“Rock That Cradle Lucy”–Learn a Baritone Version of this Old-Time Tune

BY ARRON KEIM | FROM THE WINTER 2024 ISSUE OF UKULELE

The baritone ukulele has become my favorite instrument since I started playing in a duo with my wife, Nicole. Its lower pitch and deeper tone are great for accompanying singing, and my solos cut through her strumming patterns on the tenor ukulele. This baritone arrangement of “Rock That Cradle Lucy” uses the thumb and fingers to play the melody and accompaniment simultaneously. I learned this piece from a 1929 recording by Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers. Tanner (1885–1960) was a fiddler from Georgia who interpreted many popular standards of American folk music, including “Old Joe Clark,” “John Henry,” “Soldier’s Joy,” and “Cotton-Eyed Joe.”

“Rock That Cradle Lucy” is a fiddle breakdown but also includes vocals. If you’d like to learn the lyrics, I suggest listening to the source recording on YouTube. When I perform this song, I alternate between playing the solo version here as the instrumental break and strumming the chords while I sing. I typically use my thumb to play alternating bass patterns on the two lowest strings, which suits American folk music, while my index and middle fingers mainly play the second and first strings, respectively.

Most of the piece features a picking technique called a pinch, where the thumb and one of the fingers play simultaneously. These are generally quarter notes, although there are some eighth notes in certain sections. Note the hammer-on in measure 15, where the right hand picks string 2 before the fretting finger forcefully drops onto the second fret. This causes two notes to sound from one pluck, a handy technique that helps keep up with the fiddlers.

The melody often comes directly from the chord shape or a slight alteration of it, so use the left-hand chord shapes here as a starting point. For instance, in the first measure, the first two melody notes are already held down by forming the D chord shape. The third note is created by simply lifting the finger off the first string. The last melody note is on string 2 at the third fret, which is already fingered when making the D chord.

Old-time string band music often has a fast tempo because it originates from a dance music tradition. It can take a lot of practice to play a piece up to square dance tempo cleanly, so I encourage you to start slow and gradually work up to speed. In this case, we are lucky that “Rock That Cradle Lucy,” when played slowly, seems to work as a lullaby!

For more arrangements like this, check out Aaron’s book 10 Old Time Tunes for Baritone Ukulele, available at quietamericanmusic.com.