Early jazz guitarists did not leave any recordings behind and much of what is known about their music has to be deduced from hearsay or later recordings. Guitarist Jeff "Brock" Mumford (1870—1937) appeared in one of the most famous New Orleans bands, that was led by cornetist Buddy Bolden in the 1890s. The band is said to have played a Dixieland style and the guitar would have supported the brass and reed instruments. During that period, the banjo eclipsed the guitar because of its percussive penetration. However, a younger generation of New Orleans banjo players emerged who later also adopted guitar for their rhythm playing. Johnny St. Cyr (1890-1966), for instance, played with Kid Ory and, from 1904, joined Armand Piron. He started on banjo, and then moved to 6-string guitar-banjo, and guitar. He can be heard, with Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong, on "Jelly Roll Blues" (1926) and "Grandpa's Spells" (1926), playing guitar with a chord and bass-note rhythm style using linking low-register fills. Bud Scott (1890-1949) had a similar style and, from 1904, played with the John Robichaux band and Freddy Keppard. He remembered a time when it was a novelty to play four straight downbeats. On "Apex Blues" (1928) and "King Joe" (1928), he uses chords for soloing, snaps single strings to cut through, and plays bass phrases.

Eddie Lang (1902—33) developed a superb pick technique and a style that draws on jazz and classical music, creating impressionistic blues moods. He recorded duets with violinist Joe Venuti, including "Stringing the Blues" (1926) and "Black and Blue Bottom" (1926), accompanying Venuti with an alternating chord and bass movement, and subtle choking in the left hand for rhythmic impetus. He also developed inversions and passing chords, with short connecting fills for sequences.

Lang composed and arranged, recording a number of beautifully balanced guitar and piano duets. On "Eddie's Twister" (1927), his compositions have a modern harmonic sophistication, with smooth melodic lines integrating blues, ragtime and classical ideas. Fast lines and melodic bass links with strumming feature on the waltz "April Kisses" (1927), and Lang demonstrates his virtuosity by transposing and playing Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C# minor" (1927), which he plays with a pick and a fingerstyle section.

"Melody Man's Dream" demonstrates single-line guitar with a strong tone and vibrato on notes over the piano. The guitar on "Rainbow Dreams" is powerful, matching the piano with lines and broken chords. Lang also worked with Lonnie Johnson (1889—1920), and, in 1929, with the great blues singer Bessie Smith.

Lonnie Johnson & Eddie Lang

The most important early jazz-guitar duo was formed in 1928 by Lonnie Johnson and Eddie Lang. Much of their material was created around a blues framework but also had a dense sound and powerful swing. Johnson plays melodies and inventive solos with an improvisational fluency virtually unheard of at the time, while Lang provides complex and equally virtuosic accompaniments, as can be heard on numbers such as "Two Tone Stomp" (1928) and "Hot Fingers" (1929). Slow melodic blues phrases characterize the soloing on "Blue Guitars" (1929), while "Deep Minor Rhythm" (1929) reveals twirling phrases with string bending, cutting dry staccato notes and improvising based on the variation and development of phrases, with short fast passages. "A Handful of Riffs" (1929) features uptempo soloing, with great rhythm, and Johnson's typical delicacy with developed motifs, fast hammered runs, and unusual rhythmic emphasis.

Rhythm playing

As jazz developed in the 1930s, many big-band guitarists, such as Fred Guy (1897—1971), who worked with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, were simply rhythmic adjuncts who blended into the background. Bernard Addison (b. 190S), who joined Fletcher Henderson's band in 1933, was a more sophisticated player, and on "Yeah Man" (1933) and "Queer Notions" (1933) uses interesting chords and lines. Destined to become the most famous rhythm player, Freddie Green (1911—87) joined Count Basie in 1937 and became synonymous with a solid style of jazz rhythm guitar, playing four downbeats in the bar.

Prewar soloists

Teddy Bunn (1909-78) demonstrates an early style, with slow, deliberate lines that have melodic jazz and bluesy phrases using string bending. With singer Spencer Williams, his short, grainy staccato notes and simple jazzy phrasing can be heard on "It's Sweet like so" (1930) and "Pattin' Dat Cat" (1930). He developed a more flowing style and, as a featured soloist with The Five Spirits of Rhythm, plays a short single-note introduction and takes a complete chorus with a swinging solo using bubbly upper-register phrasing on "I Got Rhythm" (1933). "Four Or Five Times" (1937) has a lilting solo full of character. His colorful inventive solos, with surprising twists and a twangy buzzing string sound are evident on "If You See Me Comin'" and "Gettin' Together," both recorded in 1938, with a quintet.

Another talented figure with great rhythm and a chordal style, Al Casey (b. 1914), worked with pianist Fats Waller. His swinging soloing, arpeggiation, block chords, and harmonics can be heard on "Buck Jumpin" (1941).