Eddie Lang is considered by many to be the father of jazz guitar, and he is thus the first jazz guitar virtuoso. Lang took violin lessons for eleven years but switched to guitar before he turned professional in 1924 with the Mound City Blue Blowers. His sophisticated chord patterns made him a unique accompanist. Lang was a versatile player who could back blues singers, play classical music, and jam with the greatest musicians of his day. Using the pseudonym Blind Willie Dunn, Lang often teamed up with blues guitarist Lonnie Johnson. Eddie Lang led several recording dates of his own between 1927 and 1929, including a session with King Oliver and Johnson, under the name Blind Willie Dunn and His Gin Bottle Four.

Lang also worked regularly with Bing Crosby during the early 1930s and can be seen (briefly) with Crosby in the film The Big Broadcast. Because of his association with Bing Crosby, Lang was making between $1000 and $1200 a week in 1932 — during the Great Depression! Lang died tragically in 1932 due to a botched routine tonsillectomy, in which he lost too much blood. Bing Crosby was said to have been deeply troubled by Lang's death, not only because he had suddenly lost one of his best friends and most talented sidemen but because he had personally urged Lang to have the operation.

Eddie Lang's chord technique has influenced jazz greats like George Van Eps, Django Reinhardt, and Charlie Christian.