Mark Schatz After recently watching Mark's Intermediate Bluegrass Bass video, I thought an interview with him would be a great addition to Rockabillybass.com.
Mark Schatz is a prominent figure in the New Acoustic Music scene. Twice named IBMA Bass Player of the Year, he has worked and/or recorded with an impressive variety of artists including Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Maura O'Connell, Tony Rice, John Hartford, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, and Tim & Mollie O'Brien.
Mark is currently touring with Nickel Creek playing bass. He also acts as Musical Director for the internationally-acclaimed Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, which showcases his other talents such as clawhammer banjo and Southern Appalachian clog dancing.
December 2005
by Shawn Burrell
Mark has his own solo recording, Brand New Old Tyme Way, produced by Bela Fleck on Rounder Records, and two instructional bass videos on Homespun. He is about to release a new recording project called Steppin' in the Boilerhouse, featuring traditional and original material that Mark performs in his own project Mark Schatz & Friends.
Shawn: You have made a two upright bass instructional videos. I've seen the 'Intermediate Bluegrass Bass' video. Do you plan to make any more?
Mark: I currently have no plans to make any more bass instructional videos.
Shawn: What kind of bass or basses play?
Mark: For most of my professional career I played a carved German round back bass made in the early 1900s. About two years ago I bought a German-made Hawkes from around the same time period. This is a flat back called a "Professor" model which has slightly more sloped shoulders than most Hawkes which are known for their high, somewhat unmanageable shoulders.
Shawn: Strings are a very debated subject here at rockabillybass.com. What strings do you use?
Mark: I use the light gauge (weich) of Thomastic Spiracores.
Shawn: What kind of pickup or mic do you use?
Mark: Here's my live set-up: I've got a Shure SM-98 lavalier mike mounted inside the bass (close to the top, pointed roughly between the legs of the bridge) and a Fishman BP-100 which is their pickup which clips to the top of the bridge. I run these two signals through a blender, either a Chardstuff Acoustin Helper (made by Richard Battaglia) or a Fishman bass blender (an earlier model unfortunately not available any more). I generally run this mix through some kind of small amp as a stage monitor. I give the sound guy either the same mix I'm using for the amp or separate lines for the mic and pickup if he wants them separately and if I trust him/her to do a reasonable mix of the two. I also have a Fishman Full Circle pickup which is set inside a bridge adjuster that you replace your original adjuster with. In most situations I don't use the Full Circle because the BP-100 is wired with the mic to run to the blender, but in my current gig with Nickel Creek the sound guy (Phil Crumrine) takes the Full Circle signal and mixes that with everything else (including a mic on my amp) to get the sound he likes.
In the studio I use all manner of things. A large diaphram mic is good placed somewhere around bridge height, and something like a Neumann KM-84 pointed at the top near the fingerboard makes a nice stereo addition. Sometimes I'll record the pickup as well. When I played on Nickel Creek's most recent CD, Why Should the Fire Die, the engineer really liked the sound of a Realist Pickup made by David Gage of NY.
Shawn: How do you record bass when you play slap?
Mark: I don't slap that much when I record so when I do it's generally the same mic set-up that I use for regular pizz. My inclination would be to get some space between the mic and the bass - maybe a couple of feet. That's assuming you've got a room to yourself and are not worried about other instruments bleeding into your mic.
Shawn: Can you name your slap bass influences and their recordings?
Mark: I can't name a lot of folks who have influenced me because I've generally just heard them in passing and picked up a few things. One person who did some great slapping whose playing was a big inspiration to me was Roy Huskey Jr.
Shawn: Why do you think slap style has died in modern country music?
Mark: I don't have enough background to have much of an opinion about this. I recall hearing some slap stuff in some early country and rock and roll but I think this was to add some percussion to rhythm sections without drums or with minimal drums like early Elvis and some Johnny and Jack material.
Shawn: in your opinion, what is difference in playing slap on gut and steel strings? And which do prefer?
Mark: I don't have any basses set up with gut strings, but the few times I've played basses with gut or nylon strings I have enjoyed slap bass on that instrument and felt like it was a superior sound to steel strings. If I had a gig where slap bass predominated I would seriously consider using some kind of gut or nylon string. The snap of steel strings is a bit harsh, and can be louder than the bass note itself. I've learned to make it work, but there's nothing like high action and gut strings for slap bass.
Shawn: You were voted bass player of the year in 1994 and 1995 by IBMA, but now play a lot of clawhammer banjo (besides Nickel Creek). Do you spend more time playing banjo or bass?
Mark: For most of my professional life I've made a living as a bass player, both live and in the studio. There was a period from around 2000 to 2002 when I was not getting many calls to play the bass. I had lived in Nashville for 15 years but was spending more and more time in the Annapolis, MD area to be with my girlfriend (now my wife) and was a bit out of the loop for bass gigs.
I got more involved with my wife's dance company (Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble) as Musical Director and Road Manager and started to pursue my clawhammer banjo aspirations more in earnest. I did some tours and made a new CD (my second solo endeavor featuring my original compositions) with the intention of pursuing this aspect of my musical personality more aggressively. Then in the spring of '03 I got the call from Nickel Creek which brought me back into the bass world again. Their music draws from a very wide palette and has inspired to work seriously on all aspects of my playing including arco, pizz, and slap bass.
Shawn: You have played on a lot of records, but there are not many songs where you use slap. Why?
Mark: It has not been stylistically very predominant in the music I have recorded. Even in traditional bluegrass slap bass only appears sporadically and most of what I've done has been on the more contemporary side of that (Tony Rice, Tim O'Brien). I'd say that I'd be more likely to use it in a live situation that on a recording - for a solo or to punctuate a particular place in a song or tune where I wouldn't be obliterating someone's solo.
That's not to say that I don't love it. I try to practice it with some consistency in order to be able to be in full control of it in the rare instances that I use it. It's a little like arco (bowed) bass. I don't use it much live or on recordings (there's more in Nickel Creek's material than any previous band I've played with), but I work on it all of the time so that it's there when I need it. That said, check out 'Everything is Broken' on Tim O'Brien's Red on Blond CD.
Shawn: Do you suggest that people use any particular method for learning bass?
Mark: There are many ways to learn any instrument and all of them are good for different reasons. A classical approach can give you a very methodical approach to the instrument which can offer a lot of facility and flexibility - you learn by positions so you always have a context for playing in any key and it can help you get around an instrument that can be rather ungainly because of its size. You learn bow technique as well with a classical approach if this is something that's of interest. I personally love the voice of the bass when it's bowed but it takes a concerted investment of time and care to really make it sing. Check out Edgar Meyer if you want some inspiration in this area. That's where I got mine.
Listening to other bass players is your best bet for learning any particular style whether it's bluegrass, funk, R&B, Reggae, jazz, etc. Just hanging out and exchanging ideas with other players is a great way to expand one's technical and musical understanding. Instructional videos like the ones I have on Homespun can be good supplements as well.
Shawn: Thank's Mark!
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