‘Counting bars is like climbing Everest,’ said drummer. U2’s Larry Mullen Jr has revealed he has been diagnosed with dyscalculia, which is a form of dyslexia that affects his understanding of numbers. The Irish drummer and co-founder of the band, 63, recently explained that “counting bars is like climbing Everest”, as he discussed his diagnosis publicly for the first time.
Mullen explained that he cannot count or add numbers, but never knew that he had a learning difficulty. “I’ve always known that there’s something not particularly right with the way that I deal with numbers. I’m numerically challenged,” he told Times Radio.
“And I realised recently that I have dyscalculia, which is a sub-version of dyslexia. So I can’t count, I can’t add.”. According to the British Dyslexia Association, around six per cent of people have dyscalculia, which is defined as a specific and persistent difficulty in understanding numbers, which can lead to a diverse range of difficulties with mathematics.
Mullen, who co-founded U2 in 1976 with Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton, explained that his dyscalculia has long taken a toll on his drumming and performance. “When people watch me play sometimes, they say, ‘You look pained,’” he said. “I am pained because I’m trying to count the bars. I had to find ways of doing this — and counting bars is like climbing Everest.”.
Mullen, whose son is also dyslexic, appears in the forthcoming 2025 documentary Left Behind, which follows five mothers attempting to establish the first public school for children with dyslexia in New York City. The documentary is from writer Karen Sim and director Anna Wild Toomey, and has been shortlisted for an Academy Award.
