U2 frontman Bono says he may never play the guitar again after a bicycle accident that injured his hand, shoulder, elbow and face.

The Irish rocker fell off his bicycle in New York's Central Park in November and underwent hours of intensive surgery to wash out his elbow and repair the bone with three metal plates and 18 screws.

Bono said in a post on his website late Thursday that the accident was more serious than he initially thought.

"Recovery has been more difficult than I thought. As I write this, it is not clear that I will ever play guitar again," he said in the reflective New Year post titled "Bono's A to Z of 2014."

"I personally would very much miss fingering the frets of my green Irish falcon or my (RED) Gretsch. Just for the pleasure, aside from writing tunes," he added.

The injury has forced him to cancel all public appearances and communications for the first half of 2015, he wrote.

Earlier this month, U2 announced a 2015 tour, set to start in May, which will be the Irish band's first since 2009-2011, which was the highest-grossing tour in history.

After the accident, U2's three other members said they expected the singer to make a full recovery and that the band would be playing again soon.

Bono said he would focus on getting better ahead of the scheduled tour start.

"U2 is a live band. Live is where we live or die... We have some extraordinary ideas up our sleeve for this tour I've just got to be rebuilt by 14th May," he said.

Injured 'Irish pride'

Bono posted an X-ray photo of his elbow on the band's site, showing several titanium pins connected to his arm bone.

"Here is my titanium elbow for a laugh," he quipped.

He said despite the physical injuries he sustained, the more serious damage was to his ego.

"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," he wrote.

"Yes, LYCRA. This is not very rock 'n' roll."

He said he has little memory of the fall, telling fans: "I blanked out on impact and have no memory of how I ended up in New York Presbyterian with my humerus bone sticking through my leather jacket.

"Very punk rock as injuries go."

The band's upcoming tour will include performances from its latest album, "Songs of Innocence," which it controversially sent to half a billion users on iTunes for free in September.

U2 faced accusations of being spammers or at least being presumptuous in believing the whole world wanted the album.

Bono later apologised for the move, although the band said the album has been downloaded by 30 million people and streamed 81 million times -- far more than bought U2's top-selling album, 1987's "The Joshua Tree."