Thomas Griesgraber (left) and Bert Lams (right) perform Saturday in Forest Park.

Throw away every notion you have about tuning and strumming the guitar. Renowned guitar duo Bert Lams and Thomas Griesgraber will bring their reinterpretation and reinvention if the instrument in a special concert in Forest Park Saturday, Aug. 9 at Pineapple Studios.

Combining classical guitar and a style with called “free hands” or “two hand tapping” Lams, originally from Belgium, and Griesgraber, who plays on a 12-stringed instrument called the “Chapman Stick” perform hypnotic improvisations and original pieces.

Lams was a founding member of the Calfornia Guitar Trio and has been touring with Griesgraber for ten years.

Their new Grammy-nominated album, Unnamed Lands, is inspired by first-person narratives of pioneers travelling west in the 1880s.

Lams was classically trained at the Royal Conservatory of Music. His solo CDs include Bach and Beethoven transcriptions performed with a special tuning, as well as jazz, instrumental rock and even surf music.

Griesgraber plays both bass and guitar parts on the Chapman Stick by tapping fingers from both hands.  The two are stopping in Forest Park as part of a nationwide tour to promote the new recording. 

Jean Lotus loves community journalism. She covers news, features, two school boards, village council, crime, park district and writes obits for Forest Park Review. She also covers the police beat for...