TATE MCKAY

GUITAR | BASS

Raised in Point Loma, Tate McKay began playing guitar at the age of 8. His early years of music included private lessons, in-school band, jazz band, and orchestra classes, as well as after school programs including the First Friday Music Club and the Young Lions Jazz Conservatory. For high school, he attended the San Diego School for Creative and Performing arts where he traveled with their renowned jazz program and studied with Dr John Reynolds.

After graduating high school, he majored in Jazz Studies at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Missing the San Diego music scene, he transferred to San Diego State University and continued his music studies in his hometown. His diverse and notable music mentors include Peter Sprague, Bob Palmieri, Grant Fleener, Gilbert Castellanos, Denis Carrol, Glen Fisher, Anthony Smith, and many others.

Tate has been teaching and performing for the better part of a decade. Currently, through a local music nonprofit, he is a guitar coach at Correia Middle and performs regularly with his jazz trio, the San Diego Funk All-Stars, Supercool, the SotoSix, and many more groups. He is dedicated to music education across all skill levels and ages, with an emphasis, not only on music mastery, but also on the joy of studying music.