Bono Reveals He Still Can't Play Guitar Due to Bicycle Accident

"It feels like I have somebody else’s hand,” said the U2 frontman.

ByABC News
April 30, 2015, 11:38 AM
Bono attends the UEFA Champions League round of 16 match between AS Monaco FC and Arsenal FC at Stade Louis II on March 17, 2015 in Monaco.
Bono attends the UEFA Champions League round of 16 match between AS Monaco FC and Arsenal FC at Stade Louis II on March 17, 2015 in Monaco.
Jean Catuffe/Getty Images

— -- U2 is gearing up for a new tour, but the band's frontman, Bono, still hasn't fully recovered from last year's bicycle accident.

The singer said in a new interview that he still "can't play guitar."

"It feels like I have somebody else’s hand,” he told the New York Times. "I can't bend [my ring finger and pinky] and this [part] is like rigor mortis. But they say that that nerves heal about a millimeter a week, so in about 13 months I should know if it’s coming back.”

Bono, 54, hurt his hand, shoulder, elbow and face in the bicycle accident in Manhattan's Central Park last November. In January he said he may never play guitar again.

“I really used to think that my head was harder than any surface it came in contact with, and I don’t anymore,” he told The Times. “I didn’t come off a Harley-Davidson. I came off a push bike and smashed myself to bits. There is no glory here.”

Still, in the time since the incident, Bono, who has learned new ways of holding the microphone, said he has been writing songs and has another guitarist play chords that he can't. And of course, he's always had the support of his bandmates.

"They don’t seem to mind,” he said with a smile.