Rolling Stone Keith Richards admits ‘can’t do it anymore’ as health impedes guitar playing
Keith Richards admitted his health woes are affecting his musical talents as The Rolling Stones release a new album for the first time in almost 20 years.
Keith Richards has revealed that his guitar playing has been plagued by arthritis and that he is “slowing down” due to age.
The 79-year-old rocker made the comments while preparing to promote latest album Hackney Diamonds, which features a diverse list of musical guests from Lady Gaga to Stevie Wonder.
Fresh from last year’s Rolling Stones 60th anniversary tour, Keith admits that there’s “no doubt” his musicianship has been affected.
Explaining that he’s adapted to a new way of playing, he revealed: “When I’m like, ‘I can’t quite do that anymore’, the guitar will show me there’s another way of doing this.
“Some finger will go one space different and there’s a whole new door just opened there!”
He added: “Funnily enough, I’ve no doubt [my arthritis] has [affected my playing], but I don’t have any pain – it’s sort of a benign version!”
The star, who had been talking on BBC Radio 4’s Today show, concluded: “I think if I’ve slowed down a little bit, it’s probably due more to age!”
However, despite the threat of creaky joints, Keith has been enjoying getting back into the touring lifestyle.
Last year, he triumphantly declared that he was feeling “fitter than ever”, due in no small part to his decision to give up smoking.
After 55 years – more than half a century – of puffing away, Keith revealed that quitting had given him “more air in my lungs and voice”.
He’d been reflecting on his former hard-partying lifestyle in an interview for CBS’ Sunday Morning.
Keith’s decision to quit smoking follows on from his decision to stop taking heroin back in 1978, and subsequently stopping his cocaine use after a 2006 accident where he fell from a tree.
The mishap left him requiring brain surgery and he even had a metal plate inserted into his skull.
That wasn’t the only time Keith had suffered traumatic injuries after a fall.
Back in the late 1990s, he slipped and fell from a ladder at his mansion home in Connecticut, breaking three ribs and getting bruised by a huge pile of books falling on him.
Fans had no fear that he might retire though; when quizzed about whether the accident had led him to rethink his hectic touring schedule, the defiant rocker shot back: “‘Retire? I can’t spell the word.
“I’d play on in a wheelchair. This is what we do. Otherwise, what’s life all about?” he exclaimed.
25 years on from that unfortunate incident, he hasn’t disappointed as he is still “in good fettle” overall and planning as much as possible to take to the stage.
