Keith Richards opens up on adapting guitar skills due to arthritis: 'You're always learning'

Keith Richards is opening up about how arthritis has impacted his guitar skills.

The Rolling Stones guitarist told BBC on Tuesday that he doesn't have any pain related to his affected joints, describing his arthritis as "a sort of benign version."

"I think if I've slowed down a little bit it's probably due more to age," he said.

Richards, an original member of The Rolling Stones, added: "And also, I found that interesting, when I'm like, 'I can't quite do that any more,' the guitar will show me there's another way of doing it. Some finger will go one space different and a whole new door opens."

"You're always learning. You never finish school, man," he said of his adaptive guitar skills.

Richards is still strumming away as The Rolling Stones' guitarist for their highly-anticipated new album, out Friday.

The rock legends announced "Hackney Diamonds" from the historic Hackney Empire theater in a London neighborhood famed as an eclectic musical epicenter, exactly 18 years after their last album, "A Bigger Bang."

Richards, Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood took to the stage with late-night host Jimmy Fallon to unveil their new album.

Richards said the album's name was a result of "flinging ideas around." The title refers to British slang for the shattered glass when a window gets broken, Jagger said, referencing the Hackney neighborhood.

"It's like when you get your window screen broken on a Saturday night in Hackney," Jagger said.

The band said pieces of the album came together quickly once they set their sights on a new creative project.

"We were a bit too lazy and then suddenly we said, 'Let's make a record and make a deadline,'" Jagger said. They jumped into the studio in December and cut 23 tracks, rounding out the album in February. The band collaborated on the final product across Jamaica, Los Angeles and New York.

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For fans of classics like "Paint It, Black" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," the new songs can be described as an "eclectic" mix of love songs, ballads, classic rock and a little "anger," Jagger said.

The album is also the Stones' first since the death of drummer Charlie Watts in 2021.

"He's No. 4. He's missing," Richards said, adding that Watts had appointed as his successor Steve Jordan, who plays on the record. Of the 12 tracks on the album, two were recorded in 2019 with Watts before his death.

Contributing: Nicole Fallert

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Keith Richards, Rolling Stones guitarist, talks arthritis impact