Question About Holding Strapless

tm3

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I've always been intrigued by players who hold the uke strapless and whale away on it as I don't understand how they do it without turning the uke into a projectile.

Yesterday I read a tip on how to do it. Anchor the butt (base?) of the uke on the bicep, lay the forearm on the soundboard under the strings, and strum where the fingers rest over the neck.

Sure enough, this seems to give the most stable strapless hold that I've tried. But here is my question. In this position, my index finger is around the 6th fret. If the fretting hand goes up the neck we are going to have a collision. So do you bend the wrist 90 degrees to get the strumming finger closer to where the neck meets the body? That feels like an awfully cramped position for finger picking, for those who graduate to that level.
 
I'm no expert but here's my method... Most of my support comes from the spot between the thumb and the index finger of my fretting hand. I also use my inner right wrist (almost half-way to my elbow) very lightly against the bottom of the uke body just to give the body something to rest on.
 
A good quality ukulele banjo is heavy, much heavier than a wooden uke. The pros who play banjulele regularly never use a strap.
 
I'm no expert but here's my method... Most of my support comes from the spot between the thumb and the index finger of my fretting hand. I also use my inner right wrist (almost half-way to my elbow) very lightly against the bottom of the uke body just to give the body something to rest on.

A good quality ukulele banjo is heavy, much heavier than a wooden uke. The pros who play banjulele regularly never use a strap.

Thanks for the comments. James Hill also talks about resting the neck on the L hand at the base of the index finger; I do that some, but find that I can't fret some chords from that position especially if I keep my thumb on the back of the neck as I've been instructed.

Impressive about the banjolele -- heck, I'm impressed by those playing regular ukes who pull it off.

I can sort of pull it off if I anchor in my bicep (which puts my strumming hand way up the neck), or if I'm mindful to occasionally stabilize the uke by grabbing it with my strumming hand (which I think is also a no-no).

Maybe I should just stick with the strap.
 
Good uke instructors teach holding uke in their first lesson and I think that Keiki on Hawaii also learn it in school. I don't think you are supposed to put your arm or anything ON the soundboard, rather you kinda tuck the uke into your elbow area and that fits the right hand into perfect position for strumming or picking and also provides enough support that you don't need to hold it with your left hand. At the same time contact of uke with body is small so it still can vibrate freely. There must be some videos that show this.
 
The Ukulele Underground YouTube channel has a good tutorial on how to hold your ukulele:
 
Maybe I should just stick with the strap.

If you strum mostly, you may get strapless working after some exercise.
If you do fingerpicking, especially difficult fingerpicking, strap can free your left hand from supporting the neck, and improve your left hand dexterity significantly.

After struggling with strapless playing for several months, eventually I stick with strap, and won't look back. Life is too short to spend on determining on strap or not.
I use a "necklace strap", that hangs on my neck, and hooks into the sound hole, so no need strap buttons on the Ukulele. It's not that stable, but good enough.
 
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there is no right or wrong. It is all about you and your ukulele. For me, I always use a nice leather strap. The accessorizing is fun. Also I was lazing about in a rocking chair and playing around with add9 chords when I fell asleep, but since I was strapped the uke didn't hit the ground. Often I find I need to consult something on my music stand, or re-light my pipe, or walk to the kitchen to get a beverage. I do these things with the uke strapped to me. It would be awkward to hold a uke and try to make an old-fashioned at the same time. There are other advantages like added resonance by not muffling the uke between your torso and arm. However, the main point is to do what works for you and your playing context.
 
I'm afraid I don't understand the "showmanship" aspect of playing strapless. A strap makes playing anything complicated so much easier, unless you plan to sit all of the time. I have played a soprano strapless, but only strumming chords.
Uke strap.jpg
 
Thanks for the additional comments, and especially for the videos -- they are very helpful. I don't see strapless as a "must" but it's something I'm very curious about as to this point I have not really gotten it and the tip I came across about anchoring in the bicep seemed to make things work except for the position and contortion of the R hand. The UU video cleared all that up and "biceps anchor" has been tossed overboard.

I'm unable to support the uke with just my R arm, shirtsleeves or not. If I keep a light touch on it as JH says then the neck does a dive, and if I tighten up with the R arm the neck goes out away from my body. Cradling with the L hand works to a point, but I can't put my thumb behind the neck for proper chording and cradle at the same time.

I'm guessing that there is a missing piece here that is being done but not being addressed. I took a brief rock climbing lesson once and the instructor impressed that it was important to always maintain (at least) three points of contact on the rock to keep from falling. I'm guessing that probably without even thinking about it the strapless players are always maintaining two points of contact with the uke, whether it is the side of the L hand, a fretting finger, whatever. Anyway when I focus on doing that things seem to work. It also looks to me that when he is playing JH occasionally stabilizes his uke by touching the body of it with the fingers of his R hand, which he doesn't mention.

Not a critical problem by any means but like a lot of things uke I find it to be interesting and I appreciate the contributions from everyone.
 
I'm afraid I don't understand the "showmanship" aspect of playing strapless. A strap makes playing anything complicated so much easier, unless you plan to sit all of the time. I have played a soprano strapless, but only strumming chords.
View attachment 134380

No showmanship about it. I don't understand why it is so hard to play without one. I mean, it isn't like one is trying to hold up a dreadnought guitar. When I'm doing a gig I use a strap so that it frees up my hands to do other things, but when I play I hike the uke up and pull it into my body to play it, leaving slack in the strap. I do not find it advantageous to let the uke dangle.
 
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