of the event. Don’t guess—ask. A beach wedding has different expectations than a black-tie vineyard event. When in doubt, dress slightly above the vibe, not below it. You should blend in, not stick out.
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Final Thoughts
Being a wedding musician is one of the most rewarding roles in the industry. You get to create magic for people on the most important day of their lives. Take that seriously. Do it with excellence. And above all, serve the moment, not yourself.
Social Media Links
Click the buttons below to view clips of live performances.