upstroke(sukui)this is my mount fuji, and i am still at the base after 2yrs, i keep catching the string too much,tips much appreciated
You should leave all your strength behind. A “tocuh” may be the best word.
Hi Brian,
I took a while to think about what I did to overcome this problem when I first started, and I think I might know what’s giving you an issue, based on my experience. My problem with the upstroke had to do with the angle of the bachi in relation to the strings.
If you think of the bachi as an arrow, with the tip of the arrow being the bekko half (or just the wider half of the bachi, depending on what material you use), you’ll want the arrow to be parallel with the strings.
If the tip of the arrow points towards the strings, then the string starts to catch on the straight edge of the bachi’s front, causing the upstroke to be overdone and difficult to perform.
When the arrow is parallel with the string, all the string will catch is the tip of the bachi, which is what you want for an easy upstroke.
And, as the arrow points away from the strings and off the dou, the upstroke becomes even easier. However, at this point you start to notice that the tone becomes much weaker due to the fact that the string is really just sliding along the curved edge behind the tip of the bachi. Not as much force goes into the pluck.
On a side note, I’ve found that the easy upstrokes that come from pointing the bachi away from the strings enable you to effectively “strum” the shamisen to a degree.
I’m totally self-taught, so I’m probably not qualified to be giving you advice on technique…It’s probably better to think of this as my humble suggestion, as this is just what worked for me. For a more experienced answer, you might want to message Kyle. He would definitely be able to give you some good tips. Nevertheless, I hope that I was able to help you out in some way or another! 
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Thanks, i getting a better idea from both answers, when i start i always end up in mai bachi postion, as a rule of thumb are most songs with sukui in them played mai bachi or should i attempt to glue my arm to ushiro bachi postion?
Hello Brian,
I think more than 90% of the Sukui is at front postion.
The most unique aspect of Tsugaru-shamisen is Front-Back stroke of Bachi. So, when you play it, you always, must have a feeling of which Bachi (front or back) position you are trying to do. Ohterwise, you end up somewhere in the middle and that is not good for Tsugaru.
I can understand you end up in the front position as you play along because I had the same trouble when I started. One reason for me was I had too much tension of Sukui. So my best advice is “relax” when you do Sukui; don’t have to pick(Sukui), just “touch” it.
And, Denver’s advice is also great. Keep the Bachi parallel to the fornt of Dou, 90 degree angle. It takes time to get used to it, but at some point of time, you will be able to do it without knowing why
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Hai, i can see a small footpath up the mountain now, thank you both for great advice, i will look for you,s at the top
As a new comer here, I say thank you too. 
As Li-hao says you are probably using too much strength!
I had this problem as well when I started out. When you start to experiment with not using as much strength you may find yourself in the situation where you feel you hold the bachi too loose and that the angle will change when you do the up-stroke.
If this happens, try to perform the whole up-stroke very slowly and with very little force. You will then notice the exact moment where the string is too much of an obstacle for the loosely held bachi. It is in this moment that you should experiment with your index finger, the thumb and maybe the other fingers as well. The index finger should support the bachi’s way upwards when you hit the string, and it should prevent the angle of the bachi to change.
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