Chords for Luther Dickinson - "Hurry Up Sunrise" [Song Stories & Guitar Ramblings]

[D] _ [G] _ [A] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ [Dm] _ _ [F] _ _ [D] _ [C] _
_ [D] _ [G] _ [D] Hurry Up Sunrise is a song that came from sitting on my dear friend Otha Turner's front
porch back in the early 90s, back when I was just a kid.
My friend and I, R.L.
Boyce, we both played guitars.
And we would [N] sit over on Otha's porch in the evening and play the night away.
And after Otha passed, I went through all my tapes.
Because I used to bring a video camera whenever I'd go down to Otha's and just throw it in the corner.
I wasn't trying to film anything, I was just recording the audio.
So I went through the tapes and transcribed all of Otha's lyrics and organized them into
a few different tunes, this Hurry Up Sunrise being one of them.
And to me, Hurry Up Sunrise is just such [F] a pretty [D] melody. _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ [C] That's just it.
That's not how Otha [D] sang it, but to me that was just stuck in my heart.
_ _ [Cm] _
[D] _ _ _ Because that's the groove of Otha's front porch.
_ _ _ _ _ And when I brought this song to my father _ back in 2005, _ he realized [N] that it was a duet.
Which is so perfect, because you read the lyrics, it totally makes sense it's a duet.
And Dad, he was so good at what he did.
And he invited Lucinda Williams to sing it with me.
But it was more of a rock and roll version.
So when I came to do the blues and ballads, _ _ I invited my dear soul sister Miss Chardae
Thomas, who's Otha's granddaughter.
And she's the heir apparent.
Otha taught her to play the fife, and she carries on the fife and drum hill country
tradition solely with her family.
She's just my queen, she's the queen of the hills.
And she plays the drums on the track and sings the song with [D] me.
And it just means so much to sing her grandfather's song with her.
It's like a love song to him.
Hurry Up Sunrise is a great vehicle to explain how I look at fingerpicking.
Growing up, in my youth, I used to fingerpick like this.
Like, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] almost strumming with my fingers.
[D] _
Hitting [A] the downbeats with my thumb. _ _
But [N] then I was studying Mississippi John Hurt.
And I was trying to learn the tunes, and I just couldn't get all the information out.
And that's when I realized, this is pre-internet, kids!
I couldn't go look at YouTube now.
So I figured out, with my ears, that you had to get that [D] thumb moving. _ _ _ _ _
And that is a hard habit to break.
You gotta get that thumb moving.
_ One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
It's like the backbeat, the bass drum.
Bass, bass, bass snare, bass snare.
_ [G] _ _ [N] So you're getting the bass and the snare drum, if you relate it to the drum set, with [D] your thumb. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
So if you want to play some advanced fingerpicking, be it Fred McDowell, Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson, whoever, you gotta get that thumb alternating. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
So, when you move your fingers into it, to simplify the experience, I say that it's only two motions.
You're either going to be pinching the strings, playing them together, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ which is more rare, than going alternating.
Which you're basically just moving, just waving your hand back and forth. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Of course you can be more precise with it, but I'm just trying to simplify it and show you that_
Dwayne Burnside told me, he's like, man, you want your guitar playing to sound effortless.
You know?
It's supposed to sound easy.
And then watching R.L. Burnside, that's where I learned, like, he picks way up here.
And he's swinging so hard, but he's playing so light.
_ _ _ Of course you can be super precise, _ _ _ _ _ and that's funky.
Especially syncopated, I mean, staccato. _ _ _
But me personally, I don't have the endurance to hold that up all night. _
_ _ _ The way I play is light and loose.
_ _ _ _ _ I like light strings for high action.
_ _ [F#m] The G [D] string_
_ _ _ Even on my acoustic guitars, I keep unwound 24 on my acoustics, so I can slide.
And so they don't squeak.
So to get a little hurry up sunrise R.L. boogie _ going_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Your thumb is going to hit the low string, the 6th string, 4th string, 6th string, and then the 5th string.
And when you hit the 5th string, you're going to hammer on on the 3rd fret.
[Am] _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ When you get that happening, you can put the upbeats in with your finger.
And like I said, it's just as simple as waving your hand. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ _ I like to practice on the seam in my jeans.
_ _ Because it's just enough resistance.
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _
Because it's just a muscle you've got to get [C] together.
[D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A#] _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ Have