With age, everyone starts to deal with health problems, and in recent years Keith Richards, who will celebrate his 83rd birthday in 2026, has had to change his way of playing the guitar due to arthritis. In a new interview with Guitar World he said he looks at his hands these days and say: “We’ll, let’s see what we can do today”.
Keith Richards explains how he deals with arthritis
“Yes, I do (play fewer notes these days), because I’m not as fast as I used to be. At my age, what I find most interesting about the guitar is you can compensate for certain disabilities and nimbleness and find other ways of getting around the problem.”
“And it teaches you another thing – you never stop learning with the damn thing. I love it, and it’s my friend forever. Well, I do have arthritis and very large knuckles. They don’t hurt, but it does get in the way sometimes. I’m going for a wider fingerboard for that reason.”