In an emotional post on U2’s website, the frontman says his recovery from a serious bike accident in Central Park, New York, has been more difficult than expected

U2 frontman Bono has said he may never play guitar again as a result of his bike accident last year. In an emotional post on the band’s website, the singer said: “Recovery has been more difficult than I thought … As I write this, it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again. The band have reminded me that neither they nor western civilization are depending on this.”

The singer underwent surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian hospital for an arm broken in six places and a broken eye socket after the accident in New York’s Central Park in November. Bono wrote that he had no recollection of the accident after blacking out: “I have no memory of how I ended up in with my humerus bone sticking through my leather jacket. Very punk rock as injuries go.”

He added: “I would very much miss fingering the frets of my green Irish falcon or my (RED) Gretsch. Just for the pleasure, aside from writing tunes. But then does the Edge, or Jimmy Page, or any guitarist you know have a titanium elbow, as I do now?”

Bono’s comments were made in a lengthy A-Z summary of his 2014, which he said he wrote as an attempt to “learn from [my] mistakes – the first of which is the discovery that I am not an armoured vehicle”.

Elsewhere on Bono’s A-Z, he dissected a year that he felt had had “more highs than lows”. The 6,000-word post included wide-ranging reflections on the morality of capitalism, his band’s recent album Songs of Innocence and his admiration for Kanye West, of whom he wrote: “Kanye is a real innovator … an artist who, like a lot of the artists I respect, is interested in everything and wants to include that everything in his art. Words, fashion, design, religion, racism, stardom.” The singer also posted images of handwritten song lyrics and an x-ray of his titanium elbow.

Bono has decided to cancel all public appearances and interviews for the first half of 2015 so that he can concentrate on his physical recovery. His sense of humour seems to have remained intact, however. Recalling the accident, he concluded: “I broke my hand, my shoulder, my elbow and my face, but the real injury this year was to my Irish pride as it was discovered that under my tracksuit I was wearing yellow and black Lycra cycling shorts. Yes, LYCRA. This is not very rock’n’roll.”