John Mayer won’t let an injured finger stop him from playing the guitar.
A week ago, the 46-year-old singer injured his left index finger in a truck door incident. Although the accident has rendered his injured finger unusable for the foreseeable future, Mayer took to Instagram on Thursday to share how he has taught himself how to play with only three working fingers. The guitarist has six upcoming performances with Dead & Company at their Sphere residency in Las Vegas.
“Last Thursday I injured my left index finger (truck door), and the first thing that went through my mind was ‘I really need that finger in a week.’ I need all my fingers, but the left index is the team captain of my fretting hand. It will heal just fine, but will be out of commission for a while. In the meantime, I have spent every day practicing guitar using the other three fingers and I think I have it sounding pretty good!” Mayer captioned a photo of his bandaged appendage.
He added, “I’ve always felt like every part of me belongs to these shows, and it’s my responsibility to return to the stage each night without screwing up the equipment, and I’m sorry for the misadventure here. The power of the music and the love for these shows will prevail! See ya tonight ♥️.”
There are six shows left of Dead & Company’s Dead Forever residency, which is being hosted at the Sphere — Aug. 1-3 and Aug. 8-10. Dead & Company is made up of members from Grateful Dead.
“See you this weekend. Gonna be GREAT,” longtime friend Andy Cohen commented. The two have been friends for more than a decade and have even had to repeatedly slam rumors that they’re romantically involved.
Mayer and his three working fingers will have to work extra hard because the band performs a unique setlist every night of the residency, expanding the range of songs he’ll have to familiarize himself with all over again.
This isn’t the first health issue for Mayer, who has been playing guitar with the group for years. In 2022, he tested positive for COVID-19, causing him to drop out of a Dead & Company performance. That year his father also suffered a medical emergency, which caused Mayer to cancel a Dead & Company show. Before that, in 2017, Mayer’s emergency appendectomy forced Dead & Company to postpone shows.
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