Did he lose his skills due to a problem in his brain and then get them back when it was removed? Or did he just have brain surgery and it took him a while to recover?
Martino had been performing until a hemorrhaged arteriovenous malformation caused a "near-fatal seizure" in 1980. This left him with amnesia and no recollection or knowledge of his career or how to play the very instrument that made him successful. Martino says he came out of surgery with complete forgetfulness, learning to focus on the present instead of the past or what may lie ahead. He was forced to learn how to play the guitar from zero.
