I'm a new player coming from guitar and banjo. I play with a variety of right hand techniques including a travis picking like fingerstyle, a couple kinds of strumming, and clawhammer (adapted from banjo).
One thing I notice is the uke is hard to hold steady when strumming or playing clawhammer, specifically when your left hand comes off the strings (playing open or transitioning). Examples: playing something clawhammer and you go from open strings to a hammer-on the 3rd fret of the 1st string to do a hammer-on --> c-chord. In the moment before you hammer-on, no left hand fingers are pinning the neck down and it wobbles around. Another example is strumming and moving up or down the neck (say several frets) quickly between strums, transitioning from one chord shape to another. In between strums there are no left hand fingers pressing on the fret board, as your left hand is only contacting the back of the fret board as you slide up or down. The uke then bobs around too much making it hard to transition well.
One workaround is to sit the neck into the pocket of your left hand and that holds it very steady but also makes it difficult to do many chords. Most discourage that kind of grip. I've been trying to squeeze the uke body between my body and my right forearm but that can be confining to the right hand and doesn't steady it that much.
What are some other ways to steady it?
One thing I notice is the uke is hard to hold steady when strumming or playing clawhammer, specifically when your left hand comes off the strings (playing open or transitioning). Examples: playing something clawhammer and you go from open strings to a hammer-on the 3rd fret of the 1st string to do a hammer-on --> c-chord. In the moment before you hammer-on, no left hand fingers are pinning the neck down and it wobbles around. Another example is strumming and moving up or down the neck (say several frets) quickly between strums, transitioning from one chord shape to another. In between strums there are no left hand fingers pressing on the fret board, as your left hand is only contacting the back of the fret board as you slide up or down. The uke then bobs around too much making it hard to transition well.
One workaround is to sit the neck into the pocket of your left hand and that holds it very steady but also makes it difficult to do many chords. Most discourage that kind of grip. I've been trying to squeeze the uke body between my body and my right forearm but that can be confining to the right hand and doesn't steady it that much.
What are some other ways to steady it?